Pathways of Adult Learning

This book provides educators and facilitators with a comprehensive overview of the historical underpinnings and philosophical orientations of adult education and adult learning while attending to the various roles individuals play both within and beyond the formal constraints of the classroom. Positioning learners’ and instructors’ educational narratives as central to the theories that inform adult education, Pathways of Adult Learning opens up a dialogue among students, educators, community members, scholars, and working professionals about the many possible avenues toward knowledge sharing.Employing a personal, accessible tone, Janet Groen and Colleen Kawalilak take up a relational approach that encourages readers to reflect upon their own experiences as learners within the broadening context of adult education. Conscious of the power imbalances that can emerge in both institutional and professional work and learning environments, this text explores specific teaching and facilitation strategies that effectively generate ideas and accommodate adult learners of varying gender orientations, socio-economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. Through their collaborative analysis of a diverse collection of first-person narratives, provided by both students and scholars working in the field, the authors construct a multi-faceted portrait of the status of adult learning today.Integrating a critical lens to explore how social, cultural, and economic factors influence and shape individual and collective pathways toward lifelong learning, this text is an indispensible guide for anyone studying or facilitating educational programming for adults in diverse work and learning contexts.

Janet Groen is Associate Professor and Chair of Educational Studies in Adult Learning in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.

Colleen Kawalilak is Associate Professor and the Associate Dean International in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.