MDDE 611: Foundations of Adult Education

Delivery mode: Grouped study using Moodle

Credits: 3 - Elective

Prerequisites: None

Instructor Spring 2013: Tara Gibb

Overview

The primary aims of this course are to introduce you to the foundations and purposes of adult education, and to provide you with an overview of adult education theory and practice. Although the course is not intended as a comprehensive examination of the field of adult education, it will provide you with a foundation for studying other adult education courses and related fields. (A complementary course to MDDE 611 within the MEd and MAIS programs is MDDE 613 Adult Education and Lifelong Learning.)

Course Goals

After completing this course, you should be able to:

• Critically discuss the foundations of adult education;
  
  
• Describe the dominant theoretical perspectives in adult education and relate them to practice;
  
  
• Identify and discuss the key social, economic, and political issues that currently affect adult education.
  
  
• Analyze an adult education issue using an integrated approach;
  
  
• Discuss how adult education theory relates to distance education;
  
  
• Discuss your informed, critical perspective on the purpose of adult education for the 21st century.

Course Design

To help you attain these goals, the course has been designed around five units:

Unit 1: The Foundations and Purposes
of Adult Education

Unit 2: Education for Economy

Unit 3: Education for Transformation

Unit 4: Education for Diversity

Unit 5: Adult Education in the 21st Century

Conferences

Each unit of the course includes an online conference. Questions for discussion will be posted for each conference as they relate to the unit material. Reflection Questions for each unit have been provided in the Study Guide, however, the instructor may provide additional questions. Your responses to the conference questions should be based on your personal experience as well as informed perspectives from your reading.

Assignments

The three assignments of the course are designed as sequential building blocks for constructing a critical analysis. These assignments will be explained in more detail later.

The first assignment, a chapter review (you can consider this as a “book review in miniature”), is intended to encourage a critical reading of adult education literature and an introductory writing exercise.

The second assignment will be conducted within a group. You will be responsible for presenting a critique of a historical or contemporary adult education program to a small group in an on-line conference, offer discussion questions, and moderate the ensuing discussion. You will also have to respond to other presentations made by group members.

The final assignment is your opportunity to delve deeply into a topic on adult education and show the complexity of your understanding as you write a research paper on a question of your choice. You will link your discussion to pertinent theories from the course, offer a critical, integrated analysis, and reflect on the significance of the question for the future.

Student Evaluation

To receive credit for this course, you must complete all three assignments, plus conference participation. The topics for each of the assignments, and the instructions for completing them, are found in the Study Guide under the heading 'Assignments'. The following chart summarizes the evaluation structure for this course.

Conference Participation		20%
Assignment 1: Chapter Review		20%
Assignment 2: Group Presentation		20%
Assignment 3: Final Term Paper		40%
Total		100%

To pass the course, you must achieve at least 50% on each assignment. There is no examination in this course.

Course Materials

Online Study Guide and readings.

Textbooks

Athabasca University (1988). Perspectives: On adult education. (Interviews with Malcolm Knowles, Allen Tough, Patricia Cross and Roger Boshier). Athabasca University.

Fenwick, T., Nesbit, T., & Spencer, B. (Eds.) (2006). Contexts of adult education: Canadian perspectives. Toronto: Thompson.

Freire, P. (2003). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Revised 30th Anniversary Edition. New York: Continuum. [Original work published 1970].

Scott, S. M., Spencer, B., & Thomas, A. M. (1998). Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education. Toronto: Thompson.

Spencer, B. (2006). The purposes of adult education: A short introduction. Toronto: Thompson.

Welton, M. (Ed.) (1987). Knowledge for the people. Toronto: OISE.

Get Started Early

Early access to the Learning Management System, Moodle, begins one week before the official start date of your course, at that time you will have limited access to the course. On the Official Start Date of the course, instructors will be available and the discussion forums will automatically become active.

 

CDE - Last updated by MM February 20, 2013