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Empowering adult students through action research.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The purpose of this classroom study was to explore ways to empower adult students to articulate and share their work and life experiences through action research and to also explore the transferability of learning to other social roles they assume in their respective communities.

Introduction

Public discourse about adult education has focused on the need for workers to learn new skills in order to cope with today's rapid social and technological changes. Being a productive citizen in the current political economy is important. However, there is more to adult education than just participating in the production and exchange of goods and services. For example, adult basic education (ABE) and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs range from helping adults to become better prepared to join the workforce to getting them engaged in social and political action (Evers, Rush & Berdrow, 1998). A great deal of research has been conducted in the field of adult education e.g., adult students' ways of learning, andragogy, effective adult learning programs etc.,(see work by Kegan (2000) Knowles (1980), Mezirow (2000), etc.). However, Eleanor Drago-Severson's (2004) Becoming Adult Learners is the first comprehensive study, to my knowledge, exploring adults' perceptions of their own learning experiences.

Having taught adult students in a worker education program for the past five years, I have been interested in helping them articulate their work and life experiences and finds ways to collectively analyze and build on them in new fashions. I also wanted to explore whether they transfer classroom learning to other social roles they assume as citizens, parents, family members, workers etc. Little is known about what actually takes place in adult education classrooms (Drago-Severson, 2000). That is why I undertook this classroom research. The project started when I was granted permission to teach action research, a process of investigation that generates knowledge for the purpose of taking action. I kept a log in which ! recorded my classroom observations, analysis and reflections.

Adult Learners: A New Undergraduate Majority

Who are the new adult learners? The demographic profile of college undergraduates has changed significantly in recent years. According to the National Center of Education Statistics, over 60 percent of students in United States higher education can be described as non-traditional students. Here are some of their main characteristics. They:

* are 25 years old or older;

* have delayed enrollment into postsecondary education;

* attend part-time;

* are financially independent of parents;

* work full-time while enrolled;

* have dependents other than spouse;

* are likely to be single parents, and;

* lack standard high school diplomas.

(Council for Adult and...

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