2004 Conference (Indianapolis, Indiana : IUPUI)
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Item Presence And Interaction In An Inquiry-Based Learning Environment(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Stein, David S.; Wanstreet, Constance E.This mixed-methods study examined how interactions facilitated cognitive, social, and teaching presence in inquiry-based learning in a course where learners had the option to choose whether to conduct group work online or in person. Findings suggest that the knowledge learners gained from the course resulted from chats and discussions within their small groups and not from threaded discussions with the entire class. Results also indicate that learners with a high degree of social presence within their small groups developed a relationship that appeared to overshadow their relationship with classmates in other groups. Teaching presence may be affected by whether learners choose to collaborate in person or online and by where they choose to collaborate. The further the group moved away from the instructor’s online or physical presence, the lower the degree of teaching presence the learners felt.Item A Comprehensive Literature Review Of Research On The GED Diploma To Clarify Conflicting Conclusions Arising From Asynchronous Hypotheses And Study Designs(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Vanderloo, Patricia CaseyAn initial literature review of 23 published studies on the GED diploma program over its successful life span of nearly 60 years yields inconsistent conclusions through analyses conducted at different times with different populations and different methods. Inasmuch as an hypothesis, an epistemological inquiry into what one wants to know, is a "dictatorship of the research question" (Tashakkori & Teddie, 1991, p. 21), it appears conflicting conclusions may result from an asynchrony between a research question and the study design. To serve as a guide to sort out whether a conflict exists in a study, this researcher collated the a) experiential; b) theoretical; and c) data dimensions of a study into quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. Use of time as a unifying element in this review divides the GED research into its 4 editions/generations. This device prompts the notion of time elements surrounding each hypothesis-- a fourth dimension. Thus, in addition to a personal learning time for the researcher, each hypothesis occurs in an historical time; a theoretical time; and a contextual or societal time. The scope of this paper is to briefly highlight the research reviewed according to its generation, research paradigm, notions of time, and future hope for the field.Item The Relationship Between Satisfaction With On-The-Job Training And Overall Job Satisfaction(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Schmidt, Steven W.This study examined the relationship between satisfaction with employer-provided workplace training and overall job satisfaction. Survey completion data were obtained from 301 customer and technical service employees in nine different organizations. Job duties for employees in these positions are employer specific. As such, these employees rely on their employers for initial and ongoing job training. Organizations represented included those in manufacturing, technology, service, and government. A significant relationship was found between job training satisfaction and overall job satisfaction. Time spent in training, training methodologies, and type of training were determined to be significant in their relationships to job training satisfaction. The methodology used in training made a significant difference in job training satisfaction. Most preferred by respondents were methodologies that involved face-to-face interaction provided by an instructor or job coach. Also found were significant interactions between job tenure and employment type (customer service representative or technical service representative) when examined with job training satisfaction. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for practitioners in the fields of training and human resource development, as well as for managers of employees working in customer and technical service occupations.Item Faculty Mentoring At A Distance: Coming Together In The Virtual Community(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Stein, David S.; Glazer, Hilda R.This mixed-methods study explores how faculty in a virtual university experience the role of mentor working with doctoral students at a distance. This study uses faculty narratives to identify faculty actions that might be different from mentoring traditional doctoral students in a face to face program. In the new working adult universities, learners are not necessarily seeking initial careers through doctoral study but are enhancing established careers. The study investigates the mentoring skills on line faculty bring to the virtual learning space and describes how a graduate faculty teaching in a virtual learning space perform the role of mentor.Item Mentoring And Social Capital: Learning And Perceived Networking Opportunities For Women In Central Pennsylvania Rotary Clubs(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Rutter, J. Paul IIIThis paper explores learning in Rotary clubs that have newly allowed women as members. The main focus of the paper is women’s perception of learning within the confines of these clubs with respect to mentoring and social capital’s existence. The study explores gaps in power within a middle-class Pennsylvania society. This study used phenomenology and grounded theory to investigate the lived experiences of women that are members of Rotary clubs in central Pennsylvania.Item Towards A Model Of Disability Disclosure(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Rocco, Tonette S.The model of relational development and decline in close relationships and selfdisclosure contains six agents: relational definition, time, attributional processes, liking, reciprocity, and goals. The purpose of the model is to describe the process of relationship development between peers. This phenomenology investigated disclosures between members of a minority group to a member of a majority group in the context of work. Each agent is discussed in terms of commonalities and differences between the agent and the experience of twelve participants with invisible disabilities interviewed. