2003 Conference (Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University)
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Professionalism, Ethics, And Welfare Reform: The Importance Of Ethical Competence(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Ianinska, SilvanaThis paper examines the professional ethics of welfare reform providers to determine its role in the achievement of welfare reform goals and to suggest an alternative context, based on professional ethics, for discussing the success or failure of welfare reform. Four themes emerged from the analysis of literature. First, patriarch authority keeps welfare women at the bottom of society. Second, different political interests weaken partnerships and services at the expense of welfare recipients. Third, welfare recipients are unjustly stereotyped and perceived as deficit-driven and as the single cause for their economic situation. Fourth, teachers’ beliefs, relationships, and learning environments hold a key to sustained and successful engagement and participation in welfare-to-work programs.Item Calculating, Interpreting, And Reporting Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient For Likert-Type Scales(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Gliem, Joseph A.; Gliem, Rosemary R.The purpose of this paper is to show why single-item questions pertaining to a construct are not reliable and should not be used in drawing conclusions. By comparing the reliability of a summated, multi-item scale versus a single-item question, the authors show how unreliable a single item is; and therefore it is not appropriate to make inferences based upon the analysis of single-item questions which are used in measuring a construct.Item Multigenerational Adult Development Research Project In An Online Graduate Course In Adult Learning(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Merrill, Henry S.This paper describes research in two arenas. First is a research project using the life course dynamics perspective as a lens to investigate the patterns and timing of life events in multiple generations within extended family. Second is an experiment in the scholarship of teaching to pilot test this research project in an online graduate course in adult development and learning. The course is D505 Adult Learning through the Lifespan. The course description reads: Review of selected adult education literature describing the adult lifespan as it relates to participation in learning projects and adult education programming. Identify how social and cultural forces influence the engagement of adults in the learning process.Item Adult Development Matters In Adult Education(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Scheer, Scott D.All to often in adult education settings, the learning strategies and methods that we use are tailored as one size fits all. A key component of effective adult learning that can be easily overlooked is the role of adult development with adult learning. This oversight is possible among adult educators because our knowledge base is grounded in education as compared to human development or developmental psychology. The point being made that the developmental characteristics of the adult learners should influence the teaching-learning strategies that are implemented. In other words, developmental differences between a 22 and 77 year-old should be accounted for in a community-learning setting.Item Assessment Of Professional Development Activities, Instructional Needs, And Methods Of Delivery For Part-Time Technical And Occupational Faculty In U.S. Community Colleges(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Sandford, Brian; McCaslin, N.L.This study describes the professional development activities and perceived instructional needs and best methods of delivering professional development opportunities for part-time occupational and technical program faculty within the community colleges in the U.S. Introduction to the policies and procedures of the college and/or department, introduction to other college faculty/staff, orientation to the course/classroom, and help in meeting administrative requirements were the professional development activities found to occur at least once a quarter or semester. The types of instructional help part-time faculty members were perceived to need most were: (a) identifying the learning characteristics of students, (b) alternating teaching methods to accommodate different learning styles, (c) participation in web-based instruction, and (d) participation in distance learning. It was discovered that professional development activities should be offered to part-time faculty at least once per semester or quarter using seminar discussions, group classroom activities, and computer assisted instruction or multi-media interaction as the preferred methods of delivery. An evening/night format and during the Fall were found to be the most suitable times to offer professional development opportunities and per diem and travel expenses should be provided to part-time faculty for participation in professional development activities.Item Working With Interdisciplinary Teams Of Boundary Spanners: The Challenges And Potential For Adult Education(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Wise, Meg; Glowacki-Dudka, MichelleInnovative research and development for holistic adult on-line health education (eHealth) is increasingly conducted by interdisciplinary teams of boundary spanners in grant-funded academic institutes. Typically, these teams include fields that represent the whole person with an illness in their social and technological context: medicine, nursing, social and counseling psychology, social work, systems engineering, and the communications and information sciences. However, adult education does not typically sit at these collaborative research tables. This paper uses a case example of a sole adult educator working in such a setting to explore how adult education fits into this new boundary-spanning field of practice and scholarship.Item An Academic Writing Needs Assessment Of Clinical Investigators Who Have English As Their Second Language(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Wang, Min-fen; Bakken, Lori L.The purpose of this project was to assess ESL clinical investigators’ learning needs for academic writing for English scholarly publication. We used a qualitative evaluation approach to examine the gap between the current and desired proficiency level for academic writing of seven ESL clinical investigators. We considered the perspectives of these seven ESL clinical investigators and those of three mentors’ and three writing instructors’ in this assessment. The findings suggest that ESL clinical investigators do not accurately perceive their writing deficiencies, have little knowledge of criteria for academic writing, and their prior experiences create passive attitudes toward seeking appropriate writing resources. Adequate time is especially needed to develop successful writing skills. We provide suggestions for program planners to develop academic writing services and present useful information for pedagogical practice by adult educators in higher and continuing professional education regarding ESL academic writing.Item Institutional Ethnography: A Tool For Merging Research And Practice(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Wright, Ursula T.Institutional ethnography draws from ethnomethodology focusing on how everyday experience is socially organized. Power is critically important as an analytic focus which crosses boundaries providing researchers a view of social organization that illuminates practices that marginalize.Item Participatory Learning Through The Call And Response(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Isaac, E. PauletteWherever adult education takes place, the purpose is to learn. To assist adults in the learning process, it is suggested that a variety of techniques be used. Techniques that allow for participatory or interactive learning are most favored because they allow learners to be engaged in the learning process. One of the most popular participatory instructional techniques in the classroom is the discussion. Within the African American Church, participatory learning occurs through an interesting dialogue called the “call and response.” Costen (1993) suggests that the call and response is a dialogical communication that skillfully takes place between the preacher and the congregation. The purpose of this study was to examine the techniques preachers use to engage adults in the learning process during a worship service.Item The Role Of Community In Online Learning(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Stein, David S.; Wheaton, Joe E.; Calvin, Jennifer; Overtoom, ChristineThis project examined learners’ perceptions of the learning community construct, whether learners’ online and face-to-face interactions led to the development of learning communities and whether the process of building community was different in face-to-face and web-based courses. Courses requiring learners to interact on a personal level early in the course were more likely to develop into learning communities. The degree of distance within the course did not make a difference in whether these learning communities developed. Rather, a sense of trust and of shared hardship as they worked through the course assignments were seen as more important by these learners. In situations where communications were considered inappropriate, developing communities were derailed or development never began. A definition of community emerged from the data that identified characteristics of shared learning goals, exchanging ideas, assisting each other, and an element of trust among the learners within the community.