The Role of Pop Culture and Entertainment Media in Adult Education Practice

After providing a framework for critical media literacy education, this paper reports on the preliminary results of a study in progress exploring adult educators’ consumption of entertainment media, how it affects their thinking about group identities, and how they draw on it in their teaching and learning

“Crash”-ing into Pop Culture in Dealing with Diversity: Adult Education and Critical Media Literacy about Movies and Television

This paper reports on the qualitative component of a study of what adult educators and adult learners “learn” about themselves and others based on portrayals of characters in film and television more generally, with particular attention to the recent Paul Haggis film “Crash.

Teaching Critical Media Literacy in Adult and Higher Education: An Action Research Study

This paper discusses three findings of critical media literacy study: pleasure as a motivator and deterrent to becoming critical; the importance of facilitated discussion; and learning from application to practice

The Role of Media and Popular Culture in the Mis/Education of Adults

The purpose of this symposium is to explore multiple perspectives on the role of media in the education and mis-education of adults, and to consider how educators might draw on media in developing a critical public pedagogy

The Multiple Meanings of “Hybrid”: Studying Adult Student Experiences in Hybrid (Web-Enhanced) Classes While Learning How to do Qualitative Research

This paper has a two-fold or “hybrid” purpose: (1) to discuss the results of a qualitative study of adult students experiences of web-enhanced or hybrid classes, and (2) to briefly discuss the process of learning to do qualitative research while conducting this study in a qualitative research methods class

Adult Development: Capturing New Ways of Thinking About the Life Course

We outline first a brief overview of a four-fold typology of developmental theory (biological, psychological, sociocultural an integrative models). We then discuss work that illustrates two of these frames: the sociocultural, which includes racial and ethnic, and relational aspects of development; and the integrative, focusing on time, development as narrative, and spiritual development. We close with a commentary on the current developmental literature and how this literature challenges our practice as adult educators

Compassion as a practical and evolved ethic for conservation

© The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. The ethical position underpinning decisionmaking is an important concern for conservation biologists when setting priorities for interventions. The recent debate on how best to protect nature has centered on contrasting intrinsic and aesthetic values against utilitarian and economic values, driven by an inevitable global rise in conservation conflicts. These discussions have primarily been targeted at species and ecosystems for success, without explicitly expressing concern for the intrinsic value and welfare of individual animals. In part, this is because animal welfare has historically been thought of as an impediment to conservation. However, practical implementations of conservation that provide good welfare outcomes for individuals are no longer conceptually challenging; they have become reality. This reality, included under the auspices of "compassionate conservation," reflects an evolved ethic for sharing space with nature and is a major step forward for conservation