The Meaning of Adult Education - Essay Example

Table of Contents Adult Education 2 Rationale 3 Problem ment 4 Hypothesis ment 4 Review of Literature 4 Older Adults and Lifelong Learning 5 Older Adults Lifelong Learning Programs 6 Cognitive-Formal 7 Active-Informal 7 Methodology 8 Subject Selection 8 Survey Instruments 9 Data Analysis 10 Results 10 Conclusions and Recommendations 13 References 15 Appendix A: Raw Data Tabulation 17 Adult Education Adult education, also referred to as continued learning, refers to the enrolment of adults in formal instructional and educational programs for the explicit purpose of betterment through the expansion of their available career options and opportunities, among others (DeWitt, 2003; Manning, 2003). Popularly regarded as a voluntary form of education, researchers contend the perception to be erroneous insofar as it is often imposed on adults by a variety of imperatives, encompassing both personal and professional factors. The reasons which motivate adult learning are as varied as are the adult learners themselves and, accordingly, impossible to enumerate or identity in their entirety. Indeed, Keenan (2002) concedes to as much upon noting that a large array of factors incites adult learning, even as he fails to precisely articulate them. Instead, and while admitting to the import of understanding that which makes adults enrol in continuing learning programs, Keenan (2002) determines the identification of the characteristics of adult learners to be as important and, possibly, a more attainable objective than the former. In his analysis of the characteristics and attributes of adult learners, Keenan (2002) determines the presence of notable difference between the latter and traditional learners. The latter, adult learners, are typically over the age of 30, participate in both formal and non-formal learning environments, bring considerable personal and professional experience with them into the classroom, have a marked preference for collaborative learning, are action oriented and, consequent to both professional and personal commitments, have very limited amounts of spare time. The implication here is that the adult learner wants his/her experiences to be valued and demands that both assignments and projects be tailored to meet his/her professional experience and extra-curricular responsibilities in that they do not consume too much of the adult learner's time. Should adult learning programs satisfy the stated and, more importantly, should they be tailored towards greater relevance to the learner's professional experiences, not only will the adult student find the program more engaging but he/she will find the support extended to them by their employee, whether educational subsidy or time off for study purposes, justifiable. Proceeding from the above stated, a Department of Education's study on adult education, arrived at much of the same conclusions regarding the characteristics and motivations of adult learners (Kim, Hagedorn, Williamson and Chapman, 2004). The mentioned study, however, extends beyond the parameters of the first in its provision of demographic information on adult learners. As Kim et al (2004) found that 45 percent of adults attended college or university programs on a part-time basis, 35 percent participated in work related training and 21 percent attended courses for personal interests/reasons. The remainder did not provide a reason for their studies. Rationale Proceeding from Keenan (2002) and Kim et al.'s (2004) assertions, this research seeks to identify if the target group as adult learners are attracted to life-long learning as delivered through cognitive educational paradigms or active educational paradigms. Cognitive education involves the formal classes that require thinking and intellectual focus such as language, history, and finance. Active education classes, also referred to the informal courses, revolve around activities which tend towards the entertaining and include, among others, cooking, drawing, and dancing. Adult student attend classes either for employment education reasons or for personal satisfaction, although it can also be stated that either formal or informal classes can be taken for both reasons. Problem Statement The problem which the study seeks to investigate relates to the correlation between age and learning style preferences. The implication here is that a learner's age could very well affect his/her proclivity for cognitive versus active types of learning courses. Whether or not this is true and if so, which type relates to which adult age group is the problem which the study will tackle. Hypothesis Statement As may have been determined from the problem statement, the formal research question is: Does older adults' age differences affect selection in cognitive or active type of course in life-long learning programs In answering this question, the independent variable is the adult over the age of 50 and the dependent variable is the chosen cognitive (formal) or active (informal) coursework. The formal hypothesis statement, which is directly shaped by the above stated question, is: H1 = Age affects selection of cognitive or active type of course in lifelong learning programs in