The present study seeks to develop a situated construct of learner engagement within an instructional experience. Despite compelling potential benefits to instructional practice, extant learner engagement research has been limited to either within-the learner constructs or adding a simplistic behavioral component to a model and largely discounting…

In many aging families, siblings provide important support to adult brothers or sisters with an intellectual disability. However, this presents new challenges that are affected by past relationships and roles, as well as by the current situation and changes brought on by aging. This study aims to explore the ways in which middle aged typical…

Quality of life (QoL) is a key outcome used to monitor service planning and delivery for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Unfortunately, many current instruments used to measure QoL have psychometric and content limitations and none are suitable for use with individuals with the lowest levels of functioning and…

This dissertation investigates how the status and value of the college degree as a credential are constructed and evaluated in response to the changing social demographic compositions of colleges and universities. A large body of scholarship shows that occupations with a higher proportion of women have lower average rewards for both women and…

This study examines the perceptions of gifted adults, who are educators, in order to understand the empathy and advocacy that comes with a shared childhood experience. This is a qualitative study that used narratives to voice the experience of the gifted child through the memory of eight gifted adult educators. These memories, and reflections on…

Using an additional decade of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults (CNLSY), this study replicated and extended Deming's evaluation of Head Start's life cycle skill formation impacts in three ways. Extending the measurement interval for Deming's adulthood outcomes, we found no statistically significant…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative model of mentoring that evolved over the past ten years as a result of experience, research and self-study. This research, conducted in Orthodox Jewish day schools will raise awareness of potential benefits of mentoring as an effective means for supporting Q1 teachers' classroom…

This qualitative case study documented the experiences of two adult educators and four older learners' teaching and learning technology and new media in a community-based program in Texas. The research questions guiding this study included: (1) What can we learn from looking at the educational efforts of a community-based programs offering…

Teachers/facilitators in adult literacy learning programmes are recognised as being vital to successful learning outcomes. But little is known about them as a group. This small-scale research project comprising ethnographic-style case studies of five adult literacy facilitators (ALFs) in Ethiopia seeks to throw some light on these teachers, their…

Third-age learning is a subset of lifelong learning enjoyed by individuals in the stage of retirement, and often 60 years or older. Community art education (CAE) for learners in the third age commonly occurs in recreational settings, nursing homes, museums, libraries and places of worship. In addition to these informal learning sites, there are…

Graduate students at a distance require an advising approach that allows them to connect to their peers, faculty, and the University as a whole. In addition, they need to be empowered to develop transferable skills and self-directed behaviors from the advising process just as they are through the learning process. Faculty from the adult education…

In 2008, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) formed a special committee to make recommendations to increase the educational attainment of Tennessee adults. Called the Making Opportunity Affordable-Tennessee (MOA-TN) Adult Strategies Group, the new committee was convened with 23 higher education officials from across the state with…

More than one million North Carolina residents began but did not complete their postsecondary education, including some 643,000 early- and mid-career adults. More than 50,000 adults have left the University of North Carolina (UNC) System in good academic standing with 60 or more credits but no credential. In 2016, the North Carolina General…

In Uruguay, one constant concern for policy makers, authorities, teachers and administrators is student retention. Among adult learners who have returned to secondary school, dropping out of school is an even larger problem. However, there are several students that in spite of their problems and barriers continue studying and return to school.…

Adult education is grounded in responding to the needs of others, and the field places emphasis on adult learning theories such as transformative learning and experiential learning. Service learning is an educational approach that balances formal instruction and direction with the opportunity for adult learners to serve in the community as a…