Abstract
In a field that considers the use of reflection, experience, and problem solving as integral tools in facilitating learning for adults, there are surprisingly few resources available that provide actual case studies for facilitators to use in helping learners understand the theory and practice of adult learning as a specific and unique discipline. Referring to the common practice of adult education faculty developing their own cases from scratch due to the paucity of available materials, Kathleen King laments in the foreword, “There has to be a better way” (p. ix). I agree wholeheartedly. Case Studies and Activities in Adult Education and Human Resource Development successfully takes up the challenge in providing real-world scenarios that serve to help learners visualize the complexities of a broad and evolving field.
The book has four chapters. The first two chapters introduce the concept of case studies as “specific types of stories” (p. 2) and provide facilitators with guidelines on preparing learners for a case study learning environment. Chapter 3, “Case Studies and Activities,” is the crux of the text and includes 39 cases, 4 learning activities, and 8 classroom activities separated into 16 categories representing various functions of the field, such as program planning, instructional design, human resource development, and administration. The fourth chapter takes the reader through six steps of developing an effective case study and defines an exemplary case as one where “the student understands the complexity of the situation, the variables to be considered, and the course of action ultimately chosen” (p. 168).
Using the author’s own criteria as a guide, the stories provided in this text are exemplary cases for several reasons. First, the problems may be complex, but the cases themselves are concise and readable. The author warns early on that if students become overloaded with detail, they can lose interest. Second, many of the cases involve sympathetic trainers and administrators in seemingly impossible situations dealing with conflicting and competing values and interests. Other cases are frighteningly timely—practitioners balancing diverse cultural interests in an increasingly complex workforce demographic, while keeping an eye on the business and legal interests of the organization. Finally, the questions at the end of each case do not easily lead the reader toward a “right decision” but ask the reader to simply think through and justify whatever decision is made.
There are areas that could be improved in subsequent editions. Although the title includes adult education and human resource development as equal partners, there is an obvious slant toward human resource development. Cases are primarily set in business/industry and higher education environments. They emphasize program development, administration, and evaluation, with scant attention to direct contact with adult learners. Although we often debate vigorously about what actually counts as adult education (Merriam & Brockett, 2007), the text would broaden its audience by having a more balanced approach in terms of adult education venues (e.g., correctional education, public health education, military education, civic education, religious education), delivery of adult education services, and types of case studies.
The audience implicitly includes novice facilitators who have not previously used case studies as an instructional method. This makes it vital that the text be organized in a manner to make cases easy to find. The categories for the cases represent field (e.g., community education or adult basic education/literacy), function (e.g., needs assessment or program planning), and client (the adult learner), but their organization within the text is unclear and many cases can easily fit into more than one category.
I applaud the author for providing five quality cases involving issues of diversity and cultural understanding (this is the largest category), but he does himself a disservice in this regard by neither providing an index nor placing keywords at the top of his cases. Issues of positionality (race, class, gender, sexual orientation) are woven throughout many other cases (I counted at least six others), yet this would not be obvious to readers unless they read every case closely. I found these cases to be some of the best in the book.
I highly recommend this text to faculty, facilitators, and trainers who situate learning within a framework of experience. The sheer number of cases provides many options that could most comfortably fit with their objectives, their message, and their audience. It is important to keep in mind, however, that this text should be used in conjunction with or as a supplement to primary materials that introduce theoretical concepts of adult learning and development, program development and administration, and instructional design.