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires adults to disclose information about the disability, provide requested documentation, and suggest accommodations (P.L. 101-336). The responsibility to disclose and seek accommodations rests solely on the disabled person. This type of disclosure is made for the purpose of accommodation and access to educational institutions, materials, or formal learning opportunities. Disclosure for accommodation most often occurs in formal learning situations such as training programs. Disabled people are expected by able-bodied co-workers to explain the nature and/or ramifications of their disability. Our workplaces become places of risk for disabled people when considering whether to disclose or not and how much information is appropriate (Dycke, 1999). Once disability status is disclosed, a person with invisible disabilities (could pass as an able-bodied person) becomes suspect and future interactions may be tainted (Rocco, 1997). While the disclosure experiences of people with visible disabilities are quite different (Rocco, 2001). Disclosure occurs in adult education and workplace settings by adults with and without disabilities for relationship development. Relationships between co-workers are important for informal learning to occur. Informal learning occurs in natural settings, which have the “potential for learning and in fact organize our learning” (Merriam & Caffarella, 1999, p. 396, italics in original). In contrast to self-directed learning projects initiated by the learner, informal learning at work can be initiated or facilitated by the co-worker with the knowledge or by the employee in need of the knowledge. The way the disclosure is received, perceived, and acted on can make a difference in how the adult will approach a new learning situation at work, seek mentoring or other work relationships (Chelune, 1979). The question is how does disability disclosure between co-workers affect informal learning opportunities between coworkers that enable new employees or employees new to a department or position to learn their jobs in work groups, through mentoring, in informal non structured on the job training, or simply by interacting around a water cooler. Informal learning, non-structured on the job training, mentoring (whether formal or not), learning in organizations such as work groups, all of these forms of learning or structures to facilitate learning involve relationships between people. Relationships develop through personal disclosures, which can include information about one’s experience and knowledge gained through work or outside of work. Individuals from minority groups find themselves in the position of having to explain their experience or teach a person from a dominant cultural group.Item Drawing On Pop Culture And Entertainment Media In Adult Education Practice In Teaching For Social Change(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Tisdell, Elizabeth J.This paper provides an overview of the critical media literacy literature and related adult education literature to consider how to draw on popular culture and entertainment media in adult education settings when dealing with diversity and equity issues of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. It also provides some examples of from practice. Popular culture and fictional entertainment media have an enormous influence on society. Whether in the genre of television sitcom or drama, or fictional stories in popular film, the entertainment media teach us something about ourselves as we map new meaning onto our own experience based on what we see and relate to; for good or for ill, it also teaches us a lot about others through fictional means. In the past few years, there has been a growing discussion about the role of pop culture and the entertainment media in education (Giroux, 1997; hooks, 1994; Yosso, 2002); In these discussions, critical media education scholars note the tendency of the media to reproduce structural power relations based on race, gender, class, and sexual orientation; however, they also argue that some media challenge such power relations in their portrayals of characters. Thus, given that students are consumers of entertainment media, which serves as a significant way that people construct knowledge about their own and others’ identities and thus a significant source of “education”, they argue that it is important to teach critical media literacy skills—of how to deconstruct and analyze entertainment media through direct discussion of it in the classroom. Thus far most of these discussions and studies related to critical media literacy have focused on youth. Aside from general reference to the significance of popular culture to the media in our lives (Miller, 1999), discussion of the role of entertainment media in the education of adults has been absent. But given that adult learners and educators are also large consumers of media, it is also important that adult educators tend to issues related to media literacy, particularly in attempting to attend to diversity and equity issues. Therefore the purpose of this paper is two-fold: to provide an overview of the critical media literacy to consider how to draw on popular culture and entertainment media in adult education settings to teach critical medial literacy skills and to discuss issues of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation; and to explore how entertainment media can be used in teaching practice.Item Creating Social Capital Though The Deliberative Discussion: A Case Study Of Community Dialogue.