Explore the multiple ways adults learn through their bodies. Embodied or somatic learning is a way of learning that relies on the body’s knowledge. Our most basic form of learning in childhood is preverbal; however, traditional schooling forces us to check our bodies at the door, requiring us to sit at a desk and raise our hands, focusing primarily on cognition to the exclusion of other ways of knowing. By the time we reach adulthood, “being in our bodies” is a foreign concept and a source of discomfort for many of us. This volume challenges the dominant paradigm of how knowledge is constructed and shared. Embodied learning is examined through a variety of practice contexts, including higher education, community education, health care, and the workplace, and through multiple methods, including dance, theater, and outdoor experiential education. This is 134th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of adult and continuing education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.

Explore the multiple ways adults learn through their bodies. Embodied or somatic learning is a way of learning that relies on the body’s knowledge. Our most basic form of learning in childhood is preverbal; however, traditional schooling forces us to check our bodies at the door, requiring us to sit at a desk and raise our hands, focusing primarily on cognition to the exclusion of other ways of knowing. By the time we reach adulthood, “being in our bodies” is a foreign concept and a source of discomfort for many of us. This volume challenges the dominant paradigm of how knowledge is constructed and shared. Embodied learning is examined through a variety of practice contexts, including higher education, community education, health care, and the workplace, and through multiple methods, including dance, theater, and outdoor experiential education. This is 134th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of adult and continuing education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.

In this wide-ranging book, Elana Michelson invites us to revisit basic understandings of the `experiential learner’. How does experience come to be seen as the basis of knowledge? How do gender, class, and race enter into the ways in which knowledge is valued? What political and cultural belief systems underlie such practices as the assessment of prior learning and the writing of life narratives? Drawing on a range of disciplines, from feminist theory and the politics of knowledge to literary criticism, Michelson argues that particular understandings of `experiential learning’ have been central to modern Western cultures and the power relationships that underlie them. Presented in four parts, this challenging and lively book asks educators of adults to think in new ways about their assumptions, theories, and practices: Part I provides readers with a short history of the notion of experiential learning. Part II brings the insights and concerns of feminist theory to bear on mainstream theories of experiential learning. Part III examines the assessment of prior experiential learning for academic credit and/or professional credentials. Part IV addresses a second pedagogical practice that is ubiquitous in adult learning, namely, the assigning of life narratives. Gender, Experience, and Knowledge in Adult Learning will be of value to scholars and graduate students exploring adult and experiential learning, as well as academics wishing to introduce students to a broad range of feminist, critical-race, materialist and postmodernist thinking in the field.

The new edition of the authoritative book in the field of adult education — fully revised to reflect the latest research and practice implications. For nearly three decades, Learning in Adulthood has been the definitive guide in the field of adult education. Now in its fourth edition, this comprehensive volume is fully revised to reflect the latest developments in theory, research, and practice. The authors integrate foundational research and current knowledge to present fresh, original perspectives on teaching and learning in adulthood. Written by internationally-recognized experts, this market-leading guide draws from work in sociology, philosophy, critical social theory, psychology, and education to provide an inclusive overview of adult learning. Designed primarily for educators of adults, this book is accessible for readers new to adult education, yet suitably rigorous for those more familiar with the subject. Content is organized into four practical parts, covering topics such as the social context of adult learning, self-directed and transformational learning, postmodern and feminist perspectives, cognitive development in adulthood, and more. Offering the most comprehensive single-volume treatment of adult learning available, this landmark text: Offers a wide-ranging perspective on adult learning Synthesizes the latest thinking and work in the field Includes coverage of the sociocultural perspectives of adult learning Explores the broader social implications of adult education Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide, 4th Edition is an indispensable resource for educators and administrators involved in teaching adults, as well as faculty and students in graduate programs in adult education.

Take an in-depth look at adult learning and education for citizenship and civic engagement. This issue presents the foundational connections between the adult education and civic engagement movements. It’s filled with studies on adult learning for participatory or deliberate democratic change and engagement at the local grassroots level. Contributors consider civic engagement in their areas of research and practice and explore the formal and informal ways that citizens come to learn, to deliberate, and to act on the social issues they find important locally and globally. As a result, the volume offers broad examples of different types of formal and informal adult learning for civic engagement. This is 135th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of adult and continuing education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.

This volume looks at graduate education, specifically the doctorate, through the lens of adult education practice. Students in doctoral programs are, after all, adults. Building on principles of adult learning, the authors provide examples of academic excellence achieved through the incorporation of best practices in adult education, including: practical suggestions for democratically negotiating the curriculum, best practices for nurturing responsible action for social justice, ways of encouraging collaborative and noncompetitive learning and research, and support in shifting paradigmatic assumptions beyond the Eurocentric frame. This is the 147th volume of the Jossey Bass series New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.