In work-related instrumental learning contexts, the role of reflective activities is unclear. Kolb's experiential learning theory and Mezirow's transformative learning theory predict skill adaptation as an outcome. This prediction was tested by manipulating reflective activities and assessing participants' response and error rates…

In this article, the author argues that the narrative forms imposed on students closely follow the narrative conventions of the "Bildungsroman," the novel of human emergence that has traditionally been associated with what educators of adults would call experiential learning. The author's presenting question--If the self is a text,…

This article discusses a process of recognition of prior learning for accreditation of prior experiential learning to qualify for course credits used in an adult in-service education program for health care assistants at the upper-secondary level in Sweden. The data are based on interviews and observations drawn from a field study, and Habermas's…

Researchers have yet to agree on an approach that supports how adults best learn novel motor skills in formal educational contexts. The literature fails to adequately discuss adult motor learning from the standpoint of adult education. Instead, the subject is addressed by other disciplines. This review attempts to integrate perspectives across…

The concept of reflection is common to a range of learning theories and therefore carries various meanings and differing significance. Within theories of adult education, reflection is predominantly conceptualized as the rational analytical process through which human beings extract knowledge from their experience. This article critiques this…

The article takes as a case study a group of disability rights activists who were given access to a master's program via Recognition of Prior Learning. The question explored is "Can adult learners' prior experiential knowledge act as a resource for the successful acquisition of postgraduate academic literacy practices?" The analysis is framed…

This article contends that the development of lifelong learning needs to be grounded within the framework of "being," a concept inspired by Heidegger, rather than within the framework of "having." This article also describes the problems of the adult education literature, which favors the pragmatic sense of being and, thus, may undertheorize the…

Upon graduation from University Without Walls (UWW), Robin said, "During first semester you told us that if we allowed it to, this experience [writing a prior learning portfolio] would change us. I was so angry with you for saying that because I liked who I was and didn't want to change. But you were right. And I'm glad." For the past 39 years the…

The study of the process of reflection has a dignified history. However, few have linked reflection to the development of the self in such a way that the form of reflection is understood to influence the resultant type of self. This article explores the process of reflection using a framework of meaning making, internalization, and externalization…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how docents developed expertise within the context of their work with history museums. Twelve expert docents from four history-themed museums were interviewed to discover how expertise is developed by volunteers working in nonformal settings. Interpretation of the data revealed two primary…

Based on an ongoing qualitative case study in Costa Rica, this article presents the participatory work that the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) is doing with farmers to protect watersheds from erosion and contamination. Specifically, it includes a description of ICE's Watershed Management Agricultural Programme and how farmers…

A rationalist is prevailed upon to enroll in a program on meditation. During a day of silence, he begins to wonder about the concept of the self as implied in some forms of educational practice. Over the next few weeks, he identifies four doubts, which he calls a Marxian doubt, a dialectical doubt, an absurd doubt, and a moral doubt. He argues…