Arguably, the most important need in society today is to create individuals who will take action positively and progressively to lead in the private organization, in the the public institution, or in the governmental agency. Leadership action should not be held hostage by the notion that only those in formal positions of leadership can lead.…

To characterize cognitive maturation through adolescence, processing speed, voluntary response suppression, and spatial working memory were measured in 8- to 30-year-old (N=245) healthy participants using oculomotor tasks. Development progressed with a steep initial improvement in performance followed by stabilization in adolescence. Adult-level…

Purpose: This is a comment for all those writers who claim that organizations cannot learn. The author consistently rejects this notion. Rather the author contends that organizations can learn, in at least two different ways. Design/methodology/approach: The author reviews some of the common arguments against organizational learning, and tries to…

As our understanding of learning focuses on the whole person rather than individual aspects of learning, so the process of learning is beginning to be studied from a wide variety of perspectives and disciplines. This handbook presents a comprehensive overview of the contemporary research into learning: it brings together a diverse range of…

Engaging spirituality in the workplace is a logical extension of an evolving preworkplace model of individual spirituality. (Contains 1 figure.)

The article discusses learning as embedded processes of development and aging, and as social activity over the life course. The concept of life-span learning is proposed and outlined to discuss these processes as aspects of and propositions in life-span development and aging theory. Life-span learning processes arise and continuously develop in a…

E-learning and distance education can play a role in helping older adults become integrated with the rest of society. As demographic and cultural changes affect the place of older adults in society, online learning programs become increasingly appealing to older adults. In this article, I discuss (1) the changing notion of work and learning in…

The development of people is the Queen Bee in relation to the growth and productivity of programs, institutions and countries. It is the centre of the concentric circle of sustained improvement. Personal and professional development evokes interest, motivation, and possibility. The development of people includes the development of self, of others,…

This research uses the National Child Development Study to investigate the effects of adult learning upon 12 outcomes that act as proxies for health and social capital. To minimise selection bias we consider changes in outcomes rather than levels. We find that adult learning plays an important role in contributing to the small shifts in attitudes…

The rapid growth in the number of older adult learners presents new challenges and opportunities for adult educators. These include facilitating the development of individuals as they make the transition to their later years and of American society as it struggles to reenvision aging.

The author had an opportunity to teach two professional development classes at the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh. One class was titled "American History through Folk Music" and the other "Celebrating Diversity in the Classroom through the Arts." The subject matter brought together a wonderful collection of teaching professionals--from preschool…

Adult piano students (N = 711) from 24 states across the U.S. rated the existence and importance of 31 potential benefits of adult piano study. Benefits selected from existing adult music and leisure-benefit research were organized into three categories: Personal, Skill, and Social/Cultural. The category of Skill Benefits was the most-agreed-upon…

To a greater extent than any other species, human beings create the environments that, in turn, shape their own development. This book endeavors to demonstrate that human beings can also develop those environments to optimize their most constructive genetic potentials. What makes human beings human, therefore, is both the potential to shape their…

Many adults search for spiritual guidance and direction and persist in seeking answers to life in today's fast-paced world. With burgeoning economic challenges, political corruption, war in Iraq, poverty, health care concerns, environmental concerns, rising fuel costs, violence, racism, and oppression, many adults seek solace and greater…

This paper starts from the observation that particularly rewarding parts of a set of research interviews were all accompanied by laughter. The interviews in question inquired into organizational practice as sites for individual and collective "becoming", conceived as a set of ongoing authoring acts situated in everyday work. The research…