2003 Conference (Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University)
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Item Evaluating Instructors Sitting At The TABLE (Technology Access For Better Learning And Employment)(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Moore, Maria Hruby; Bingham-Catri, Deborah; McMasters, RosemaryThis paper focuses on the Technology Access for Better Learning and Employment Checklist developed by the authors. This evaluation tool was created and then used to measure eight instructors’ability to use technology in their teaching in four adult programs sponsored in part by the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service and a partner, Godman Guild, a settlement house located in a Columbus, Ohio neighborhood identified as located in an empowerment zone. Funding through the Federal Department of Education for a Community Technology Center was granted for this project which required an instructor pre and post evaluation component to be conducted by the Center on Education and Training for Employment. The data collected using this instrument was then used to design customized professional development plans and interventions to address technology usage as well as general instructional competencies for effective adult teaching for learning. The contribution of this paper is the TABLE Checklist and professional development system designed for this project.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 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 Guiding The Work Of Writing: Reflections On The Writing Process(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Rocco, Tonette S.; Parsons, Michael D.; Bernier, Judith; Batist, CarlosThe phenomenon of teaching and learning the writing for publication process was examined from the perspectives of instructors and the students.Item Mechanics’ Institutes: Glorious Failures Or Modest Successes?(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Morris, Roger K.Mechanics Institutes or, as they are more commonly known in the State of New South Wales, Schools of Arts are often portrayed as having been glorious failures in that they did not achieve their founding purpose. They did not educate the artisan in science and technology. This paper partially disputes that point of view. It argues that, in Australia, the so-called second wave of Schools were really quite successful in achieving their much more modest goals. They adapted the overstated idealism of the early Schools to meet the real needs of their local communities. These later Schools provided a local home for reading, learning, culture, civil society, and recreation in the then developing suburbs and towns of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Schools of Arts, as multipurpose centres of adult learning and activity, eventually declined as their communities grew and diversified. Their earlier comprehensive functions were taken over by a range of more specialised providers and facilities.Item Adult Literacy Programs: Producing Adult Literacy Research That Informs Policy(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Martin, Larry G.During the past decade, state and federal policy makers have made significant changes in domestic policies that significantly affect how adult literacy programs are organized, what potential students are considered eligible for classes, how long students can participate in classes and programs,who pays for classes, and other programmatic decisions. However, these policy decisions, although based on some research, are oftentimes not informed by adult education research. This paper addresses the issue of developing an adult literacy research agenda that effectively informs federal and state policy decisions particularly as these relate to adult education and the U.S. opportunity structure, the challenge to the GED diploma, welfare reform and adult literacy, family literacy programs, and adult literacy and multicultural learners.Item Online CPE: Real Estate Professionals’ Reasons For Participation(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Solomon, Karen J.This study examined the reasons for participation in online learning among real estate professionals. The significance of this study concerns how online continuing professional education (CPE) can be focused to meet the needs of professionals by learning about the motivators to participation. Courses for online CPE geared towards real estate professionals are being introduced daily designed to meet personal needs and to meet state re-licensure requirements. State licensing boards are granting approvals to real estate schools to provide online continuing education courses at a record pace. Industry-wide there are no identifiable reasons as to why real estate professionals participate in online educationItem 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 Developing A Technical Translation Program: A Needs Assessment Study(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Sukhtankar, Prajakta; Cseh, MariaThis paper presents a needs assessment study designed to determine the skills needed by technical translators to become successful in their work and content areas to be covered to develop these skills in a new technical translation program at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Oakland University. A mixed qualitative and quantitative research design was used to collect data from professional technical translators. Content analysis and descriptive statistics of interview and survey data revealed several insights and suggestions regarding prerequisites for the students entering into the program, program content, and instructional strategies. Based on the findings, the paper concludes with twelve recommendations for the design of the program.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.