Davis & Webster: e-Archive & Course Survival
Adult Education in Our Communities:
Colfax vs Muncie
e-Archive & Course Survival Memo
Jackie Davis & Shane Webster
Adult
Education in Our Communities: Colfax vs Muncie
Area
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Summary
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Introduction
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· Adult education is generally categorized in three forms: Formal, Nonformal, and Informal
· Adult education is can be found in many
communities – large or small, urban or rural, all regions of the US, and
world
· Types of agencies that provide Adult &
Community Education include:
o Independent Adult Education Organizations
o Educational Institutions
o Quasi-educational Organizations
o Non-educational organizations
· Adult education of today supports the lifelong
learner.
· Comparative education examines the difference
of educational opportunities in different communities
· Technology can help remove barriers to formal
educational opportunities, but social and financial obstacles still exist.
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Discussion
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This e-Archive
compares two communities in the Midwestern United States: Colfax. IA and
Muncie, IN.
· The Muncie population is 35x the size of Colfax,
and is 15x the geographic size (Colfax, IA,
2019; Colfax Main Street, 2019; City of Muncie, 2019; Muncie Visitors Bureau, 2019).
· While Muncie may have access to more formal
educational opportunities, many exist in Colfax has well. In addition, Colfax
residents have additional options are within a short 30 minute drive to Des
Moines, IA
· Participation in adult and community Education
is not representative of the population – missing are the older, non-white
working class
· While many educational opportunities are
trying to remove barriers such as distance, research suggests removing cost
and hosting classes on-site have little effect on broadening participation
· Adult education sometimes receives public
support, but often suffers from under-trained staff as a product of increased
offerings in different locations
· Communities not only influence access to adult
education, but also set framework conditions: values, attitudes, habits,
priorities, and socioeconomic interactions
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Implications
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· Education may present itself as formal,
non-formal or informal, but the individual needs of the student will direct
the experience.
· Outside of formal programs, non-formal and
informal educational opportunities exist in communities of all sizes, making
them accessible to the entire population
· Because adult education is varied in type and
structure, it will continue to evolve over time, meeting the needs of
society, as long as the population takes advantage of the opportunities.
· As each generation grows up with different
technology, adult education will continually evolve to meet the needs of the
students
· Technology may create a “social snobbery”.
Those without computer literacy, email, or social networks may risk “social ostracism”
· Despite research, forming a discipline, and
much discussion, categorizing and defining all adult education under one
“umbrella” is a difficult, if not impossible, task (Chang, B. (Interviewer) & Merriam, S. (Interviewee), 2019; Woelke,
2017).
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References
Chang, B. (Interviewer) & Merriam, S.
(Interviewee). (2019, January 16). Adult education with different hats.
[Interview audio file]. Retrieved from Ball State University EDAC 631 course
materials:
https://bsu.instructure.com/courses/73839/files/2264586/download?download_frd=1
City of Muncie.
(2019). Retrieved November 2019, from http://www.cityofmuncie.com/
Colfax Main Street.
(2019). Retrieved November 2019, from https://www.colfaxmainstreet.com/
Colfax, IA.
(2019). Retrieved November 2019, from City-Data.com:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Colfax-Iowa.html
Merriam, S. B., & Brockett, R. G. (2007). The
profession and practice of adult education: An introduction. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Muncie Visitors Bureau. (2019). Muncie Delaware County
Visitors Guide. Retrieved from
https://www.visitmuncie.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019_Muncie-Visitors-Guide.pdf
Woelke, L. (2017). The role of adult education. [PDF
document]. Retrieved from The University of the Fraser Valley:
https://www.ufv.ca/media/assets/adult-education/The-Role-of-Adult-Education-Leanne-Woelke.pdf
Thank you for sharing your your insights. I think each of the group survival videoes tell a similar story on what is import for surviving this course and working within a group. I think knowing that we are all adult learners and all have things going on other than school is very important.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing.
Karen Lloyd
Jackie and Shane-you make a good point that using a cell phone for meaningful discussion posts and comments can prove to be difficult. I did find the Canvas Student App on my cell phone to be very helpful for communicating and collaborating with my group members. I learned about the app from one of my group members. Your info graphic is neat! What program did you use to create this? I like how you compared adult education in your two communities and followed up with a thorough summary of your project. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteHi Karin,
DeleteWe used Canva to make the infograph. There were a lot of options to explore through this company...and the price was perfect (free). It was a learning curve for the both of us, but in the end, we had it mostly figured out.
Thank you for the comment!
Thank you for sharing your informative information. I think your graphics were great. I agree with the difficulties with the communication end of posting and commenting. I did download the Canvas App which helped. Great work Jane and Jackie.
DeleteMaureen
Hi Jackie & Shane,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing some great tips in your survival guide. I particularly agree with the tip to create your own calendar with a schedule of deadlines. I did that for myself, and found it very helpful. There are many deadlines throughout the course, and although they typically occur on a regular schedule, it is easy to lose track of some from time to time. I found that it was great to post early, but I wanted to wait for other posts to interact with versus writing 4 posts, and so a few times I nearly forgot to comment because it was a while between when I posted and when others posted.
I also enjoyed how you made your e-archive very personal by comparing your 2 communities. It was clear, concise, and easy to understand.
Will Cooper
I think you did great with these tips and tricks. I especially appreciated your comments about things to avoid. I got tricked into thinking I was alone in several regards throughout the course, and only realized recently that wasn't the case. Your comparison of Colfax and Muncie was also really insightful and reminded me that there is a significant amount of things going on here in the Muncie community that I didn't consider. Great Job!
ReplyDelete