Digital & Print Based Resources Related to Adult Learning & Lifelong Development
“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.”
Robert E. Lee
I wanted to include a video, as digital resources are a large part of the adult and lifelong learning community, especially considering the role of technology in our educational lives. This is an incredibly relevant and inspiring video featuring Wofford College president Ben Dunlap. Dunlap takes us on a narrative journey, animatedly and passionately telling his story of meeting Sandor Teszler; a Hungarian Holocaust survivor. Sandor taught him all about what it means to live a passionate, meaningful life, included in that is a passion for lifelong learning. Click the picture to watch the video!
After reading the short article in the course pack, I was drawn to the ideas presented by Mackeracher, so I took this book out of the library. There is quite a bit of knowledge contained in this one small book, an interesting read and an excellent resource for myself as an emerging teacher who generally wants to improve and expand on ways to enhance my lessons. It covers a great deal of subject matter for being such a short book. What I really liked was how it covered the importance of the learning environment (*See my future classroom to understand my perspective on this!) and summarized some key points on the various roles that the adult learner experiences throughout their education. The book is also broken up to include summarized learning and facilitating principles, which are practical and useful. Mackeracher's suggestions, examples and ideas have resonated with me after reading this book, particularly in relation to the concept of spirituality and how to best facilitate learning using the inner reflective process.
What are the essential components that make up lifelong learning? In this video presentation, Danny Stillion summarizes what the lifestyle of lifelong learning is composed of. He examines aspects such as curiousity, empathy, passion and determination as key factors for adult learning and a lifelong love of knowledge. He also touches on how these play a crucial role for the future challenges we fill face as a human race. Click the picture to view the video!
This is a book I got out of the library after completing Theme 2 of the course readings. I found it's paradigm was very grounded in theory and research, with lots of examples and elaborations on foundational concepts, however what I liked about it was that it was concise and relevant to practice in the field with any age group. There were useful, relevant, relatable and practical applications for instructional methods and perspectives that I can see myself utilizing as an Early Childhood Educator, as it focused on various approaches to learning that are very problem based and collaborative; a huge component of ECE and Elementary grades. It compares and contraasts the value of such a paradigm compared to methods that are more didactic in nature. Finally this book has a very nice narrative regarding the importance of equality between the teacher and learner, and how this role of respect is vital to lifelong learning journey.
Lifelong learning was something that, prior to taking Education 455 as part of my Education program at the Univeristy of Calgary, was never something I had ever considered relevant to the field of teaching. After completing the course and immersing myself in additional resourecs, however I can see how practial and vital it is to ones career as an excellent educator. This book looks more at the history and emergence of adult learning and life long learning methods and examines the various kinds of supporters of the new and innovative ways of learning throughout an individual's lifespan. There are lots of recently published narratives in this book, as well as theoretical summaries from scholars in the field. This book also offers a detailed and up to date reflection on the current and emerging practices in adult education and learning, and also what we understand about it's importance in a social society. It has a temporal context, recognizing that our education world is becoming digital and expanding faster than ever, and that there are challenges associated with growing and evolving that have both potential problems and potential gains inherent within them.