Personal Philosophy of Adult & Career Education
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PPT Developed for my ACED 7020 Course - Spring 2013
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Personal Philosophy of Adult & Career Education
- 2. Agenda My Background What is Adult & Career Education to me? What is the purpose, focus & importance? Who are Adult Learners? What are the benefits? Who should teach & what should be taught?
- 3. My Background Family of life long learners
- 4. My Background Extracurricular Activities
- 5. My Background Quality Education
- 6. What is ACED to me? Potential Personal Development Self-Confidence Goal Achievement Economic Society
- 7. What is the purpose of ACED? To train students in skills that will lead to careers To promote collaboration and reflection To develop greater critical thinking skills To develop team work skills To create a more effective/responsible society member
- 8. What is ACED’s focus? Foundations Personal Responsibility Researching Skills Safety Self-Confidence
- 9. Why is ACED important? Personal Growth and Self-Confidence New Career Paths or Enhancement in a Current Career Local Economy America’s Economy America’s Global Presence
- 10. Who are Adult Learners? ? ? ? ? ?
- 11. Who are Adult Learners? Anyone 16 years or older Someone seeking a new career Someone seeking to enhance their current education or skillset level Someone seeking to remain “current” in their area of expertise Someone seeking to get back into the workforce after a period of being “away”
- 12. What are the Benefits of ACED? Personal Growth & Self-Confidence Critical Thinking Skills Enhanced Marketable Skills Increased Income Opportunities Increased Respect For Others Contributions to Society Globally Competitive Workforce
- 13. Who should teach ACED? Someone who… …is a content area expert …has a concept of responsibility …can break knowledge down into learnable chunks …is willing to help others understand …has patience
- 14. Where should ACED be taught? High School Technical / Vocational School Two Year Colleges Clinics & Seminars On the Job In the Community
- 15. Summary Broad Field Large Age Range Personal Goals to Global Outcomes Variety of Benefits Teaching isn’t for everyone Education is Everywhere
Editor's Notes
- I come from a family of life long learners. Both of my parents have received a good amount of education. My Mother was trained as a Radiology Technician and Nuclear Medicine Technician. My Father was in the Navy where he received training as a Corpsman, Nuclear Medicine Technician, and as a Physician Assistant. He has obtained two Masters and had been working on a third until our move to Georgia. Since he worked in the medical field, he was required to do extensive continuing education to maintain his skills and credentials. I grew up in this environment of seeing my father study a lot of the time and observed how supportive my mother was in his endeavors.
- I was able to enjoy several different extracurricular activities growing up. My activities included piano lessons, gymnastics and karate. All of these require hard work and dedication if you hope to be “good”. The one activity that has stuck the longest with me has been horse riding. Horses have been a large grounding force for me as they frequently remind me that I don’t know as much as I think I do, no matter what level of education or experience I have. They are a reminder to me that responsibility and hard work are important, as well as constantly being on your toes and continuing to learn.
- My parents also ensured that I received a quality education. They always insisted that I do my best in my school work, this they instilled in me early on in my educational career. I wasn’t allowed to goof off and get by with the average grade. They supported me in my undergraduate studies at Berry College, and in my graduate work at Valdosta State University. At Berry College I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. After graduating from Berry I applied for a job as web developer at Darton College. I have worked at Darton for several years and have been able to take advantage of the Tuition Assistance Program where I was able to obtain two certificates, one in Business Computer Systems and a second in Network Security. Additionally I have received the following certifications: CIW Associates & Professional CompTIA A+, Network+, & Security+ ZendPHP 5.0 Certification I also pursued my Masters of Education in Instructional Technology at Valdosta State University between 2005 – 2008.
- To me, Adult and Career education is: An opportunity to help others reach their potential. A chance to teach skills to someone to help them develop personally, and to help them mature by learning how to think critically. An opportunity to help build someone’s self-confidence. A chance to help someone fulfill their goal of obtaining a job or career. A chance to help someone improve their income level and/or social status. A chance to help improve our society by providing a better educated populace.
- What is the purpose of Adult and Career Education? The first goal of any Adult and Career Education program is to train students in the skills that will lead to them finding careers. While providing the first goal is a start, it should not be the end of the goals of ACED. In the society of instant communication, a goal of ACED needs to be promoting collaboration and reflection skills in the students that are produced. They need to know how to collaborate with others and reflect on what they are doing. Additionally, the students need developed within them greater critical thinking skills. Students need to learn how to synthesize the material they are receiving, either in the school environment or out in the work force, and act upon what they have learned. A person who can think for themselves will make a better student and eventually a better employee. Another purpose of ACED is to develop team work skills in our students. Many students are not learning how to work well with others, they are growing up in a society that is “app” driven. But an “app” driven society does not necessarily mean team work, instead people are becoming more isolated and focused on the technology instead of others around them. This leads into my final point, to create a more effective/responsible society member. We want to develop students who can think for themselves not just about their careers, but about the events going on around them in society. We want students who are not so focused on technology, that they actually pay attention to what is going on in their home town. People who are responsible members of society are more likely to reach out and help others, perhaps even those with whom they have gone to school.
