Adult Education as Vocation - Essay Example

Adult Education Ireland has a long tradition of providing learning opportunities for mature The Local Studies, Community Studies and Computer Studies Programs are designed specifically for such students. They are offered at the specified Campus on a part-time modular basis. The in-built flexibility of the degrees is designed to accommodate the many demands that mature students face when they return to education. Since the introduction of the Adult Education Programs they have attracted students from a variety of backgrounds. Feedbacks from students who have graduated indicate that the rewards that accrue from completing the degree greatly outweigh the challenges posed by the experience. The friendships, the increase in self-confidence and the opportunity to explore ideas in an academic setting are often cited as the most cherished aspects of their experience. A Course Management Team oversee their ongoing development and ensures that the management of the degree meets the expectations of students. A Support Officer works closely with students to ensure that the specific needs of individuals can be addressed. All the Departments and those involved in the management and delivery of these degrees are committed to providing positive and accessible learning opportunities for mature students. An information brochure is designed to help and encourage the interested students to join us on an exciting learning journey. Introduction The Adult Education Program offers modular part-time degrees in Local Studies and Community Studies. These programs were developed in response to the demand for inter-disciplinary, flexible progression routes for adults to degree level. They are offered in the evening to facilitate adults who are unable to attend on a full-time basis during the day. They represent a further expansion of giving provision for mature students. With such innovative features as flexible delivery, modularization, credit accumulation and recognition of accredited prior learning, students may advance in a systematic and learner friendly way towards a primary degree. These programs are offered at the main campus. 2.Structure of the Programs Over a five-year cycle of delivery the following three programs are provided: - Programme 1: Local Studies - Programme 2: Community Studies - Programme 3: Computer Studies Students on the degree may choose to follow either the Local Studies Program or the Community Studies Program or the Computer Studies Program. It is not possible to attend modules from all the three programs, except where Common Modules are offered. The inter-disciplinary nature of the program means that various University Departments have responsibility for module delivery. 1. Local Studies: Participating Departments - History, Geography, Ancient Classics, , Language Centre, Sociology, Anthropology, Adult & Community Education 2. Community Studies: Participating Departments - Adult & Community Education, Applied Social Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Geography, History 2. Computer Studies: Participating Departments - Adult & Community Education, Applied Social Studies, Information Technology. Modules: Each program is offered through modules. A module is a "block" of learning in which a particular topic is taught and assessed. Most modules are "stand alone" and can be studied as separate blocks. All modules carry credits towards the degree. The modules of study are delivered through a combination of regular lectures, tutorials, presentations, field courses and short summer schools. Semesters Each academic year has two semesters. Semesters are blocks of fifteen weeks, consisting of twelve weeks class contact and two weeks study and examinations. Each academic year on-campus is typically structured as follows: Semester 1 September - November 12 weeks class contact + 2 study weeks Semester 2 January - April 12 weeks class contact + 2 study weeks Summer Modules (Optional) Monday - Friday full-time 1 week Lectures are offered over two or three nights per week, usually Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 6.00 - 10.00 pm. 3Syllabus: Cartooning and Animation: The current trend in technology revolution and exposure, has resulted in creative and imaginative courses, which combine creativity with technology, and motivate learners to participate in adult programs which encourage learning the modern techniques combining the traditional art. This course is offered for mature adults with consideration of their pace and receptivity, and limited exposure to technology. Cartooning and Animation is a challenging, fun and creative class where mature students will learn strong drawing skills, creative thinking, design tools and animation technique's to put together an interesting portfolio of character sketches, cartoon strips and simple computer animation. The emphasis of the class will be on creative thinking. Students will move from an idea to visual expression on paper to implementing their idea in the form of simple animation on the computer using software called Flash. This will be twelve-week program in which students will meet twice a week. The program will be divided into weekly lessons, goals. 1. Week One: Focus will be on basic drawing. Overview of the program will be given. Goals of the week will be discussed. Goal will be to practice strokes, shadings, and line drawing. 2. Week Two: Focus will be on gesture and contour drawing. Goal will be to create two sheets of action drawing. 3. Week Three: Focus will be on basic elements of cartooning. Students will learn about face, expression, hand, feet, body movement, action figures etc. Goal will be to create three characters, which can be used in their idea for a cartoon strip. 4. Week Four: Focus will be creating a cartoon strip. The knowledge of three weeks of practice will help them to think with a pencil. Students will work from idea to giving that idea a life in the form of a cartoon strip with background, text, characters and a message. Goal of the week will be to have a complete three-panel cartoon strip. 