Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is a term for various methods by which universities accredit student experiential learning. One such method is the academic portfolio, a written reflective process in which students demonstrate that their personal or professional learning fulfills university outcomes. Proponents of academic portfolios claim that…

Over the last decade, researchers have identified complex epistemic practices in online gaming communities. Such research invites the question: Can games engender these attitudes and behaviors, or do they merely provide an outlet for players already predisposed to these forms of knowledge production? This question poses both theoretical and design…

This research undertook to determine what motivates adults to continue learning while other less cognitively strenuous, and admittedly more hedonistic, choices exist. Many older adults desire to seek out and integrate knowledge about their environment, thus improving or stimulating intellectual functioning. Comparative analysis was used to…

In this dissertation, I develop an instructional design strategy for emerging young adult leaders (EYAL) in the Swaziland Leadership Academy (SLA). The study was prompted by my desire to evaluate and improve the learning within the SLA. In Part I, I review literature related to adult education, the Swazi epistemological context, and instructional…

In the United States, the community food movement has been put forward as a potential solution for a global food system that fails to provide just and equitable access to nutritious food. This claim has been subject to the criticism of a variety of scholars and activists, some of whom contend that the alternative food movement is complicit in the…

The literature has shown that student veterans arrive in college with unique characteristics and also face unique challenges (Black et al., 2007; Bonar & Domenici, 2011; Church, 2009; DiRamio & Jarvis, 2011). There is also some evidence that student veterans develop complex ways of making meaning at younger ages than students in the…

The purpose of this case study was to better understand the ways that learning through the body impacts leaders/participants' understanding of both leadership and leadership practice. Although the academic discourse on the need to incorporate whole person/multiple ways of knowing and learning into adult learning and leadership is increasing,…

The purpose of this study is to describe, implement, and interpret the intersection of service-learning, Jewish values and ways of knowing, adult education, and lifelong learning for people over the age of 50. By expanding service-learning to include both older adults and Jewish ways of knowing, there is potential for transforming these frameworks…

Given the perils of today's dynamic and resource-constrained environment, intellectual capital has become a source of competitive advantage for public sector organizations. Composed of three elements--organizational knowledge, innovative capability, and organizational commitment--intellectual capital is an asset that cannot simply be bought or…

Women of color, especially Black women, are underrepresented in the extant literature and research of adult development and mind, body, spirit leadership. This in-depth qualitative portraiture study explored the lives of three Black women who have been leading their communities as adult educators of mind, body, spirit practices. This examination…

This study explored the problem of student attrition in beginning courses of an Intensive English Program (IEP) that may affect the sustainability of the IEP. The purpose of the study was to understand the perceptions of continuing students and the factors that influenced their motivation and engagement to persist studying in the IEP.…

The number of English language learners (ELLs) in the United States school system is growing rapidly. Much of the responsibility for teaching ELLs lies with regular classroom teachers. However, little training is being provided to help them. From a sociocultural perspective and drawing on constructive-developmental theories of adult learning and…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of cognitive curiosity through the development and validation of items that identify specific-epistemic, diversive-epistemic, specific-perceptual, and diversive-perceptual factors of curiosity. The instrument was based on existing research that identifies each of the four hypothesized…

Citizen science projects involve the public with scientists in collaborative research. Information and communication technologies for citizen science can enable massive virtual collaborations based on voluntary contributions by diverse participants. As the popularity of citizen science increases, scientists need a more thorough understanding of…

In "Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control" (1997), Albert Bandura writes, "Teachers operate collectively within an interactive social system rather than as isolates" (p. 243). Bandura's attention to the existence of the communal systems that exist in schools is an appreciation shared by many educational reformers, especially those who advocate…