The group of middle-aged and elderly women represents the lowest usage rate of information and communication technology (ICT) in Taiwan. This article reports how a social intervention program, the Taiwan Women Up (TWU) program, has helped such group to successfully learn ICT skills with the support of members of nonprofit organizations. The study…

This article reports on interpretive research, influenced by a feminist theoretical framework, with 8 women, in their 20s to 60s, who work or volunteer in feminist nonprofit organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on their experience of transformative learning in these organizations; the linkages with the theory of transformative learning;…

Traditionally, research in both adult education and social work fields have focused on cognitive ways of knowing. Although both disciplines have acknowledged other ways of knowing, there has been minimal focus on noncognitive ways of knowing, including embodied knowing. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how social workers…

This article provokes critical reflection about the role of adult educators in contemporary processes of social control. It does so through presenting an empirical case study of an important liberal adult education program (Living Room Learning) and through introducing the work of British sociologist, Nikolas Rose. Rose's provocative ideas about…

This article explores the relationships among student-centered doctoral study for scholar-practitioners, adult development, and transformative learning. In this research study, the authors describe a project that explores an expanded conceptualization of doctoral education that is grounded in an integrative perspective on adult development and on…

Many adults with disabilities in South Africa never had a chance to attend school or dropped out at an early age because of poverty and discrimination. This article investigates the attitudes and experiences of adults with disabilities regarding education. It draws on an interactional model of disability and an embodied understanding of cognition…

Empirical studies have found that participation in international service increases learners' intercultural competence, language skills, appreciation of cultural differences, and tolerance for ambiguity. While previous studies suggest that international service experience is potentially transformative in nature, the present study examined…

This study elaborates on how a disorienting dilemma, a life-event crisis, may trigger reflection. The study comprised an analysis of interviews with involuntarily childless women, who were in the process of negotiating emotionally chaotic experiences. The implications for Jack Mezirow's theory of transformative learning are explored. Compared with…

There has been little exploration of emotional labor in researching the learning of adults, and emotional labor on the part of research contractors has scarcely featured in published debates. The article explores the role of emotion in this context from a critical feminist perspective, drawing on life history data from a study of the learning…

The purpose of the present study was to explore the prior educational and employment experiences of staff members in urban Aboriginal human services agencies. A total of 44 individuals employed by one of three community sites within one Canadian inner city generated 85 unique responses to the question: "What were your employment and education…

This article analyses key events in the history of adult and community education in Aotearoa New Zealand. It draws on historical sources to examine the role of grassroots community activism and local and national networking in upholding a broad vision of adult and community-based education, in the face of a hostile policy climate. The authors…

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…

In this article, the authors propose that dispositional factors do not sufficiently explain nonparticipation in adult education programs. Many nations report low participation rates, but empirical studies have usually been conducted with enrolled adults. This study, however, included 279 poorly educated mestizas and Native women in two regions of…

This article presents the authors' response to Michael Newman's "Calling Transformative Learning into Question: Some Mutinous Thoughts". The authors begin by noting their appreciation of Michael Newman's challenge to transformative learning theory. In their response, the authors review and comment on the fatal flaws presented by Newman and then…

This article presents the author's response to Michael Newman's "Calling Transformative Learning into Question: Some Mutinous Thoughts". Transformative learning has arguably become one of the most generative and provocative ideas in adult learning. More than 30 years ago, Mezirow (1978) introduced this idea to the field of adult education. During…