5. Week Five: Focus will be on learning the technique's of animation and learning how they can use the skills learnt in the past four weeks in the form of idea, action figures, text use, background consideration to transition from paper and pencil to computer art and animation. Goal will be to introduce them to software called Flash, and show them the link between thinking, paper art and computer art. 6. Week Six: Focus will be to learn the drawing tools in Flash. Goal will be to create a cartoon strip using the drawing tools in Flash. 7. Week Seven: Focus will be to learn the animation tools in Flash. Think on an idea for animation. Think of character. Learn about motion, background and message. Goal will be to create simple try out animation for fun. 8. Week Eight: Focus will be on learning finer controls to manage the animation and develop the character. More practice and control is required with the use of the software. Learning to use the finer drawing tools, layers, color palletes. 9. Week Nine: Focus will be on practice, practice, practice. Goal will be to achieve comfort level with the software. 10. Week Ten: Focus will be to use all their drawing skill, cartooning skill and knowledge of the software to come up with a challenging idea, simple message, funny character, interesting background and dynamic animation concept. Goal will be to work on implementing that idea. 11. Week Eleven: Work on finishing their animation. 12. Week Twelve: Presenting their Animation and the final critique of each others work in light of the goal achieved and skills acquired. Implementing and Marketing the Animation program: Having a plan on paper is important, but using the plan means actually carrying out the program. The members who set goals and make plans of action to reach these goals have an opportunity, in this phase of the model, to assist Extension faculty with conducting educational activities. Most major events are planned before the year starts. For such early planning to be carried into an action program, agents should work with committee leaders and members to: Make additional plans before each event about specific jobs to be done and delegate responsibilities to committee members. Obtain assistance of needed resource people and involve other groups, as appropriate. Assist with evaluation and interpretation. Follow through with plan Marketing is an essential activity involved with conducting programs. Marketing is the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of carefully formulated programs designed to bring about voluntary exchanges of values with target markets to achieve institutional objectives. Marketing involves designing the institution's offerings to meet the target markets' needs and desires, and in using effective pricing, communication, and distribution to inform, motivate, and service the markets. The marketing process is designed to produce four principal benefits: 1) greater success in fulfilling the Extension mission, 2) improved satisfaction among the users, 3) improved attraction of Extension resources, and 4) improved efficiency in the marketing activities. Using good marketing principles means to offer program benefits to a specific audience while collaborating with representatives of the audience in actual program design and conduct. Program promotion must go through communication channels used by the audience, and participants must feel that the cost of participation is affordable in time, effort or money. Marketing is not just publicity, promotion and selling. It is the process in which Extension educators (collaborating with the Council's committees and networking throughout the community) examine who we are, what our publics need and want, what our programs offer, how we solicit support and interest, and how we evaluate program results. Principles of Learning: Extension education is concerned with voluntary participation by individual learners, so programs must be competent, reliable and attractive. Use of these six principles of learning can increase relevance to learners: Learning and Practice - The education must be experience centered; that is, it must focus on what the learner, not the educator, does. Likewise, learners must be able to make use of the experiences and practice or put into action the behavior suggested by the experience. Feedback - Learners should get reinforcement (feedback) to help them evaluate their own success in reaching the goal. Success in reaching goals is motivational. Need to Learn - A problem-centered situation helps motivate participants to seek solutions or better understand a need to learn. The goals of the educational opportunity must be consistent with participants' goals. Learners Involved - "Learners should be involved in planning and implementing learning experiences. If the goals of the learning opportunity are to relate to the needs and problems of the learners, then the search for solutions will be undertaken with the learners. In the process, the learner will be able to influence the goals and learn the process of problem solving." Previous Experiences - The learning experience must relate to previous experiences of participants. When new information is related to what participants already know and are aware of, they can build on those experiences. Participants must also be capable of taking part and having the necessary resources to build on the experiences. Environment for Learning - Physical comfort, mutual trust, freedom of expression and acceptance of differences are all critical in creating a setting where learning is free to occur. Logistical considerations are important program arrangements, although in some cases the educator has little choice or control over facilities at hand. When it is possible to make choices, the following factors should be considered: 1) accessibility to the facility, 2) comfortable atmosphere, 3) good lighting and sound or acoustics, and 