"Author's Note": In May 1989, this article was published in "Livelong Learning," the monthly practitioner journal of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (Vol. 12, No. 7, pp. 13-17). Now viewed as a period reference article, it presents the relationship of adult and continuing education (ACE) and…

Media and popular culture reach broad audiences and have the potential to be an invaluable teaching resource in terms of promoting adult education and learning. Human resource development instructors can use media artifacts (e.g., films, television, novels, and cartoons) as useful methods to demonstrate learning theory and adult development…

The purpose of this study was to explore opportunity costs of postsecondary education in the U.S. in the past three decades (1975-2005), as a measure to support investment decisions at national levels and as experienced by individuals deciding on pursuing further education. Based on human capital theory and inspired by a set of studies aiming at…

Too often, educators, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of adult education and human resource development rely on traditional curricular materials and an academic body of knowledge for teaching, evaluating, and training adults. This assumes a coherent body of prior knowledge, assumptions, worldviews, and experiences in their students…

In this article, I describe my reflections on developing student authors through a class research project. I review the assignment origins and description and my role in the students' developmental journey from transforming a class assignment to a publishable work. (Contains 1 figure.)

Adult educators often struggle with finding creative ways to help students understand adult learning theories and applications of those theories in professional practice. Media analysis of popular culture can uncomplicate this task by engaging learners in understanding concepts, principles or theories (Baumgartner & Merriam, 1999). The purpose of…

The purpose of study was to explore the change process described in "The Shack" using Mezirow's (1997) phases of meaning-making in transformational learning. Results suggest that transformational learning is a useful lens for examining the individual change process in the novel, and offers teaching opportunities in classes that explore personal…

Examining media artifacts as a learning method has received little attention in human resource development (HRD) despite it being a predominate form of information and influence in popular culture. As Giroux (2002) opines, media functions as a form of public pedagogy by offering situations and contexts through which viewers can vicariously…

Consistency in the title, problem, purpose, and research question improve the logic and transparency of research. When these components of research are aligned research design and planning are more coherent and research reports are more readable. This article reviews the process for checking for and improving consistency. Numerous examples of…

Human resource development (HRD) evaluation has often been criticized for its limited function in organizational decision making. This article reviews evaluation studies to uncover the current status of HRD evaluation literature. The authors further discuss general evaluation theories in terms of value, use, and evaluator role to extend the…

While the GI bill after WWII encouraged education for the older students, the combination of baby boomers and the rise of feminism have prompted a new wave of returning students to academia. The nontraditional student since the 1970s has often been an older female returning for a graduate degree. Making the decision to return has not been easy,…

This study reports the result of literature review in regards to learning outcome studies and presents a framework that integrates content types with learning outcomes. Analysis of learning outcome studies between 1992 and 2006 using the ERIC database indicated that most empirical studies have assessed the learning outcome at lower levels of…

Human Resource (HR) profession is moving toward being more aligned with business outcomes. To function constructively and to play critical roles more effectively, HR professionals must master the necessary competencies. The competencies that are examined in this study are business knowledge, strategy architect, HR delivery, credible activist and…

This paper presents a literature review on the concept of international cross-cultural mixed messages. Although there is limited literature on this topic, the review suggests that messages from one's home culture and a second culture can result in conflicting expectations for one's own behavior and for the behavior of others. Double bind theory is…

This article provides essential strategies to be more successful in one of the major roles in academia: writing. Most academics struggle with roadblocks in their writing process. We are forever battling to complete research articles, manuscripts, grant proposals or other documents. The strategies and perspective shared here help overcome several…