- The focus of each ACED course should depend on the subject matter being taught. Solid foundations of the topic should be a large focus of an ACED course. The instructional techniques should include a scaffolding method that helps the student build upon what is being taught, not just random facts. The concepts should fit together so that the students can build their critical thinking skills and figure out the next logical steps. Included in the foundations of the course and dependent on the level of the students & the level of the course, there should also be guidance on what to study, how to study, how to learn/listen/take notes, etc. This should be especially true at the high school level. Personal responsibility should also be included in in the focus of ACED. Students need to know that it is ultimately their responsibility to continue their education. They cannot expect everything to be handed to them. Tying in with personal responsibility is researching skills. Students need to know how to dig for information that will help them update their skills and keep up with current trends in their chosen career paths. Safety is also a focus area for ACED. Many career areas appear to be “safe” places to work, but there are hidden dangers in just about every area. Some of the hidden areas that students need to be aware of are issues like sexual harassment and negligence. Finally, students need to know when they are doing a good job with their work. It is the instructor’s responsibility to let the student know this, and help encourage a healthy level of self-confidence in the students. A self-confident student produces a self-confident worker, and self-confident workers are people who produce good work in a timely manner. This self-confidence is important to build into our students, when they exude self-confidence they are more likely to land the jobs they want.
- ACED is important for several reasons: To help develop self-confidence and personal growth in the students To help students pursue enhanced or new careers To help stabilize and/or stimulate the local economy To help stabilize and/or stimulate the American economy To help America strengthen her global presence
- So who are adult learners? Who are the people we are educating?
- Adult learners can be as young as sixteen years of age and as old as the oldest person alive! We do not often think of sixteen to nineteen year olds as adult learners, but not all people of this age group complete high school. Some graduate early, some get their GED, some do joint enrollment with colleges to get a head start on their higher education careers. Another group of adult learners are those people who are burnt out in their current careers or are just ready for a change. They may currently be out of a job because of layoffs, or they may want to jump into a field that they see is growing and has lot of opportunities for advancement. Those still in careers are adult learns as well! Some fields provide for “advancement” with continuing education, were you can go from a beginner level to intermediate and eventually a master level. Some people are employed in fields that require continuing education in order to retain current certification or just to remain employed. Then there are some adult learners who are re-entering the workforce after a period of being away. This could include mothers who were out of the workforce because their focus was on their children, or it may include older adults who are re-entering the workforce after retiring and finding that their pension account isn’t enough to sustain their way of living.
- Ultimately the benefits a person receive from ACED are unique to that person. The potential benefits however are nearly limitless. We hope that some of these benefits will actually bear fruit in our students and must do our best to help our students obtain benefits such as: Personal Growth & Self-Confidence – we want our students to grow mentally through the process of education and we want them to develop self-confidence in the skills they are learning Critical Thinking Skills – we want our students to learn to think critically about what we are teaching so that they can learn to synthesize material on their own, and learn from that material as well as learn to develop their own opinions Enhanced Marketable Skills – Of course there would be little point in the student coming to us if we didn’t provide them marketable skills that they would be able to use to find a job. Increase Income Opportunities – The more skills we can provide to our students, the better quality “future” employee we create for business and industry. We want to provide our students with the skills that are most in demand by the job market so that our students can land the jobs that will pay them what they are worth. Increase Respect for Others – It is our hope that through the process of educating the students that we will cultivate in the students a respect for their peers and mentors. Contributions to Society – It is our hope that the students we produce through ACED become contributing members of society. Globally Competitive Workforce – The more training we can provide to the students and future workforce, the more competitive we help America become on the global stage.
- So who should teach Adult and Career Education? Can just anyone teach? Not just anyone can teach ACED. It needs to first and foremost be someone who is a content area expert. If you are training to become an LPN, you want someone to train you who is an expert in Nursing, not an expert in Engineering. An instructor needs to have a strong concept of responsibility. Instructors are models to their students and one of the best ways of teaching responsibility is by example. A responsible instructor provides understandable instructions/assignments to the student, sets reasonable deadlines for those assignments, is in his/her office during the office hours that have been published to the students and is otherwise reachable within a reasonable time frame, and returns graded assignments in a reasonable amount of time. A great instructor knows how to break his/her knowledge down into learnable chunks. He or she knows how to lay the material out so that as the students progress through the course they are building upon the skills that they previously learned. And my final two points are closely related. An instructor should be willing to work with the students to help them grasp the concepts being taught. He or she should have the patience to help students (who are honestly trying to learn) work through their mental, emotional, or physical blocks to achieve the goals and objectives of the course.
- Where should Adult and Career Education be taught? It should start to some degree in the High Schools. Skills learned in ACED can be utilized by everyone at some point in their life. It should be taught in the Technical / Vocational School environment It should be taught in the two year colleges as there are many associate degrees available that are geared toward careers. There are clinics and seminars available to help people be ‘better’ at their jobs. These clinics and seminars should be environments teaching ACED skills. Once you are employed, education should not stop. The employer should make an effort to keep the employees updated on the skills needed to keep the company on the cutting edge of their area, which will help the company compete locally, nationally and perhaps globally if it is a company that has a global presence. Additionally there should be education in the community. Places such as the American Legion, Hasan Temple, Knights of Columbus, and Local Churches should be reaching out to help people in their community to advance educationally and ultimately improve the community as a whole.
- Adult and Career Education is a broad field. It focuses on students from 16 on up to the elderly. The goals of ACED ranges as well, focusing on personal outcomes as well as local, state, national and occasionally global outcomes. There are a variety of benefits of ACED, from personal growth and self confidence building to providing a business with employees who are globally competitive. Not everyone can teach ACED, it takes someone who is a content expert but also someone who is patient with others as well as knowledgeable in how to transfer knowledge to others. Education should occur just about everywhere. There are always opportunities around us for us to transfer knowledge to those who are willing to learn.