Adult Learning for Active Citizenship: Exploring Learning Pathways around Citizenship and Participation in Community Organizations and Governance

Understanding what motivates adult to engage in various learning endeavours across the lifespan often involves tracing multiple complicated and interconnected factors. Both formal and informal educational contexts determine how individuals will be politically involved through different stages in their lives. In a current study on lifelong learning, citizenship, and participation in community-based organizations in Canada, the possibilities and challenges of developing a more networked approach towards governance to support an active and engaged citizenry is explored. This study is funded by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) and builds on previously completed research around women’s lifelong learning trajectories in adult and higher education in Canada funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, as well as a previous CCL study on life histories of women as active citizens. The findings reveal a complex meshwork of factors that shape decisions around participation in both formal and informal learning contexts to become “active citizens”. Differing perspectives are explored around the role of government, community-based organizations (CBO’s), and volunteer participation as these relate to governance. Critical discourses in citizenship are used to explore how localized factors are often influenced by the effects of globalization and neoliberalism

Habermasian Theory and the Development of Critical Theoretical Discourses in Adult Education

This paper begins with an overview of Habermas’s background, discusses some of his theoretical contributions, explores ways his ideas have been interpreted and utilized by adult educators, and briefly notes some of the critiques of his work

Adult education and publishing Canadian fiction in a global context: a Foucauldian analysis

This paper draws upon findings from a research study on the relationship between fiction, citizenship, and lifelong learning. It includes interviews with authors from several genres, publishing houses, and arts councils. This paper explores many of the ambivalent outcomes of the shifting power elements in publishing that can simultaneously benefit and disadvantage the publication of a national body of fiction. Although focused on the Canadian context, fiction writers and publishers around the globe face similar challenges. Using a Foucauldian analysis, it considers the importance of fiction and adult learning in shaping discourses of citizenship and critical social learning. (DIPF/Orig.

Learning Your Way into a Life of Crime (Fiction): Assessing Sisters-in-Crime as a Unique Learning Organization

Sisters in Crime (SinC) is explored as a unique learning organization dedicated to addressing discrimination against women mystery writers, and to promoting the writing of women in the area of crime fiction

Lifelong Learning and the Pursuit of Happiness: Questioning the Agenda for Adult Education

This paper explores how lifelong learning is connected with the pursuit of happiness, arguing that competing beliefs around what constitutes happiness and the good life influence the agenda for adult education

Conferences as lifelong learning sites: Engaging with different communities of practice

Conferences can be understood as important lifelong learning sites for adults engaged in a variety of pursuits. As conferences often draw together people to focus on a particular topic, whether it relates to workplace learning, leisure, or health, they may be seen as avenues for fostering what Wenger (1998) terms as “communities of practice”. This paper explores how lifelong learning at conferences is linked to the members of a community of practice, the organization of the event, and the effects of new technologies

Mapping a multiliteracies pedegogical approach in adult education and higher education.

This paper examines strategies that can inform everyday teaching practices of adult educators as well as teacher educators in adult and higher education through a multiliteracies approach. Using original film footage of teaching and learning, interviews with educators and learners, and analysis of curricular planning materials created by the participants, this research attempts to identify an

Fictional spaces, learning places: Exploring creative learning sites connected to fiction

Connections between lifelong learning and fiction writing are explored by drawing upon the findings from two research studies that included interviews with fiction authors and with key informants at creative learning sites such as book festivals, writing conferences and creative writing programs. Focusing on two main themes; adult learning and the power of story, and lifelong learning and creative learning sites, we use a Foucauldian analysis to consider how learning sites are an essential aspect of the circular materiality of power in learning. We conclude by considering how creative learning sites related to fiction may be seen as a way to foster critical public pedagogy

Using a multiliteracies approach in adult education to foster inclusive lifelong learning

This paper examines strategies that can inform everyday teaching practices of adult educators as well as teacher educators in adult and higher education through a multiliteracies approach. Using original film footage of teaching and learning, interviews with educators and learners, and analysis of curricular planning materials created by the participants, this research attempts to identify and examine features of effective pedagogy and the philosophical decision-making behind its creation

Using a multiliteracies approach to foster critical and creative pedagogies for adult learners

Drawing upon a pilot study and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight research study to explore how a multiliteracies framework may inform more critical and creative pedagogical approaches for adolescents and adults, this article begins with a brief overview of the literature on multiliteracies and then overviews the methodology used in the two research studies. Although multiliteracies has not been used frequently as a theoretical framework to inform work in adult learning contexts, this article argues that there are many benefits to this approach for adult educators to consider, particularly given the increasing need to attend to learning issues pertaining to globalization, diversity, and the impact of new technologies. Data from the interviews are combined with an analysis of the literature to explore the benefits offered by a multiliteracies approach by considering four main areas: lifelong learning and multimodalities; opportunities for engagement for English as Additional Language learners; new digital technologies and multiliteracies; and multiliteracies’ emphasis on social justice. The article concludes with a consideration of the potential for multiliteracies to inform educators working in a range of adult learning contexts