PREFACE
In the 1970s, Knowles predicted that education in the 21st century would be delivered electronically. His prediction came true as more and more universities in North America have purchased either WebCT or Blackboard programs to deliver their educational programs to students, especially to working adults who cannot come to campuses for the face to face meetings because of their family/work responsibilities. Since its inception in 1833 when the word andragogy was first coined by the German grammar school teacher Alexander Kapp, principles of adult learning have been used in one way or another to guide adult education practices in the field. The field of adult education was formally established in the 1920s in North America. Then, Knowles popularized the concepts of andragogy in North America in the 1970s. Adult learning principles have been critiqued, analyzed and refined. Overall, no better principles or theories can be found in the field for effective education than the principles of adult learning. As adult learners and adult educators pioneered the use of technology in the new century, central attention has focused on the following questions. How can technology improve teaching and learning in the field? What is the best instructional strategy to teach our subjects to our adult students and students in general? Is integrating adult learning and technology the solution to effective education for adult learners? With these questions in mind, this book will revolve around integrating adult learning and technology so that strategic approaches can be derived from this process of integrating adult learning and technology. Without strategic approaches, teaching and learning cannot be effective.
Objective of the Book
This book will aim to provide relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area of integrating adult learning and technology. Different innovative and strategic instructional approaches will be explored. It will be written for professionals who want to improve their instructional/training strategies revolving around integrating adult learning and technology. These professionals come from a variety of settings such as universities, community colleges, vocational/technical institutes, business and industries, correctional institutions, churches, museums, libraries, voluntary organizations, community action agencies, armed forces, and plethora of other settings. For those who seek teaching credentials in adult education and career and technical education, this book will provide pertinent information.
Target Audience
The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of adult/higher education, career and technical education and instructional technology. Naturally, these professionals and researchers come from universities, community colleges, vocational/technical institutes, adult schools, public schools, business and industries, correctional institutions, churches, museums, libraries, voluntary organizations, community action agencies, armed forces, and a plethora of other settings. Moreover, the book will provide insights and support executives concerned with using principles of adult learning and technology to educate and train today’s traditional age and non-traditional age students in the information age.
Acknowledgements
To ensure quality of books, editors/authors have their books go through the double blind review process so that their books will become refereed books in the field. This book is no exception. As my proposal to publish such a book was approved by IGI Global, I began to collect chapter proposals. All proposals were carefully reviewed by the editor in light of their suitability, the researcher’s records of similar work in the area of the proposed topics, and the best proposal for topics with multiple proposals. The goal was to assemble the best minds in the adult education and technology fields from all over the world to contribute entries to this cutting edge book. Upon receipt, each full entry submission was forwarded to expert external reviewers on a double-blind basis. Only submissions with strong and favorable reviews were chosen as entries for this book. In many cases, submissions were sent back for several revisions prior to final acceptance. As a result, this book includes more than 10 entries highlighting current concepts, issues and emerging technologies in the field of adult learning. All entries are written by knowledgeable, distinguished scholars from many prominent research institutions around the world. Many of the reviewers happened to be authors who contributed chapters to this book. They were invited to be reviewers based on their sustained scholarship in this field. Also, they are highly respected teachers/scholars in their fields. Therefore, I extend a huge thank you to the following reviewers/authors:
• Royce Ann Collins, Kansas State University, USA
• Victor Hernandez, University of South Florida, USA
• Barbara Hinton, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA
• John Hope, Auckland University, New Zealand
• Kerry Lee, University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Judith Parker, Teachers College/Columbia University, USA
Last but not least, I wish to thank my fellow authors and IGI Global for their contribution to this book. Without their contribution, this book would not be a reality. This book is designed for the teacher-practitioner and is written from both a scholar’s and a practitioner’s perspective. Because of the rich information provided by this book, individual chapters can be selected according to readers’ specific needs and interests.
Victor C. X. Wang, Ed.D.
Associate Professor of CTE and Adult Education.
California State University, Long Beach.
Long Beach, California.
May 28, 2009.