A special program was initiated in 1985 at George Washington University to encourage persons from other careers to pursue a second career in teaching in the Washington D.C. area. This report describes the variables that had to be and are continuing to be considered in the design of this training effort for mid-career professionals. Factors…

Proceedings of the twelfth international conference on improving university teaching are presented. Theme presentations and authors include: "Distance Education: The Promise and the Confusion!" (Allan F. Hershfield); "Distance Education: The 'New Frontier' of Learning?" (Kevin C. Smith); "Teacher Training: A Challenge to the University View of…

Student affairs professionals have come to realize that the student body on college campuses is changing. Adult students are filling the spaces left vacant by a diminishing traditional-aged student population. Interventions in student affairs, however, are often targeted for the specific developmental tasks of the traditional student. Student…

The question of whether noncredit, continuing education courses at the college level compete with or complement credit offerings is considered, based on surveys at Lakeland Community College (Ohio) and Lee College (Texas). For Lakeland College, there was some potential competition from noncredit classes in specific subjects. Lakeland Community…

A retrospective self-assessment used with 22 county Extension agents from western Washington who had participated in a three-day inservice education program in agronomy was evaluated. Each participant was asked to draw an S on a Likert-type scale to indicate where each person started at the beginning of the workshop and an N where they perceived…

The writing patterns of adult native speakers of English was compared to that of students of English as a second language (ESL). Both groups wrote brief narrative accounts of a story they had seen on film. The writings revealed three basic organizational patterns, one pattern covering the six critical elements that made up the short story and two…

Three experiments were conducted in order to clarify the encoding/retrieval dilemma in older adult students; and the recognition/recall test issue was also explored. First, a mnemonic technique based on the "key word" method of Funk and Tarshis was used; secondly, a semantic processing task was tried; and lastly, a repetition task, based…

Information is provided about the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent federal agency that supports scholarship, research, education, and public programs in the humanities. The history, purposes, policies, and organization of NEH are briefly described, and two project topics that NEH is funding, are explained. The…

The locus of control and value orientations of undergraduate and graduate students in schools of business and education at Virginia Commonwealth University were assessed. Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and Rokeach's Value Survey were administered to 1,139 students who ranged in age from 18 to over 40. Results indicated that…

In 1983, the Houston Community College System established the Women's Support Services Department (WSSD) to support and encourage the new roles and opportunities emerging for women. During its first year of operation, the WSSD offered special seminars to over 300 women who anticipated returning to college. The WSSD, which is supported by a…

Adult retraining is an important area for educators to understand because there appear to be some changes developing in the delivery of education and training. One change relates to the entry of private enterprise into the training field, such as the computer courses being held by Radio Shack. Other changes concern the population to be educated.…

A 1981 survey was conducted to gather information on income, employment, educational background and aspirations, and demographic characteristics of adult students attending credit evening courses and recent high school graduates admitted provisionally to a day developmental studies program at Canisius College. The survey was undertaken to provide…

Because of the need for increased numbers of qualified industrial arts teachers, this study was designed to identify factors that influence the choice of industrial education as a major for adult students in certification programs throughout the United States. A representative sample of adult students in industrial education departments of…

The question of why adult learners prefer particular course design patterns was studied. During fall 1981, 281 adult continuing professional education students at Cleveland State University and at several U.S. military bases in West Germany and Italy were studied. The research was based on two previous studies: one tested hypotheses generated from…

Recommendations of a 1980 symposium on English as a second language (ESL) programs for Southeast Asian adult refugees and immigrants in Canada are discussed, along with six principles toward a Canadian policy for providing ESL training to this population. Ten major points of the 53 recommendations of a position papers of Teachers of English to…