Abstract
Although adult education has its roots in antiquity with ancient teachers such as Confucius, Socrates, Plato, and Jesus leading the way, the field continues to evolve. In Advanced Research in Adult Learning and Professional Development: Tools, Trends, and Methodologies, Editor Victor C. X. Wang applauds the work of Malcolm Knowles who, in the 1970s, promoted the theory of andragogy in adult education to encourage adult educators to become learning facilitators rather than the traditional “information presenters and knowledge authorities” (p. xix). Wang points to the important, more recent contributions of Stephen Brookfield, Jack Mezirow, and Patricia Cranton who have expanded the theory of andragogy to include critical theory and transformative learning. To this end, he has compiled a reference source that provides adult educators with the tools, trends, and methodologies they need to maximize student learning. The 13 chapters in the volume are written by distinguished scholars from more than a dozen countries who are experts in their field.
Chapter 1 reports extensive research on the importance of developing “robust e-portfolio evaluation models and frameworks” (p. xiii), while Chapter 8 highlights the effectiveness of using e-portfolios in the digital collection of artifacts that validate professional development.
Chapters 2 and 3 will be of particular interest to both professionals and laypersons interested in health care. Chapter 2 deals with the need to develop a curriculum that focuses on the interdependencies between teachers and learners, while Chapter 3 considers the advantages of a web-based interactive training program for health care organizations.
For those interested in assessment in higher education, Chapter 4 presents a study supporting the use of System-Wide Assessments (SWAs) to ensure best practices and enhance the effectiveness of assessment in higher education.
Chapters 5, 9, and 12 address group learning in an online environment. In Chapter 5, researchers explore the pros and cons of supplemental online interest groups for professional learners, while in Chapter 9, researchers investigated “the influence of racial and gender diversity on group process and problem solving in an academic setting” (p. 224). How can team leaders lead effectively in the virtual realm? Read Chapter 12 to learn how to develop virtual leadership skills that are cost-effective, efficient, and are not constrained by “time, space, and geography” (p. 286).
Using technology in instruction is important (Chapters 6, 10, 11, and 13). Readily acknowledging that effective teachers are the key to learning, researchers (Chapter 6) cite findings that support that an effective teacher in the 21st century must be prepared to “use technology as a tool to promote and extend student learning on a daily basis” (p. xv). Chapter 10 explores the latest trend in the use of technology in education—that of “mobile phones, iPods, iPads, Smart phones, mp3 players, PDA systems and notepads” (p. 237). Because students in today’s digital era use technology gadgets daily, language teachers should tap into that ability to enhance students’ use of language skills. Research supports the importance of designing curriculum that assesses individual student learning in web-based instruction (Chapter 11). Research reported in Chapter 13 has determined that users’ acceptance and satisfaction of an e-learning system is related to the quality of both the system itself and of the course content.
In Chapter 7, Victor Wang and Patricia Cranton note that students in the United States have fallen behind students in other industrialized nations. They advocate the importance of incorporating the use of the Self-Directed Learning (SDL) model at all levels of education as one important means of helping U.S. students to catch up.
Victor C. X. Wang, a tenured associate professor at Florida Atlantic University, who has published extensively in both the United States and China on such topics as workforce education, adult teaching and learning, and transformative education, is uniquely qualified to edit such a text. Wang’s target audiences are students, academics, and professionals who wish “to further their own education and the education and training of their employees” (p. xvii). Although this volume certainly meets these criteria, grouping the 13 chapters by subject would greatly enhance readability. For example, Chapters 5, 9, and 12 address group learning in an online environment. Why not group them together? Overall, this volume is well written and would be an excellent supplemental text for many graduate courses in adult education.