Adult Education Doctoral Program

Program Overview

The doctoral program in adult education will: 1) focus on the study of adult education practices, including those of participants in the program, and 2) mirror in its own pedagogy what is considered to be the best in effective adult education. With regard to a focus on educational practice, the doctorate in adult education will take as its primary concern the study of how adult educators practice their craft, in particular the study of how they become critically reflective practitioners.

A critically reflective practitioner is one who makes a determined and consistent attempt to identify assumptions undergirding his/her educational work and reflects on when and under what conditions these practices are antithetical to adult education. Part of this course of study will involve doctoral students in exploring their own biographies as educators engaged in practical, personal and political learning about themselves and the contexts in which they practice. Consequently, a strong theme in the doctoral program will be taking students' past and current experiences as adult educators and reflecting on these as a focus of study. Reflective practice seminars (see Curriculum ) have been threaded throughout the program to provide continuous opportunities to encourage and support introspective learning-coming to "know what we know" and transforming unexamined experience into knowledge. Similarly, the content and instructional strategies associated with the more formal courses and curriculum offer opportunities for ongoing reflection on the relationship between theory and practice.

With regard to the focus on exemplifying the best practices of adult education, the doctoral program has been designed to immerse students in activities and processes that are at the heart of a critical practice of adult education. These activities are:

the encouragement of students to take increasing control over their learning so that the roles of faculty and student become increasingly blurred;
the use of collegial, critical conversation-peer as well as faculty led discussion-as a prime teaching method within the program;
the practice of treating students' experiences as content and subject matter of at least equal importance to the content and subject matter of traditionally conceived curricula; and
making critical reflection on practice the focus of the program.

Because of its emphasis on critical reflection on practice, the doctoral program will result in an Ed.D.--a degree emphasizing the analysis and improvement of practice and the fostering of skillful, critical practitioners. Students who share the special philosophical orientation of adult education as embodied in the program will be among those most attracted to this approach to Doctoral study--especially because of its emphasis on critical reflection on practice in a manageable time frame. This program will allow them to pursue their diverse professional interests in the field of adult education, while benefiting from the richly varied experiences of their colleagues in study.

ACE Doctoral Program Overview
Contact: thea@chicago1.nl.edu