From the Teachings of Confucius to Western Influences

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Victor X. Wang ◽  
Lesley S. J. Farmer
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Western Influences

This article reports the results of a study designed to determine whether the teachings of Confucius (liberal and behavioral teaching approaches) or Western teaching approaches (humanistic, progressive, radical and analytic teaching approaches) shaped adult education in Taiwan. Thirty-nine randomly selected adult educators from three premium universities in Taipei responded to a survey about their teaching practices. The same adult educators were also interviewed to cross-validate the quantitative findings. Study results indicated that, while the Taiwanese adult educators employed Western teaching approaches to some extent, they clung dearly to Confucian methods of instruction, a finding that was consistent with reports in the literature of adult education in Taiwan.

From the Teachings of Confucius to Western Influences

2012 ◽  
pp. 207-222
Author(s):  
Victor X. Wang ◽  
Lesley Farmer
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Western Influences

This article reports the results of a study designed to determine whether the teachings of Confucius (liberal and behavioral teaching approaches) or Western teaching approaches (humanistic, progressive, radical and analytic teaching approaches) shaped adult education in Taiwan. Thirty-nine randomly selected adult educators from three premium universities in Taipei responded to a survey about their teaching practices. The same adult educators were also interviewed to cross-validate the quantitative findings. Study results indicated that, while the Taiwanese adult educators employed Western teaching approaches to some extent, they clung dearly to Confucian methods of instruction, a finding that was consistent with reports in the literature of adult education in Taiwan.

The Intersection of Confucianism and Western Teaching in Taiwanese Adult Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-61
Author(s):  
Viktor Wang ◽  
Geraldine Torrisi-Steele ◽  
Shuyan Li ◽  
Pi-Chi Han
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Subsequent Evolution ◽  
National Economic ◽  
National Economic Development

Adult education is a significant feature of the Taiwanese education landscape and is recognized as significantly contributing to national economic development. Given the importance of adult education in Taiwan, an investigation of teaching approaches and an understanding of interplay of teaching approaches with Taiwanese culture is worthwhile because such investigations provide a platform for reflection and subsequent evolution of teaching approaches. In the present article, the authors delve into the heritage of Taiwan to explore teaching practices from the standpoint of the teachings of Confucius and Western teaching approaches. Data were collected via survey of 39 randomly selected adult educators from premium universities in Tapai along with interviews. The results point to the persistent dominance of Confucian instructional methods despite some use of Western teaching approaches.

Migrants and the Labor Market: The Role and Tasks of Adult Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
Tetyana Kloubert ◽  
Chad Hoggan
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Successful Integration

The process of migration to a new country brings with it a host of challenges, and therefore also learning needs. Some countries have systems in place to facilitate the transition of migrants into society, often including adult education programs. Those programs, however, cannot be effective if blithely designed in ignorance of the interrelationship between established systems for facilitating integration and the experiences of migrants during the integration process. Focusing on the transition into the labor market and drawing on the expertise of adult educators who work in these systems in Germany, this article explores several stumbling blocks that make a successful integration for migrants more difficult and describes three strategies to address them: challenging the logic of the labor market, dealing with failure, and acknowledging multiple forms of discrimination. The analysis of Germany can provide insights that are useful in other national contexts.

scholarly journals Empathy in Adult Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 65-73
Author(s):  
Natalija Vrečer
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Intercultural Dialogue ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Full Extent ◽  
Intercultural Competencies

Empathy is an important part of emotional intelligence and the latter is crucial for human relations, whether they be interpersonal relations, relations among people at work, or in a wider community. Therefore, empathy is important for adult education, for guidance counsellors, and for other adult educators. Adult educators must be empathic in order to understand the perspectives and needs of the participants in the educational process and empathy is a precondition for understanding. The development of empathy as a competence is a lifelong learning process. Namely, despite some biological predispositions for empathy, the latter can be learnt. It is the contention of the article that empathy is one of the most important intercultural competencies, because if a person is not empathic, other intercultural competencies vary rarely cannot develop to their full extent. Thus empathy is a precondition for successful intercultural dialogue.

Social Justice and Adult Education

2014 ◽  
pp. 143-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Robin Russo
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
History Of ◽  
Current Context ◽  
Class Hegemony ◽  
History Of Adult Education

It should be understood that the importance of adult education is to illuminate the current context in which the adult functions. This adult frames directly linked with the construct of social justice. Adult education is examined under two frames: (a) Merriam and Brockett (1997) who define adult education as “…activities intentionally designed for the purpose of bringing about learning among those whose age, social roles, or self-perception define them as adults” and, (b) Horton's philosophy developed under the Highlander Folk School. Understanding this correlation of adult education within a social-political phenomena, the nature of adult education may belong to a wide-ranging spectrum of teaching and learning in terms of: (a) media messaging and the rhetoric that may be inculcating adults, ultimately swaying public opinion; (b) adult messaging and totalitarian implications; (c) adult education and the state; (d) knowledge of history; (e) the history of adult education and how it has been instrumental in social justice; and (f) what adult education, inclusive of adult educators, must do to mitigate class hegemony.

