Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Vocational education Adult education'

This study was initially planned to be a single study using the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) by Conti (1978), surveying students and alumni of a four-year university. These plans were redirected to conducting a meta-analysis, utilizing 30 years of dissertations that utilized the PALS instrument.

The motivation for this study was to determine if educators might be a collaborative resource to aid corporate trainers in developing a learner-centered training program. College instructors could become corporate consultants if they reinforced the learner-center approach. A learner-centered instructor would inquire and recognize the inconsistencies in the trainer’s teacher-centered training materials. This motive was based on first-hand experience with Acme Corporation.

There were 108 dissertations identified. Eighteen were not retrieved, and 35 dissertations did not meet the inclusion criteria. Fifty-five dissertations were used with nearly 5,300 subjects. A complete list was provided by name and ProQuest number with exclusion reasons.

The retrieved dissertations were grouped: (a) four-year colleges; (b) two-year colleges; (c) other educators. The third group consists of educators with a Masters or a Doctorate degree and teaches adult students outside of the traditional college environment.

The results showed that PALS composite mean was statistically significant for each group, and within one standard deviation of the norm mean ( M = 146). Conti and Welborn (1986) categorized these as intermediate teacher-centered. The seven factors were analyzed, and the mean was less than one standard deviation and teacher-centered and several factors were not significantly different from the factor’s norm mean. No scores were found to be learner-centered. Linear regression analysis was performed over three decades of dissertations to determine if there was a trend towards learner-centered style. The results indicate no correlation exists.

In the United States, colleges and universities are under pressure from multiple sources to improve course completion and graduation rates and to reduce the cost of obtaining a degree. This qualitative phenomenological case study, underpinned by the social constructivist perspective, explored second-year manufacturing degree students’ perceptions of the impact of their teachers’ servant leadership behaviors on their successful course completions at a Midwest technical college. Servant leadership was the theoretical base for the study, which consisted of Q sorts by, and interviews with, students from two manufacturing degree programs. One program had higher course completion and graduation rates and the other had lower course completion and graduation rates. The responses were coded using data from an extensive literature review and were analyzed for themes according to the perspectives of the participants’ Q sorts and responses to interview questions. While the study did not reveal a simple, straightforward solution to the very complicated student success problem in technical college manufacturing programs, it did identify the elements of an emergent model recommended for manufacturing teachers: servant teaching.

This study investigated the construct of the learning organization in the restaurant industry. Descriptive accounts of learning were gleaned from face-to-face interviews, focus groups, observations, document analysis, and data from the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) from 52 participants employed in three US non-national chain restaurants in the Suburban Maryland / Washington D.C. area. This multiple-site case study extends the conversation of the learning organization by focusing on an industry that was not previously explored and offers new insight by providing a qualitative picture of how learning occurs in restaurants.

Five overall themes emerged from the data. Participants cobble together learning experiences from pre-shift meetings, formal training, learning from mistakes, and being thrown into the fire. Participants learn from customers through conversation and through trial and error as they adapt their service behaviors. Managers at each restaurant served as a learning champion by promoting dialog and prompting questions often in conjunction with food and beverage tastings. Informal and incidental learning was ever-present as participants naturally shared bits of knowledge through everyday interactions. Learning also took place off-the-clock as participants discussed their personal learning pursuits, such as accessing mobile apps or websites related to food and beverage, going to wineries, breweries, and specialty food markets, as well as reading cookbooks and magazines. Lastly, job rotation is a frequent learning practice during new hire training to expose individuals to the various roles within the restaurant. Cooks often rotate through different stations as they acquire and build up their technical skills.

In consideration of the evidence gathered, three conclusions are offered: (1) collaborative, informal learning practices are well pronounced learning strategies in restaurants; (2) leaders encouraging the development of new products (e.g., beverage / food) facilitate learning and experimentation in restaurants; and (3) a climate of consistent learning practices and procedures exist in restaurants. Overall, Watkins and Marsick’s (1993; 2003) learning organization model did not fully depict the learning culture in restaurants. Future learning organization research is needed to better capture the unique workplace realities of high employee turnover, tip-based compensation, and more narrowly defined jobs (e.g., bartender, cook, server) that comprise the occupational culture of restaurant workers.

The primary objective was to show the important need of academic skills, specifically general education coursework, to the effectiveness of the technician’s expertise in the field of automobile repair. Additionally, I emphasized that one of the keys to the quality of the technician’s education is the method of instruction analyzed through Henschke’s Five Building Blocks.

I communicated with 35 diversely selected and cooperative employers located in the Midwestern section of the United States. I obtained this arbitrary selection from the Yellow Pages of this region. I conducted personal visits to their locations at which time I informed them of the purpose of my study. Also, I performed an interview with the appropriate supervisor or manager. I acquired the degree requirements for the automobile repair technology programs at 19 regional postsecondary institutions and analyzed their contents.

I listed and assessed the employee requirements the employers conveyed to me. I noted the objectives of the academic courses included in the technical programs. I compared the employers’ needs with the educational institutions’ offerings to determine if and where there was a mismatch between the two entities. I judged and analyzed these findings in accordance with the specifications of the national WorkKeys research tools that indicated the following competencies at various levels: • Applied Mathematics; • Workplace Observation; • Applied Technology; • Locating Information. WorkKeys, the foundation of the National Career Readiness Certificate, is a job skill assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop, and retain a high-performance workforce.

