Adult Education Quarterly

Nongovernmental organizations, particularly those related to development work (local development-oriented nongovernmental organizations; LDNGO), and their agents have been assuming, in Portugal, an important role in the field of adult education. These organizations develop with the State, at the national level, and with supranational institutions and programs different types of relationships and arrangements, as a result of the activity in such educational arena. This article intends to question, on the basis of an ethnographic study of an adult education team of an LDNGO and using the pedagogical discourse model of Bernstein, the relationship that these agents establish with the official knowledge (pedagogical discourse) emerging from State-dependent intervention bodies. The results of the study shows that, even in strongly prescriptive working contexts, it is possible to develop an active relationship with the official knowledge and make recontextualizing uses of it.

Situated learning theory understands learning to be a sociocultural activity, and individuals experience identity development as they participate in communities of practice. The purpose of this study was to understand how Korean older adults’ computer learning in a classroom is a situated activity and how this learning influences older adults’ identities. Eleven sessions of an intermediate course for older adults were observed, and 10 older computer learners were interviewed. This study revealed that social interactions, learning tools, the physical setting, and Korean culture were embedded in the course and shaped the learning processes. This study also found that the participants’ learning in the community of practice in the classroom as well as the larger community of general computer users influenced their identity.

This paper examines dialogue in the higher education classroom. Instigated by my teaching experiences and the paucity of empirical studies examining dialogue in the higher education classroom, I present a re-examination of data I collected in 1996 for an ethnographic study focusing on the experiences of the participants in an ethnic literature course. I return to this data in order to cast further insight into my own teaching. After discussing the findings of this study — speaking (or not) as a cultural practice and translating dialogue to democracy — I reflect on how these findings inform my own teaching practice as an untenured assistant professor.

This case study analyzes the introduction of democracy and human rights into the educational program of Tostan, a nongovernmental organization working in Africa. The authors show how Tostan’s original educational approach created a meaningful context for integrating democracy and human rights into its curriculum, a process that took place from 1995 to 2003. The integration produced unexpected results: a participant-led social movement to end harmful practices such as female genital cutting and child and/or forced marriage. After describing the phases of curricular revision in the case, the authors draw out themes to show how the phases interacted to produce social transformation. A visioning exercise at the beginning of the program created a discursive context for the introduction of democracy and human rights, the democracy and human rights sessions created critical reflection about past practices, and awareness of an international human rights framework emboldened participants to undertake actions that created new social norms.

This case study sought to understand why educators participate in museum summer institutes and how participation transferred to personal development and professional practice. The study found participation was affected by an interest in and need for learning about a particular time in history, ability to transfer institute content to curricula, the chance to share their experiences with peers, and factors such as museum reputation, design and facilitation of the institute, and institutes’ speakers and presenters. Participants were able to transfer institute experiences into their professional practice as well as to their personal interests by applying learning to what and how they teach, their ability to critically reflect on history and culture, and their personal development. This study suggests further investigations in the area of museum-initiated professional development may increase our understanding of how educators are drawn to such offerings and how the experiences contribute to adult learning and education. Implications for adult education research and museum educator practice are offered.