Increasingly, adult educators are using narrative and stories for many reasons, including their deep appeal, satisfaction, and cultural transcendence. As a fundamental structure of human meaning making narrative is a valuable classroom tool in that it can enable students to understand life events, personal actions, and solidify identity formation.…

Appreciative inquiry (AI) is based on the heliotropic principle, which has been variously described as art and science, holistic theory and practice, and practical philosophy and change process. AI engages people and organizations in discovering what gives life to human systems when they are most effective and constructive and using that knowledge…

Essays on research and teaching of academic writing in English as a second language include:"When Practice Doesn't Make Perfect: The Case of a Graduate ESL Student" (Melanie Schneider, Naomi K. Fujishima); "Good Writing: I Know It When I See It" (Ilona Leki); "Redefining the Task: An Ethnographic Examination of Writing and Response in Graduate…

This teaching guide contains the materials required to teach the workplace English-as-a-second-language curriculum that was designed specifically for nonnative English speakers at a shirt and tie manufacturing plant in Kentucky. Developed through the efforts of a partnership involving the plant, the local union of needle trades and textile…

This report is designed to support the planning and implementation of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative. It addresses a set of principles that these agencies can use to advance their planning process, reach out to new partners, develop collaborative strategies, and build a…

This document, which draws heavily on lessons learned during 11 years of the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools That Work initiative, is intended to help state leaders review their existing system for assessing accountability in vocational education or plan such a system. The document begins with a discussion of the purpose of…

Washington Works is a nonprofit organization founded in Seattle, Washington, in 1992 to help low-income women improve their lives and the lives of their children by teaching them to think differently about themselves. The program offered courses in personal effectiveness training, basic skills training, office skills development, and job search…

The generic skills needed for the new economy were identified through a review of research studies. First, the development of sets of key competencies/key skills in Great Britain, the United States, and Australia were examined. The U.S. model, which involves a broader, more flexible, and more holistic set of generic skills, was contrasted with the…

This guide, which examines the relationship between learning processes and learning outcomes, is aimed at senior managers, quality managers, and others at colleges and other post-16 learning providers in the United Kingdom. It is intended to help them define the key processes undertaken by learning providers, understand the critical relationships…

The root of the ecological crisis lies in an ethic of nature consumption. In order to reconstruct our cultural framework, it is necessary to cultivate another ethical approach, an ethic of care. It is the responsibility of school to encourage students to learn how to care for not only the human world, but also for the natural world. This paper is…

The following papers (with nine in French) are included: "Refocusing the Multicultural Discourse in Adult Education" (Acton); "University Extension and the Service University" (Archer); "Linking Cases to Course Content" (Block); "The Effects of Education on Food Security among Low Income Urban Adults"…

This document contains 18 essays that developed out of a study in which 16 researchers from 10 countries in the Western and Arab worlds examined adult education and how an ecological approach to education focusing on cultural traditions and natural environments can be more useful than education in specialized institutions. The following papers are…

Adult learning can be challenging and traumatic events can exacerbate the process. Symptoms such as difficulty beginning new tasks, fear of risk taking, eroded self-esteem, or inability to concentrate can be evidence of past or current trauma and may be manifested by a learner missing class, avoiding tests, or behaving inappropriately during class…

Among 51 papers and 3 symposia are the following: "Learning What?" (Andruske); "Stories Adult Learners Tell" (Armstrong); "Towards a Pedagogy for Disempowering Our Enemies" (Baptiste); "Teaching Scholarly Writing to Doctoral Students" (Barnett et al.); "The Outcomes and Impact of Adult Literacy Education" (Beder); "A Feminist Critique of Human…

The Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF) in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) offers 12 targeted training programs that have successfully helped "hard-to-serve" clients return to the workforce. Compared with traditional training, targeted training has a much narrower focus and adapts quickly to industry trends to meet employers' changing…