adults over the age of 50. H0 = Age does not affect selection in cognitive or active type of course in lifelong learning programs in adults over the age of 50. Review of Literature Several factors, amongst which one may mention improved health and longevity and declining birth rates, have contributed to the evolution of an ageing workforce. Never before has the average age of the American work force reach its current level of maturity. This development has instigated a reconsideration of the ways in which the market, as in employees, can transform this into a positive, as opposed to a negative development. As noted by the National Center for Education Statistics Task Force [NCES] (2000), in recent years, adult or continued learning programs have emerged with the stated consideration in mind, whereby their overriding objective is the design of a strategy by which society can positively utilize the experiences of the older generation, even as it provides them with the tools and knowledge requisite for survival in today's world. Accordingly, adult, or continued education programs, are specifically tailored to address adult knowledge and skills and shaped by their unique attitudes towards learning and their learning needs and requirements (NCES, 2000). This, in itself, constitutes an acknowledgement of both the societal value of adult learning and the importance of participation in lifelong learning as an attitude and skill-based endeavor in the older adult. Older Adults and Lifelong Learning Learning programs for older adults have proven health benefits, consequent to their increasing cognition and memory. Added to that, they possess psychological benefits in that the new skills which adults acquire, and the associate accomplishments, positively impacts their self-esteem and incites them to confront new challenges with determined confidence (Arnold, 2006). Arnold (2006) also notes that adult learners can gain new socio-cultural skills. This is important, as Liferov (1998, p. 3) explains that for adult education in a socio-cultural context is "in integral education concerned with the central problems of man's survival, of cooperation among communities and among their members, and of the development of civilization as the aggregate of individual cultures." Those factors must be considered when reviewing adult development. The development process involves work and family life, intimacy, health and ageing. Perigo (2006) simply identifies adult education as the means by which to provide America's ageing workforce with the skills deemed requisite for the 21st century workplace. As Perigo (2006, p. 16) states "lifelong learning for leaders in the second half of their lives has to be both aspirational and attractive if it is to neutralize the all-too-common assumption that learning in later career purely concerns coping with personal decline or irrelevancy." Thus, the scope of lifelong learning for older adults is wide in its application. Older adults use lifelong learning for personal reasons, such as health benefits noted by Arnold (2006), for knowledge participation noted by the NCES (2000), and for enhancing leadership roles in their workplace, as noted by Perigo (2006). Older Adults Lifelong Learning Programs Older adults participate in lifelong learning for a variety of reasons (Arnold 2006; NCES 2000; Perigo 2006). The programs, therefore, must also be wide in their scope to attract and retain adults as lifelong learners. Older adult education has been noted as having two main spectrums, as cognitive-formal and active-informal. In their study on the factors which motivate adult learning, Kim and Merriam (2004) found that cognitive interests predominant and are closely followed by social factors. This signifies the importance of distinguishing between the cognitive-formal programs and the active-informal programs, as the older adult learner is motivated by either cognition as skill-based learning or activity as a social-based learning. Cognitive-Formal Cognitive education would relate to the ideas shown in Perigo (2006) which are used to enhance the workplace environment and build leadership skills. Researchers have found that a large part of increasing formal education in older adults is centering programs on critical thinking skills in leadership and management (Soden and MacLellan, 2004). Leach, Neutze and Zepke (2001) found that the process in formal education for adult learners has begun to change, particularly in the assessment of learning. They showed that, in formal adult learning programs, the adult learner is more participative in their educational assessment rather than in the traditional scope where the teacher was the sole assessor of student success (Leach, Neutze and Zepke, 2001). Active-Informal The active-informal programs in adult learning are centered around the ideals of Arnold (2006) and Liferov (1998), where the adult learner is seeking a personal benefit in the social, cultural, community and health aspects. Riley and Stanley (p 22 2006) show that active-informal programs in art education for the older adult are increasingly "active and adventurous, both intellectually and physically. In order to fulfill their educational, social and recreational