This article discusses three innovative projects with a focus on education for sustainable development which were kick-started by the previous government's Transformation Fund for informal adult learning. The projects each illustrate how powerful and transformational sustainability education can be when it uses people's lived experience as a basis…

Computers and associated technology have become central to modern life. In a society where the population is rapidly ageing, the acceptance and utilisation of developing technologies by an older population is becoming increasingly important. This review highlights similarities and differences between the attitudes and acceptance of technology by…

We investigated the relationship between the phonological and orthographic representations of new words for adult learners. Three groups of native English speakers learned a set of auditorily-presented pseudowords along with pictures indicating their "meanings". They were later tested on their memory of the words via an auditory word-picture…

Founded in the 1850s to promote an informed citizenry, public libraries advanced both adult learning and citizenship education in the first half of the 20th century, thus becoming cornerstones of democracy. But with a more recent decline in public engagement in libraries and beyond, librarians question whether democracy requires more than an…

The sites of adult education practice are multiple, and museums feature regularly among these sites (Chadwick and Stannett, 1995, 2000). This chapter explores the potential of museums as sites for critical "public pedagogy." It foregrounds the role of adult educators as co-interrogators with adult learners of what is generally perceived…

By the end of 2010 over 15 million euros will have been allocated in the UK through the Grundtvig adult learning programme. Over 900 organisations and thousands of staff, individuals and learners involved in adult education have benefitted. Grundtvig has helped to enhance the quality of learning provision; widen perspectives; increase motivation;…

Adult community learning in Wales covers a number of curriculum areas, delivered by a range of providers, including the voluntary sector. Classes reflect Welsh Assembly Government policy priorities, including improving levels of literacy and skills, decreasing economic inactivity and building community regeneration. A variety of community-based…

This study examines the dynamics of continuing higher education units within the sociopolitical context of higher education institutions. A qualitative approach to data collection and analysis was the study's design, while the theoretical frame was a postmodern, symbolic, theoretical approach to organizational studies. Results show that continuing…

The marketplace continues to move working adults toward completing their college degrees at an expeditious rate. Prior learning assessment has been shown to aid retention efforts. As with any assessment tool, reliability and validity are key to quality assurance. Given the student-centered nature of prior learning assessment, evaluators have…

Whilst an academic working in the arts may have been appointed as a consequence of artistic accomplishment and a capacity to teach, the research that underpins such work is an intrinsic part of its production and also needs to be recognised. In Australia, the ability of the artist-academic to translate research into a form that is respected and…

Gaythorne Row, a terrace of Victorian back-to-back houses in Great Horton, was earmarked for demolition when, in 1986, Bradford Industrial Museum took possession of the three cottages and transported them, brick by brick, to the museum site four miles away. The houses were built in 1876, a year later than the old worsted spinning mill in which the…

Transformative Learning Theory has become one of the leading adult learning theories today and yet students, practitioners, and faculty can find it difficult to use. This useful theory has been applied to a variety of settings, including helping to describe the process which occurs as life mission is related to self directed learning. In the book,…

Social capital connotes concepts such as assets, wealth, resources, and investments. Applying economic-value terminology to relationships highlights the considerable potential benefits and liabilities (social and economical) that have resulted from women's penchant for investment in social networks, whether they are in society, the workplace, the…

The tradition in educational development is to work within institutions, often grouping people of similar roles from different academic fields for a common purpose, as in the orientation of new lecturers or provision of teaching assistant workshops for graduate students. Furthermore, development activities conventionally focus on one dimension of…

This article creates the Teaching Methodology Instrument (TMI) to help determine the level of adult learning principles being used by a particular teaching methodology in a classroom. The instrument incorporates the principles and assumptions set forth by Malcolm Knowles of what makes a good adult learning environment. The Socratic method as used…