Between 1969 and 1984, the number of adults participating in educational programs increased 79 percent and the number of adult education activities doubled. The following facts should be considered when developing instructional programs for adult learners: individuals can learn throughout their lives, adult life cycles influence learning, adults…

Vocational education has been altered to meet the needs of the growing number of adults participating in educational activities. Adult vocational education is a process by which adults prepare to enter an occupation or upgrade a present occupation. Programs and activities are designed to develop basic education skills, enhance occupational and…

Designed to provide a broad picture of the state of instructional television for adults and to identify major issues relating to instructional telecourses, this reader presents 50 articles in seven categories relating to the production and distribution of telecourses. Section I presents six articles on the growth in the use of telecourses, which…

The California Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) is a comprehensive educational system designed to enable adult educators to develop and evaluate a life skills curriculum for competency based educational programs. The system comprises the CASAS Competency List, the CASAS Item Bank, the User's Manual, the Curriculum Index and Matrix, and…

Perspectives on the adult nontraditional student are offered. Nontraditional students usually have multiple commitments, are not campus focused, and participate in informal learning. Needs of the nontraditional/adult learner concern the following areas: service and support, personal/social development, academic preparation, academic…

These 15 papers address the creation of second-chance routes for adults; patterns of study finance; experiences and life-studies of adult learners; and an evaluation of the reform of higher education in Sweden. Presentations include "To Put New Wine into Old Bottles: The Swedish Reform of Higher Education as a Modernized Form of…

Malcolm Knowles is attributed with developing the most cogent model underlying the assumption that teaching adults should differ from teaching children and adolescents. His andragogical model is based on the premise that adult learning differs from preadult learning. Two studies have examined whether teachers do actually use a different style when…

This booklet contains 10 success stories of Pennsylvania men and women who discovered adult education programs that gave them the tools to create a new life for themselves and their families. Their stories affirm the ability of each adult to use education to overcome great difficulties. Some overcame physical and learning disabilities. Some…

This proposal represents a systematic and research-based effort to revitalize traditional recruiting practices and to establish a new recruitment model for reaching the nontraditional student in North Carolina two-year colleges. It includes activities of and findings from a model adult recruiting project. A project overview includes the objectives…

An investigation of the circumstances that lead to older adults enrolling in traditional college or university degree programs involved a secondary analysis of data collected as part of a larger study conducted in Fall 1981. The analysis was limited to degree-seeking students at least 35 years of age. Nearly three-fourths of the survey respondents…

Distance education programs often try to prove their legitimacy by using methods and materials as similar as possible to those used in traditional, classroom-based, lecture-oriented courses. Since off-campus students must exhibit a certain level of independence and self-guidance to succeed, it might be more reasonable to tailor educational…

Functions of the continuing education office of a higher education institution are discussed. Continuing education offices usually offer not-for-credit courses, including personal enrichment and specialized professional courses. Summer sessions are the major activity of the office, and conferences may also be conducted by off-campus groups and…

A qualitative analysis of adults' descriptions of their learning activities was conducted to determine those factors that organize nonformal learning but which apparently lie beyond the consciousness of the learner. It was hypothesized that the organizing circumstance (organizing factors external to the learner), rather than preplanning by the…

Information on a telecourse program at the University of Kentucky is provided, based on a survey of the user population of the media-based educational program. This population consisted of 88 adult learners and other more nontraditional students. The telecourses were one component of the instructional system, which included printed materials,…

A conceptual framework for adult development is proposed, based on a synthesis of the literature on role theory and various age-related adult developmental theories. It is proposed that adult development may not be as linear, uniform, and age-related as has been suggested. An individual adult could be in varying developmental stages across the…