Victor C. X. Wang

Philosophy, Role of Adult Educators, and Learning How Contextually Adapted Philosophies and the Situational Role of Adult Educators Affect Learners’ Transformation and Emancipation

This article argues that adult educators need to adapt their philosophy and roles to fa-cilitate adult learners’ transformative learning and proposes a model that illustrates this process. The most common purposes of adult education reflect six underlying philosophies as fully discussed by Elias and Merriam. Adult learners possess different needs, interests, and experiences. As teachers modify their roles and methods in re-sponse to their students’ diverse individual characteristics, they must also adapt their underlying philosophical perspective. The authors maintain that in this context, the role of adult educators as facilitators of transformational learning must be redefined and their prevalent humanistic and progressive philosophies must be reexamined.

Transformative Learning and Ancient Asian Educational Perspectives

Scholars and practitioners all seem to agree that andragogy is not the only perspective and model in the field of adult learning. We no longer think of learning as democratic styles and methods versus authoritarian styles and methods. Rather, we now think of learning as a reflective process where learners may engage their whole body and mind in a critical manner. Worldwide, there are many rich traditions that we can contrast the theory of transformative learning with to improve our understanding, appreciation, application, and further research of this theory to practice. This article explores the connections of Ancient Asian educational perspectives with transformative learning for these purposes.

Promoting and Implementing Self-Directed Learning (SDL): An Effective Adult Education Model

Although Westerners have used over 200 terms to describe self-directed learning (SDL), it is educators in Confucius heritage cultures (CHC) that have successfully promoted and implemented SDL. This article argues that for learners in the Western cultures, especially in the United States to catch up with learners in other industrialized nations including newly emerged China and India, SDL must be promoted and implemented at all levels of education, not only within adult education. Amongst theories/models, SDL is the single most popular model that helps learners master skills for the sake of competency development. The goal in learning is to achieve the changed status on the part of learners or “perspective transformation.†Without implementing SDL, it may be hard to implement the theory of transformative learning. SDL and transformative learning are intertwined.

Handbook of Research on Education and Technology in a Changing Society

This chapter examines the use of Open Source Software (OSS) technologies that can be used to improve the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Explored are the various methods that can be utilized to improve the percentage of STEM majors in the American educational system with resources such as: Open Source as Alternative (OSALT), virtualization, cloud computing, Linux distributions, open source programming, and open source hardware platforms. Increasing the amount of students that pursue STEM majors is important because the projected job growth in the STEM field compared to non-STEM jobs is 33%. OSALT provides cost-effective alternatives to commercial products such as Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Photoshop. Second, creating Virtual Machines (VMs) is another avenue to teach complex concepts in computer science, engineering, and Information Technology (IT). Third, cloud computing is an inexpensive way for clients to access information from multiple locations and devices. Fourth, universities can use the Operating System (OS) Linux and its various distributions as replacements for commercial operating systems like Windows in order to reduce IT costs. Lastly, open source programming languages like Python and their associated Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) provide comprehensive facilities for software engineers for application development or testing.

Transformative Learning and Technology in Adult and Vocational Education

Adult learners often fear that they will be unable to find work if they are lacking in technological skills. The media, including newspapers, magazines, and advertisements for positions often emphasize the importance of the use of technology in the workplace. It is the case that without adequate skills in the use of appropriate technologies, adult workers may face challenges in finding employment. But what technologies can do is to provide powerful teaching and learning strategies. This article addresses technological applications in vocational and adult education advancement from different perspectives. Technology has the potential to support transformative learning. Technology, along with the vital role of adult educators, helps learners grow, change, and develop. Through the discussion of these, and related issues, a model titled Learners’ Seeking Transformation via Web 2.0 Technologies, has emerged.

Assessing and Evaluating Adult Learning in Career and Technical Education

Assessing and Evaluating Adult Learning in Career and Technical Education advances a framework, a process and meaningful approaches for assessing and evaluating adult learning in career and technical education (CTE). This book addresses the key elements of the process of assessment and evaluation: self-evaluation, transformative learning, history of andragogy, teaching philosophies, and much more. At each step in this process, the reader is taken through multiple and meaningful approaches of assessing and evaluating adult learning in the field of career and technical education.

Integrating Adult Learning and Technologies for Effective Education: Strategic Approaches.

Integrating Adult Learning and Technologies for Effective Education: Strategic Approaches provides innovative instructional approaches as well as relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area of adult learning and technology. This compelling body of research aids professionals in improving instructional training strategies to educate traditional and non-traditional students in today’s information age.

Handbook of Research on Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods

In the past, a large number of research efforts concentrated on single-level analysis; however, researchers who only conduct this level of analysis are finding it harder to justify due to the advancements in statistical software and research techniques. The validation of research findings comes partially from others replicating existing studies as well as building onto theories. Through replication and validation, the research process becomes cyclical in nature, and each iteration builds upon the next. Each succession of tests sets new boundaries, further verification, or falsification. For a model to be correctly specified, the level of analysis needs to be in congruence with the level of measurement. This chapter provides an overview of multilevel modeling for researchers and provides guides for the development and investigation of these models. DEVELOPING MULTILEVEL MODELS FOR RESEARCH Researchers analyze hierarchical or nested structures, when conducting applied research in organizations, schools, health care facilities, and family settings. Hofmann (2002) indicated that ignoring these simple hierarchical structures can lead to incomplete and misspecified models. These hierarchical structures “shape, create, encourage, and reward behavior in organizations” (Hofmann, 2002, p. 248). Including this hierarchical structure into conceptual and theoretical models allows researchers to better capture the level of complexity because hierarchical systems increase our levels of understanding. In the past, a large number of research efforts concentrated on single-level analysis, primarily John Turner University of North Texas, USA Kristin Firmery Petrunin University of North Texas, USA Jeff Allen University of North Texas, USA

Handbook of Research on E-Learning Applications for Career and Technical Education: Technologies for Vocational Training

As career and technical education continues to evolve, technology applications are rapidly becoming vital instruments for instructional training and valuable learning tools for the overall enhancement of student experience. The Handbook of Research on E-Learning Applications for Career and Technical Education: Technologies for Vocational Training provides an authoritative reference collection on leading international insights into the integration of technology tools and applications with adult and vocational instruction. This Handbook of Research offers academicians, practitioners, and researchers a comprehensive look at various levels of career and technical programs that are quickly advancing with technology.

Andragogy and Teaching English as a Foreign Language in China

This study investigated the possibility of whether Western andragogy could be practiced in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in China. A well-accepted instrument was modified and utilized for this study. Chinese teachers of English used andragogy to some extent such as personalizing instruction, relating to experience, assessing student needs, and climate building. The findings showed these teachers taught the lower levels of taxonomy, which are characterized by rote learning, memorization, knowledge transmitting, lecture, and focusing on exams. These teaching methods run contrary to Western democratic approaches characterized by negotiating curricular priorities with students, giving out learning contracts instead of exams, and involving students when planning lessons. The Western style of teaching is believed to contribute to the communicative movement (or collaborative learning process) when it comes to learning a foreign language such as English.