4) appropriate and workable equipment. These factors, when well coordinated and provided, should ensure that technical problems do not detract from the program's effectiveness. Learning Activities: A program is not a single event - it is a series of planned learning experiences designed to bring about changed behavior of participants over time. Attention to several factors will improve the possibility of that change: Learning experiences and events are sequential; each builds upon the previous one and, in turn, leads to the next. The learning experiences are planned to accommodate the various stages of awareness, readiness, knowledge levels and learning styles of clientele, and preferred methods. Having opportunity to learn and acquire new information/experience means that the activity is presented in various ways [hearing, seeing, doing, and repeated for feedback and practice]. Considering an appropriate sequence, the learners and learning styles increases the effectiveness of the activity. Learning Styles: Learning style refers to an individual learner's general way of taking in information, thinking, decision-making, and retaining knowledge. Knowing the prevailing perceptual learning style of a target audience is useful to the Extension educator in selecting promotional and teaching techniques and in designing the overall learning experience. James and Galbraith identified seven learning styles: 1. Print - People who are print-oriented often learn best through reading and writing - they love to read magazines or books and find that they easily retain information they read. 2. Aural - Aurally-oriented people generally learn best through listening. They usually do not talk much and feel they learn best when information is presented verbally; they may enjoy learning from audiotapes and lectures because they remember what is said. 3. Interactive - People who learn best through talking and discussing ideas with other people are interactive. Small group discussions and debates are ways through which interactive individuals learn best. 4. Visual - People who are visually-oriented learn best through observation. They like visual stimuli, such as pictures, slides, charts and posters, and demonstrations. 5. Haptic - Individuals who learn best through the sense of touch are generally haptic learners, who have to feel or touch as many things as possible. Haptic persons assimilate information through a "hands-on" learning approach. 6. Kinesthetic - People who generally have to move around or move some part of the body while processing information are kinesthetic learners. They are in constant motion while reading or listening or doing some physical activity during a meeting. 7. Olfactory - People who learn best through the senses of smell and taste are olfactory learners. They may vividly associate some information with a particular smell or taste. Educators will recognize learning style as one of the important concepts in the process of learning; they can make sure that the material or content is presented in a variety of ways so that learners can select those ways most appropriate for them, or the same material may be presented in more than one way. Learning Styles best suited for Adult Learners: From various sources, a body of knowledge about adult learning reinforces key points about motivation, curriculum and methods. Several specific findings are of interest: Adults cannot be forced to learn. They seek out structured learning experiences to cope with specific life-changing events. The more life-change events encountered, the more likely one is to seek out learning opportunities. For most adults, learning is a means to an end, not an end in itself. They seek learning because they have a use for the knowledge or skill. Expectations for practical application are primary motivators; increasing or maintaining one's sense of self-esteem and pleasure are secondary motivators. Educators must take advantage of the "teachable moment." Adults tend to prefer single-concept, single-theory courses that focus heavily on applying a concept to a relevant problem. Comprehensive and survey courses are of less interest. Adults need to be able to integrate new ideas with what they already know if they are to retain and use the new information. Information that does not connect with what is already known is acquired more slowly. Adults tend to take errors personally and let them affect self-esteem. Fast-paced, complex or unusual learning tasks interfere with learning concepts. Psychomotor learning tasks may be handled more slowly, but adults compensate by being more accurate and taking fewer risks. Programs should be designed to accept viewpoints from people in different life stages and with different value-orientations. A concept will be better understood when explained from more than one value-orientation and appeal to more than one developmental life stage. Adults prefer self-directed and self-designed learning projects over group experiences led by professionals. Self-direction is not isolation - face-to-face, one-to-one access to expertise is highly valued. The adult learner often selects more than one way to learn - the desire to control the pace and starting/stopping time strongly affect the preference. Nonhuman media [books, television, programmed instruction] are very influential in how adults plan self-directed learning. Classroom environments are frequently threatening to adults. Self-esteem and ego are at risk, physical discomfort and the lack of practice opportunities are irritating. Regardless of the methods used, adults prefer the content as straight-forward how-to. Adults bring life experience into the educational setting - they can learn well from discussion with respected peers. New knowledge can be integrated by connecting with how it fits or fails to fit with what adults already know; they can participate in making this connection. The key point to bringing program implementation to life is that for learning to occur, particularly in group activities arranged by the Extension educator, it must be focused on the learner, not the educator. Implementation means giving attention to perspectives and needs of those people who will apply the education to their own experience. 