I identified specific contributions academic courses provided to the instructional areas of automobile repair technology. Additionally, further research into increasing academic course content is justifiable by the employer representatives’ responses in this study.

Given the growing rates of youth and young adult unemployment today, particularly in urban contexts, this grant proposal seeks funding to support the development of a soft skills training program for youth ages 15-24 in the Baldwin Park area of Los Angeles County. Essential soft skills needed to help youth secure and retain successful employment can include the interpersonal skills of better communication with supervisors and co-workers the job, teamwork, conflict resolution, and the capacity to regulate time management. The goal of this program is to increase employability by giving these inner city youth an increasingly valued skill set in order to promote an increase in youth employability in this community. A comprehensive grant funding search identified the California Wellness Foundation as a potential funding source for the proposed program. The actual submission or funding of the grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of the grant proposal.

Despite there being a significant amount of research investigating workplace learning, research exploring firefighter workplace learning is almost nonexistent. The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore how firefighters conceptualize, report, and practice workplace learning. The researcher also investigated how firefighters learn informally in the workplace and how that informal learning was manifested. A qualitative multi-case research study of six full-time career firefighters employed by a fire department in New York State was conducted. Data were collected through field observations, interviews, and document analysis. The data were analyzed using grounded theory analysis as detailed by Charmaz (2006). Several themes emerged from the data analysis revealing how firefighters learn in the workplace. Findings indicate that firefighters learn necessary workplace information through both formal and informal learning practices. Firefighters learn formally in the workplace by (a) attending the fire academy, (b) participating in the in-service training programs, (c) taking external fire service courses, (d) attending college-level fire science programs, and (e) teaching and instructing. Firefighters learn informally in the workplace (a) through practice, (b) from each other, (c), through self-directed learning activities, and (d) from prior exposure to the fire service. These findings highlighted a complex, hybrid interaction between formal and informal workplace learning activities. The findings present implications for both fire service practice and policy. Findings from this study suggest workplace learning may be enhanced through training fire officers to identify and foster firefighter's informal workplace learning practices. The policy implications for fire department managers and trainers include improving firefighter informal learning in the fire service through the provision of support, resources, and time for learning activities as well as by developing mechanisms to record and document the time spent on informal learning activities.

African American Women Wounded Warriors’ Lived Experiences of Self-Directed Learning: Success Through the Veterans Administration Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program This study explored the self-directed learning lived experiences of African American women wounded warriors in their successful journeys through the Veterans Administration Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program. Garrison’s (1997) self-directed learning served as the conceptual model to study the learning dimensions. Collins’ (2009) Black feminist epistemology served as the lens. Study data were collected by asking three African American female disabled veterans to discuss their lived experiences of motivation, self-management, and self-monitoring employed to obtain self-directed learning goals. Three 90-minute interviews were conducted with each participant to garner descriptive data about the participant’s life history, details of the lived experience, and the meaning of the lived experience.

The study found that participants’ engagement with others stimulated their intrinsic motivation and encouraged their decisions to enter a self-directed learning program. The findings support the importance of participants’ utilizing personal accountability methods to self-manage the completion of self-directed learning plan objectives. The findings noted that the participants’ self-monitoring of information resulted in commonalities and differences regarding the acceptance of lived experiences espoused by others to validate knowledge.

Challenges encountered by young adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) during the transition from high school to employment have great potential to limit an individual’s opportunity and/or capacity for self-determination regarding employment. This mixed-method study is focused on defining the characteristics of self-determined people and examining the challenges to self-determination experienced by a group of nine Project SEARCH interns with ID. Through field observations as well as initial and final interviews, photographs, goal-reporting, and administration of the AIR Self-Determination Scale, the challenges discovered among the Project SEARCH interns included those related to communication; social interaction and awareness; work skill development; emotional control; disposition, positive attitude, and work ethic; and seeing oneself outside of the current work experience. It further examined how intern experiences, interactions, and individualized supports available during the Project SEARCH year contributed to an intern’s positive growth and change in the self-determination characteristics directly related to his/her identified challenges.

This case study explores the life experiences of adults with learning disabilities who participated in a work skills program during high school and later transitioned into adult life post-secondary education. This empirical research analyzes the issues related to the transitional outcomes of eight adults who are learning disabled (LD) post-public education. This study was guided by the following question: How do young adults with learning disabilities experience post-secondary life after their participation in a work skills program in high school? Three themes emerged from the data: (a) Establishing Self-Concept, (b) Developing Vocational/Life Directions, and (c) Building Hope for the Future. The findings of this case study are interpreted in light of Super’s Stages in Career Development theory. This particular cohort of learning disabled adults are faring well in regard to obtaining employment and developing career/life directions regardless of disabilities. All of the participants are thriving at their own pace towards a more independent life. The work skills program they participated in during high school had a direct positive influence on their transition into adult life post-secondary education. Findings reveal that, contrary to some research, these young adults are actively engaged in adult life with the determination to work, learn, and gain independence as they navigate the transition toward adulthood.