(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Stein, David; Imel, Susan; Henderson, ThyroneWhen citizens come together to inquire about issues that matter to the community, learning may occur in these temporary learning communities. Active engagement with issues of social and political importance may increase the adult’s sense of commitment to action and further the development of a community’s social capital. Using a social capital development framework, this case describes one community’s attempt to promote and encourage citizens to engage in deliberative discussion. The case also highlights one citizen’s struggle to link discourse with community action.Item Experiences Of Undergraduate Reentry Males During Times Of Perceived Psychological Stress(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) West-Anderson, ElaineThe research question that served as the basic guide for inquiry in this study was: How do undergraduate reentry males navigate through academic coursework, especially during times of perceived psychological stress? Using a semi-structured interview technique, eight Caucasian undergraduate male students, ages 43 – 52, were interviewed. Findings revealed three major themes: a) the psychological stress encountered did not emanate so much from the academic experience as it did from personal struggles, relationship and/or family obligations, and/or work demands; b) when discussing strategies utilized to facilitate engagement in academic coursework, the men reported use of goal setting/planning and seeking social assistance to regulate the academic environment to some extent and compartmentalization as a way of being able to focus on the learning task at hand; and c) for some men there was a perceived difference in self over time with regard to academic coursework. While it has been suggested (Home, 1997; Senter & Senter, 1998) that returning female students may experience more stress than do returning males, findings from this study have shown that some reentry men, report similar needs and concerns related to life demands while engaged in academic coursework.Item Access Barriers Experienced By Adults In Distance Education Courses And Programs: A Review Of The Research Literature(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Zirkle, ChrisDistance education in the American education system continues to expand. However, despite technological improvements and nearly universal accessibility to the Internet, adult learners continue to experience barriers to accessing distance education courses and programs. Building on prior work by Cross (1981) and Darkenwald and Merriam (1982), this literature review focuses on the institutional and student barriers experienced by adult learners. Institutional barriers consist of program costs, resource availability, lack of equipment and infrastructure, scheduling, instructional concerns and technical assistance. Student barriers include costs and motivators, feedback and teacher contact, alienation and isolation, student support and services, and a lack of experience and/or training. Recommendations for addressing institutional barriers include continual evaluation of noninstructional areas, faculty training, and adoption of new technologies. Recommendations for alleviating student barriers include providing opportunities for distance students to interact with faculty, other students, and other parts of the campus, providing toll-free phone support to all areas of the campus, requiring faculty to have online office hours, and developing electronic tutorials for new distance students. The use of distance education in the United States continues to grow. A recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics (Waits & Lewis, 2003) documented the increased use of distance education in a multitude of academic and technical disciplines in postsecondary institutions. Private industry and business, along with governmental agencies, have also recognized the attraction of learning “any time and any place” in providing education and training opportunities for their employees. Relieving adult learners of the time and place constraints of a traditional classroom, distance education can present a new set of constraints, or barriers, to accessing educational opportunities. These barriers can be significant for adult learners, many of whom are “non-traditional” students, i.e., older, employed, needing job skill updates, seeking career change, or returning to college after a long absence. These students may also be single parents or transfer students, who, because of family responsibilities, work commitments or geographic limitations, are seeking to access educational opportunities at their convenience. Distance education offers the promise of unfettered access for these individuals; however, at present, the promise remains unfulfilled.