Browsing by Subject "Adult education"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Fostering transformative learning in an informal collaborative process
    (2015-01) Reichenbach, Michael Russ
    Social and collaborative learning in natural resource management has been used for more than two decades to address wicked problems, however evidence of transformational learning, the types of transformation and how participants' meaning structures and perspectives change has received little research attention. The link between learning and changes in understanding was investigated as part of the Seven Mile Creek Fuelshed Project (SMCFP). SMCFP was a transdisciplinary research project aimed at examining options for multi-functional agriculture in south central Minnesota, United States. Analysis of data from observation, interviews and focus groups were used to explore the participant experience of the SMCFP. Mezirow's (1991b) transformative learning theory was used as a lens. The study introduces the use of Wiggins and McTighe's (2006) six facets of understanding as a means to code qualitative data and to assess transformative learning. The study provides evidence of transformative learning in each of the following areas: elaboration of frames of reference, creation of new meaning schemes, transformation of meaning schemes and transformation of meaning perspectives. The results provide evidence of how people learn in a collaborative process and provide a foundation for the design of adult education and Extension education programs. The conditions that fostered transformative learning in this case study included a clear project focus, the introduction of expert knowledge, the incorporation of local knowledge, deliberation, dialogue and reflection. The SMCFP opened participants to new ideas for protecting water quality, wildlife habitat, and economic management of an agricultural landscape.
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    Laboring literacy: rhetoric, language, and sponsors of literacy in workers' education in the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union, 1914-1939
    (2013-05) Bartolotta, Joseph Patrick
    This dissertation examines a the work of an Education Department developed by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) of New York City in 1915. This program provided educational opportunities to mostly immigrant garment workers, including courses in English, public speaking, psychology, American government, history and labor policy. Following Graff (1987), Brereton (1995), Brandt (2001), Prendergrast (2008) and Enoch (2008), this dissertation examines archival materials to analyze how the organization framed literacy and taught the English language to its worker-students. Much of the analysis examines how, what Brandt calls, "sponsors of literacy," framed literacy in the program. This dissertation pays close attention to how particular rhetorical exigencies to the Union influenced the instructional outcomes of the literacy program. This research examines how sponsors of literacy influenced the literacy curriculum, how literacy became defined by wider rhetorical concerns of labor and social movements of the early 20th century, and how student literacy needs were instantiated in the program. I find that the rhetorical interests of the sponsors of literacy are manifest through the emphasis of the program on public speaking and service to the Union, which marginalized everyday literacy resources and writing skillsets. Finally, this study establishes a framework for examining the rhetorical functions of other educational programs, and argues that teaching literacy, as broadly or narrowly defined as the term may be, is also a rhetorical act as it trains learners to respond to particular rhetorical exigencies.
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    Novice parent educators’ experience facing unexpected interactions while facilitating group parent education.
    (2010-05) Cline, Heather Marie
    This thesis describes and explores the lived experience of novice parent educators as they face unexpected interactions while facilitating group parent education. The study employed a descriptive phenomenological approach to conduct and analyze unstructured interviews with five novice parent educators. The analysis generated meaning constituents of (a) being surprised by the unexpected, (b) struggling to hide my reactions, (c) pressure to respond but I don’t know how, and (d) needing to balance educating with protecting the individual and the group. Links between participant descriptions and literature concerning facing unexpected interactions, being a novice educator, and facilitating adult education are discussed. Implications are explored for the field of parent education in general and parent educator preparation in particular, and for further research.
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    Redefining social movement: Utopianism and popular education in Buenos Aires
    (2014-06) Krausch, Meghan
    This dissertation is a case study of a bachillerato popular (people's high school) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Founded in the wake of Argentina's 2001 crisis, the school is a secondary school completion project for adults operating under the umbrella of the "National Assembly," a large social movement that is structured non-hierarchically and uses consensus-based decision-making. Based on a year of feminist ethnographic fieldwork and supplemental in-depth interviews, the study analyzes daily life at the school to develop a better understanding of social movements more broadly. This dissertation contributes to the existing sociological literature on social movements in three important ways. First, I develop the concept of utopian social movements, a lens for analysis of movements that incorporates meaning-making and claims-making into a single framework (in strong contrast to the popular theoretical paradigm of contentious politics). The school struggles to improve the material conditions of participant activists, a majority of whom are marginalized across multiple axes of difference (i.e., race/nationality, class, and gender). At the same time it seeks to establish the conditions for what is here termed dialogic freedom, the idea of liberation as a condition of being that is dialogic, reflexive, dialectic, and processual. Dialogic freedom is practiced through critical pedagogy as well as a more broadly intellectual vision of politics, and the way it is intertwined at the people's high school with a daily and long-term struggle to achieve better housing, food, and living conditions is a hallmark of utopian social movements. Second, I show how the school accomplishes its goals by producing a collective subject, which is (re)produced through a combination of structural and affective elements in practice at the people's high school: non-hierarchy, consensus, mística, and everyday collective effervescence. The case of the people's high school highlights the centrality of affective practices to liberatory politics, including those movements which take material deprivation as their starting point. Finally, this research makes an important empirical contribution to existing knowledge about social movements by describing in rich ethnographic detail how the school's ambitious utopian project is carried out by the subaltern and under what conditions.
