This guide, which is aimed primarily at those responsible for providing learning opportunities within further education in England and Wales, deals with managing open learning. Addressed in the individual chapters of the guide are the following topics: the nature of open learning; the production of learning materials; the impact of open learning…

Much has been written about the effectiveness of face-to-face (F2F) versus online (OL) courses, and comparisons of learning and retention across both media, but less has been targeted toward important tactical and strategic considerations. Having little formal guidance to manage the transition to offering a portion of their university courses and…

This volume presents the 54th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). The 2004 NRC conference, set in San Antonio, took place against a political backdrop in which the nature and substance of literacy research has become suspect. Given the current state of politically-driven research agendas, the focus of the 54th annual NRC…

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing educators of today is to create and sustain high-quality educational environments for low-income students and students of color. The Boston Pilot Schools Network, a network of eleven small, innovative schools within the Boston Public Schools, can be a model for other schools and districts as to how to create…

The research topics addressed in this study include the following: (1) reasons dropouts who immediately pursued a General Educational Development (GED) did not complete high school; (2) characteristics of the schools those GED examinees last attended; (3) differences in the reasons for not completing school by school characteristics; and (4)…

Children and adolescents who enjoy healthy growth and development along six primary pathways are the students who learn well and achieve success in school and in life. But children from poorly functioning families and impoverished social networks too often find themselves without adequate preparation and support for the academic challenges that…

Learners' views on their progress and achievement in literacy and numeracy were examined in a study during which practitioners from eight further education colleges in England interviewed 70 adults (ages 16 to over 60 years) enrolled in literacy, numeracy, or English-for-speakers-of-other-languages programs. The metaphor of traveling on a learning…

A questionnaire responded to by 424 students was intended to find out the ways in which the needs and experiences of 19,000 lifelong learners enrolled in the Lifelong Learning Society (LLS) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) meshed with the goals of the LLS. Of those students, 44 participated in a follow-up interview. These were the goals of the…

Robert Kegan's constructive-development theory of adult growth postulates three different ways of knowing (instrumental, socializing, and self-authoring) and suggests that, although individuals develop differently, individual development can never be separated from culture. The potential of the constructive-development perspective on adult…

The 30 papers presented at Wake Forest University's 1997 Annual Research Forum (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) are as follows: "To Sprint or Crawl: The Effect of Classroom Activities on Student Behavior: (R. Allen); "Generating Good Grammar: Traditional and Whole Language Approaches" (D. Alexander); "Effective Teaching…

A project was undertaken to increase retention in a health education telecourse by incorporating a competency-based orientation to distance learning and learner-centered instructional strategies into the telecourse, and by using multiple media for content delivery and interaction. A general orientation to distance learning was developed that…

This document contains information about the methodology and findings of a study that identified 20 programs across the United States that have been successful in raising student's academic achievement. Part 1 contains the following items: (1) an explanation of the process and criteria used to select the 20 examples of excellence drawn from the 96…

This book examines the ideas of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire regarding radical education and adult education's role in the struggle for liberation from oppression. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the following topics: Gramsci and Freire's theories; publications about both men in the adult education literature; and the principles of…

This document examines issues and techniques related to assessment of online learning for adult, career, and vocational education. The document begins with an overview of the disadvantages of assessing at a distance and the issue of security in the online environment. The following aspects of continuous assessment are discussed: characteristics…

This document is intended to help high school vocational-technical teachers design courses that result in high-quality learning for all their students. The book's seven chapters detail this process for designing courses that achieve the following results: model the concept of quality; produce independent learners; develop active participants in…