Towards Blended Learning Designs Fostering Adults' Social Capital

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-80
Author(s):  
Celine Cocquyt ◽  
Anh Nguyet Diep ◽  
Chang Zhu ◽  
Maurice De Greef ◽  
Tom Vanwing
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Ubiquitous Presence ◽  
Practical Recommendations

In responding to the ubiquitous presence of information and communication technology (ICT) in the educational landscape, blended learning has been increasingly adopted in adult education. While adult educators and practitioners face challenges due to such pedagogical shifts in instructional design, they are also encouraged to underscore the emancipatory values of adult education to contribute to the global social exclusion combat. Thus, it is of particular significance to examine how different elements of the blended learning design can result in social outcomes for adult learners. By deconstructing the blended learning design into specific online and general supportive factors, the present chapter sheds more light on the question: How does learning in a blended environment contribute to adult learners' social capital? On top of that, practical recommendations for instructors are put forward.

From Social Learning to Norm Validation

2018 ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Donovan Plumb
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Theory Of Communicative Action ◽  
Normative Foundations ◽  
Colonization Of Lifeworld ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter asserts that the emergent ontology of critical realism especially as mobilized by sociologist Dave Elder-Vass in his discussion of norm circles provides a powerful theoretical basis for supporting the emancipatory aspirations of critical adult education. According to Michael Welton, because of its capacity to support social learning, critical adult education has a pivotal role to play in human emancipation. Drawing on Jürgen Habermas's critical theory of communicative action, Michael Welton argues that critical adult education's deepest contemporary purpose is to foster social learning that can enable people to resist the destructive colonization of lifeworld contexts. This chapter argues that, while Habermas provides important insight into the normative foundations of critical adult education, his theory of communicative action cannot alone illuminate the ways human learning shapes and is shaped by lifeworld contexts. Elder-Vass's exploration of norm-circles helps identify weaknesses in the concept of “social learning” and identify how, in addition to supporting individual learning, emancipatory adult educators can also support the distinctive emergent power of norm-circles to form and enforce epistemic, discursive, ethical, and practical norms.

scholarly journals New Trends in Formative-Summative Evaluations for Adult Education

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402094100
Author(s):  
Haifa F. Bin Mubayrik
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Immediate Feedback ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Learner Assessment ◽  
Formative Evaluations ◽  
Evaluation Approaches

The aim of this article was to review the different evaluation approaches for adult learners and the effect on promoting the quality of teaching and learning. This study aimed to identify new trends in adult education formative-summative evaluations. Data were collected from multiple peer-reviewed sources in a comprehensive literature review covering the period from January 2014 to March 2019. A total of 22 peer-reviewed studies were included in this study. Results were systematically analyzed to answer three questions as follows: what are the new trends in the summative and formative evaluations of adult learners? What are the new trends in the summative and formative evaluations of adult learners engaged in distance learning? And what are the outcomes/drawbacks in the summative and formative evaluations of adult learners? An analysis of the existing literature indicated that those who instruct adults must use a wide variety of pre- and post-assessment tools to match students’ differences with their needs. It also highlighted the importance of “assessment for learning” rather than “assessment of learning” and “learning-oriented assessment” (LOA) for lifelong learning, thus preparing adult learners for future responsibilities and decision making. It also indicated the importance of reflection and immediate feedback for the adult learner. Assessment of mental phenomena such as creativity should have defined terms. The findings of this article supported the argument for more attention to be paid to new trends in evaluations used in adult education. One important result of this kind of evaluation is its facilitation of self-confidence within the adult learning setting.

Gender Impact on Adult Education

2010 ◽  
pp. 377-395
Author(s):  
Lesley S. J. Farmer
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
First Century ◽  
Adult Educators ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Developmental Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Technical Issues

As society becomes more pluralistic, it behooves adult education to understand how gender intersects adult education so that equitable means of learning and teaching can empower all adults. In order to address gender issues in technology-enhanced adult education, the contributing factors of developmental learning need to be examined. Gendered learning has both biological and social constructs, which impact experiences in adulthood. Adult education needs to help learners re-negotiate their personal and social identities. In the process, educators can help students learn different ways to interact socially as well. Several gender-linked issues impact adult education; for example teaching across generations has a new twist because of socially-contextualized technology. In providing distance education, adult educators need to incorporate gender-sensitive resources, learning activities, technical issues, student-teacher relations, and assessment. Twenty-first century trends of changing economies, global interaction and interdependent literacies can help both genders learn optimally.

scholarly journals Extending belief research to adult basic education: an exploration of some adult educators’ beliefs about numeracy and its teaching

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-377
Author(s):  
Sonja Beeli-Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Adult Basic Education ◽  
Target Group ◽  
Adult Educators

Abstract While belief research has become an integral part of the educational research agenda, it has been uneven. One neglected area is the beliefs of adult education teachers. Focusing on five such teachers working in adult basic education and teaching numeracy in Switzerland, this exploratory study uses different data to describe their beliefs about numeracy and its teaching. It is shown that this group holds clearly different views from other groups of adult teachers and it is argued that extending belief research to this target group using different approaches could contribute to a wider knowledge base on beliefs in general.

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