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    The relationship between transformational leadership and knowledge workers' self-directed learning readiness
    (2013-08) Aparicio, Ricardo Antonio
    The rapid pace of change for knowledge workers competing globally necessitates ongoing continuous learning. Increasingly, knowledge workers will need to be ready - willing and able - to engage in self-directed learning. This makes it important to understand what factors in the work environment might be related to the self-directed learning readiness. The variables examined in this study were drawn from three strands of literature. Self-directed learning readiness, the dependent variable, was drawn from the education research. Transformational leadership the independent variable was drawn from the leadership research. Based on findings from the employee development research supervisor support for development was also included as an independent variable. The present study addresses the lack of knowledge regarding whether a relationship exists between supervisor transformational leadership behaviors, supervisor support for development, and knowledge worker self-directed learning readiness. This study used a correlational, cross-sectional, research design. A survey using well validated instruments was sent to 1,200 knowledge workers at a Fortune 500 company. A total of 385 responses (a 32% response rate) were received. Pearson moment correlation, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. Aggregate transformational leadership was found to be positively related to self-directed learning readiness in this sample (r = 0.12, p = .02). The results found support for a weak relationship between self-directed learning readiness and transformational leadership. Similarly weak relationships were found between self-directed learning readiness and the four separate transformational leadership behavior sub-scales. Supervisor support for development was weakly related to self-directed learning readiness. A strong relationship (r = .80, p = 0.00) was found between supervisor support for development and transformational leadership. Due to multicollinearity, multiple regression analysis (F2,382 = 2.846, p = .059) did not find unique effects on subordinate self-directed learning readiness for aggregate transformational leadership (â = .085, p = .32) or supervisor support for development (â = .042, p = .62) when controlling for each other. Due to multicollinearity, a second multiple regression analysis (F4,380 = 1.555, p = .19) with idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, or individualized consideration in the model did not find unique effects on self-directed learning readiness when controlling for the other behaviors. Self-directed learning readiness was significantly related (r = .19, p = .00) to self-reported job performance. Implications for both research and practice were discussed based on these results.
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    The Resettlement Experiences of Southern Sudanese Women Refugees in Minnesota
    (2015-09) El-Radi, Reem
    Over the past two decades, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Britain and other Western European nations have witnessed a high influx of African Refugees from war torn countries in Africa. Southern Sudanese left their country to escape the civil war between Southern Sudanese and the Northern dominated government. The civil war began intermittently in 1955 and continuously in 1983. The civil war ended in 2003 and has resulted in the death of 2 million and the displacement of four million Southern Sudanese (UNHCR, 2001). The lives of the Southern Sudanese refugees have not been easy after resettlement, especially the lives of women. Many Southern Sudanese women have experienced violence and rape during the civil war in Sudan and in refugee camps and have lived in fear of such violence (Tankink & Richters, 2007). The resettlement of Southern Sudanese women refugees into a society that is geographically and culturally different has been challenging. The dissertation indicated that adjustment to a new culture is a difficult process for many women refugees. (Sullivan & Deacon, 2009), (Martin, 2004). Barriers that hinder the adjustment process include racial and cultural discrimination against women refugees in the host society. Women refugees are likely to face racism and sexism in seeking employment or vocational training in their host country. There also personal barriers that hinder the adjustment process for refugee women. These barriers include trauma, lack of language skills and vocational skills, and cultural differences (Martin, 2004). In general, there is a little literature that focuses on the African refugee resettlement experience in the US (Boas, 2007), (khawaja, et al, 2008) and there are less literature on Southern Sudanese women refugees and their overall adjustment in their new environments. This study expands the understanding of the Southern Sudanese women refugees’ experiences and the barriers that prevent them from achieving their goals. The significance of the study lies in its search for a deeper understanding of the process through which Southern Sudanese women refugees attempt to balance their life demands as they are integrating to American norms and values. This area of knowledge, based on the experiences of Southern Sudanese women as they settled in Minnesota brings increasing awareness of the particular needs of Southern Sudanese refugee women. This will also assist service providers, educators, and policy makers in developing best practices when working with Southern Sudanese women refugees This is a qualitative study research used narrative analysis. For this qualitative research, a purposive sample of 7 Southern Sudanese refugee women was selected to participate in the study. Two methods of recruitment were used; first through nominative sample and second through the resettlement agencies and adult education centers in Minnesota. Strict measures to ensure that participants were protected from any undue harm or coercion as a result of interviews. The sample selection criteria were as follows: Be a Southern Sudanese women refugee 21years or older; has entered the United States with refugee status; is able to communicate in English or Arabic; has been living in the US for longer than one year, who is coming back to school or in school to get an education or some sort of credentials related to language skills or career preparation. The findings of this study supported and corresponded with the literature. The interviews of the seven Southern Sudanese women refugees revealed a range of reactions and experiences in navigating and resettling in their new home, Minnesota. The variation of the women’s ages and backgrounds, and the circumstances of their experiences, produced a variety of themes. The most prevalent themes identified were the cultural conflict and its impact on resettlement; the challenges the women experienced in adapting to their new homes; the impossibility of returning back home; the traumatic experiences pre and post resettlement; and coping and sources of resilience. The narrative methodology allowed the women refugees the voice to provide a context specific knowledge beyond the generalized explanation of the refugees experiences in the literature thus adding a rich picture of this marginalized group and their perspectives and unique experiences to the literature. This qualitative research provided some understanding and explanation about the experience of some Southern Sudanese women refugees but it cannot be generalized to all Southern Sudanese women refugee populations, or any other ethnic refugee group.