Dr. John Dirkx was the keynote speaker for the Western Region Research Conference on the Education of Adults held at Seattle University, October 3-5, 2013.
Reimagining Adult Education: The Role of Emotion-laden Experience
Adult educators are urged to design learning experiences that are grounded in work-related and other contexts thought to be relevant to adult learners’ lives. Given recent economic developments, connecting what adults learn with the world of work seems even more important than ever. While these approaches help learners adapt to and cope with the demands of their outer worlds, they also risk sharply narrowing the meaning of adult education and reducing it to a largely instrumental and highly utilitarian practice. The affective nature of most adult learning experiences, however, suggests a more holistic and imaginative perspective to helping adults learn, one that is grounded in a dialogical relationship with their inner worlds. This presentation will explore a deeper understanding of these emotion-laden experiences, what they might imply for how adults construct and reconstruct the meaning of their learning, and imaginal approaches for helping adults work with these experiences.
A conference attendee and graduate student in the Adult Education program at Seattle University, Mali Bain, shared her graphic representation of Dr. Dirkx keynote speech.