needs, they often choose to participate in lifelong leisure learning opportunities, such as art education or art instruction programs." Myers (1992) explains that adult learners are satisfying a specific intrinsic need. He uses adult music education as an example, stating that it is important in the active-informal training where "the teacher must provide comprehensive music learning through which these specific needs can be satisfied and must help the learner develop application strategies that can be used to solve musical problems outside class" (Myers p 23 1992). One very interesting study by Sandlin and Bey (2006) examined archaeologists as adult learners through a framework of critical transformation learning. They (Sandlin and Bey p 48 2006) found that "the journeys of these individual archaeologists are integrated with social and contextual factors." Sandlin and Bey (p 62 2006) also explained that the process of activity education is highly based on the social dimension, stating that: "Enacting personal and disciplinary changes literally in (in the case of these archaeologists) and figuratively on the ground where one is seeking to foster disciplinary, community and social change - is a constant and challenging negotiation, as this research reveals." Both research groups in formal adult learning (Leach, Neutze and Zepke 2001; Soden and MacLellan 2004) show that adult learners in cognitive education have traits that exemplify a desire for improving knowledge-based skills to achieve a work oriented goal. The importance of cognitive education can then be that it enhances basic skills, increases critical thinking, and increases the adult learners' ability to self-promote through personal assessment of their own education. The researchers (Riley and Stanley 2006; Myers 1992; Sandlin and Bey 2006) all highlight the fact that adults are primarily drawn to lifelong learn by their underlying interest in expanding their social circle and in forming social connections. In other words, social motivators are the primary forces compelling adult education and, accordingly, dictate a preference for active-informal education as the one most optimally suited for the satisfaction of the aforementioned purposes. Methodology Subject Selection Convenience sample was used for the selection of subjects to be included in the study. The research methodology used to test the hypothesis was a quantitative assessment of older adult learners chosen education courses. The criterion for subject selection was age, whereby all were adult students, aged 50 or over. All were in either formal or informal classes, such as cooking, dancing, languages and history, among others. The test group had 187 participants acting as the independent variable. The participants were divided only by their course selection, resulting in a test group of 97 cognitive course participants, and 90 active course participants. The participant's were then evaluated based on courses selected from Spring term, 2006, where the course selection is noted as the dependent variable. Survey Instruments The survey instrument employed was a one-page agency developed satisfaction survey, provided by the Department of Continuing Studies director at The North Carolina Division for Public Service and Continuing Studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The questionnaires detailed only age and course selection from the Spring 2006 term. It is important to note that the survey instrument does not have established validity and reliability as it is primarily used for the purposes of program evaluation. The data collected was organized and coded by: course name, course type, level of satisfaction, age group, gender, and employment and education levels. The age groups are collapsed in 3 groups and the course type. This information will be analyzed in the following section and applied to descriptive statistics using the Chi-Squared method. The research methodology therefore has appropriate test subjects distinguished only by their age groups. This keeps the hypothesis test succinct and specific towards answering the research question. The survey instrument is valid based on the contention that this is often used to describe the older adult education, and that the information distributed by the education departments is accurate. The Chi squared analysis method allows for grouped information to be statistically analyzed, drawing a conclusion of the hypothesis test. Data Analysis As may have been inferred from the preceding section, the data collected was coded and analyzed using SPSS, Statistical package for the Social Sciences, and was applied to descriptive statistics. Analysis in this study included frequency distribution and Chi square analysis. Null hypothesis were rejected at, or below, the .05 level of significance. Results Demographics of the older adult learner show that the most common older adult learner is a female who has a 2-4 year college education and is currently retired. The lowest participants are male high school graduates or with doctorates who are not retired. The first portion of the data analysis1 is the Chi test. Based on the information in the Chi-Table (below), it is found that 2= x2 (2) =21.27, p Read More