4.Critical Reflection: Recently, a great deal of attention has been devoted to the topic of reflection and to the development of reflective practitioners. By itself, however, reflection is not necessarily critical (Brookfield 1995). To engage in critical reflection requires "moving beyond the acquisition of new knowledge and understanding, into questioning [of] existing assumptions, values, and perspectives" (Cranton 1996, p. 76). Four elements are central to critical reflection: assumption analysis, contextual awareness, imaginative speculation, and reflective skepticism (Brookfield 1988, p. 325). Assisting adults in undertaking critical reflection is a frequently espoused aim of adult education (Brookfield 1994; Millar 1991) but it is a goal that is not easily achieved. This identifies some of the trends and issues related to teaching adults to be critically reflective. Definitions that reveal differing theoretical orientations about reflection have resulted in confusion about its meaning and uses (Mackintosh 1998). When discussing the origins of reflection in education, the ideas of Dewey, Schn, and Mezirow are most frequently mentioned (Mackintosh 1998), but only Mezirow seems to emphasize the critical nature of reflection (Taylor 1998).When adult educators write about critical reflection, they frequently cite critical reflection as an element of Mezirow's work on transformative learning (Taylor 1998). The effect on students who are encouraged to engage in critical reflection is another issue that emerges in the literature. The phrase "tales from the dark side" (Brookfield 1994, p. 1) is used to describe the experiences of a group of adult education graduate students who engaged in activities designed to foster critical reflection. Adult learners who engage in activities to facilitate critical reflection must be supported in their efforts. Another issue related to the experiences of students who engage in critical reflection has to do with the kind of teaching that supports critical reflection. As described by Foley (1995) and Millar (1991), it is labor intensive and may require restructuring of existing curricula. Also, not all learners may be predisposed to engage in critical reflection, which can be problematic. Teachers should also be prepared to support adult learners as they struggle with the dark side of critical reflection, a role that they may find uncomfortable. Teaching adults to be critically reflective can be a rewarding experience that results in critical reflection on the part of the instructor. The resources that follow provide further information about this process. Personal Perception: My personal reflections on the implementation and working of the adult education computer studies plan will be based on the comprehensive approach, which will include participation, motivation and re-entry strategies to maintain and support their interest and endeavor to learn. I would personally aim to develop an effective work plan for the mature learners which would function as effective strategies for learning and positive experience. This would require common set of goals and objectives for the course, strategic planning, project monitoring, guidance and implementation, resource management, project accountability and strategies to keep pace with the dynamic nature of the technology learning in the field of integrated creativity and animation. It is very important for me as an educator to reach out to these brave mature learners' simple and specific goals which would build their confidence and sustain their interest. My passion as an educator is to serve the community of mature learners with well supported and well resourced facility, where they may not feel inhibited by the newness of the technology. My passion is to integrate creativity and technology, and formulate and implement it as an engaging and inspiring program for adult learners. This can be achieved only by setting the expectations and the objectives of the course clearly and in simplified format. I would like to set the boundaries by giving my students their well earned respect, and encouraging them to take active interest in taking responsibility for their own goals and objectives, thus giving them authority to meet their own success. I would like to aim that implementation is followed up by sound support services to support the programs. The real test of the program would be an evaluation made by the participants where they can indicate that they had invested time in educationally relevant and profitable program which prepared them to perform better, and become more tech savvy in developing and administering and educationally sound adult education program. Work Cited Brookfield, S. "Developing Critically Reflective Practitioners: A Rationale for Training Educators of Adults." In Training Educators of Adults: The Theory and Practice of Graduate Adult Education, edited by S. Brookfield. New York: Routledge, 1988. Collins, M. Adult Education as Vocation. New York: Routledge,1991. Cranton, P. Professional Development as Transformative Learning:New Perspectives for Teachers of Adults. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass, 1996. Foley, G. "Coming to Grips with Complexity in the Formation of Reflective Practitioners." Canadian Journal of Studies in AdultEducation 9, no. 2 (November 1995): 55-70. Mackintosh, C. "Reflection: A Flawed Strategy for the Nursing Profession." Nurse Education Today 18 (1998): 553-557. . Millar, C. "Critical Reflection for Educators of Adults: Getting a Grip on the Scripts for Professional Action." Studies in Continuing Education 13, no. 1 (1991): 15-23. Vaske, J. M. "Defining, Teaching, and Evaluating Critical Thinking Skills in Adult Education." Educational specialist thesis, Drake University, 1998. Read More