Adult Educators Must be Learners, Too

Update: An archive of the webinar now is available on Blackboard. A link to the accompanying PowerPoint presentation also is available online.

“Adult Educators Must be Learners, Too” is the next in SUNY Empire State College’s ongoing “Re-visioning Adult Higher Education” series of free webinars.

Geleana Alston, associate professor of adult education at North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, the co-editor-in-chief for the journal Adult Learning will make the presentation.

Alston’s scholarly engagement focuses on the sociocultural intricacies of women, minorities and disenfranchised groups as adult learners.

Alston’s re-visioning webinar takes place from noon-1 p.m., Wednesday, April 3, via Blackboard Collaborate.

The college’s re-visioning adult higher education series of free webinars promotes national and international conversations around key issues, challenges and possibilities for adults and other non traditional student populations in higher education.

No registration is required to participate. Simply join the webinar 10 minutes prior to the session. Running the audio setup wizard (Tools > Audio > Audio Setup Wizard) upon entering the Blackboard Collaborate room is recommended for all participants. The Blackboard Collaborate Launcher also may need to be downloaded before the event.

Webinar Description

Adult students and adult educators are both adult learners.

In keeping with this recognition, the adult education tradition has emphasized reciprocity between students and teachers.

However, for many faculty, achieving such an ideal presents significant challenges.

Adult educators may not know, or care to learn, how to negotiate the tensions between their academic authority, teaching practices and identity as adult learners.

Alston’s webinar will focus on the vulnerabilities and discomforts that many adult educators face, especially when they recognize themselves, albeit reluctantly, as adult learners, too.

Some adult educators may need to make the extra effort to navigate these complexities and, importantly, claim their identity as an adult learner.

Faculty development activities can help faculty to make better sense of the tensions they face as educators and learners.

Alston’s webinar will explore many facets of this challenging issue and explore questions such as:

• What would such faculty development look like?
• How can faculty honestly and effectively achieve our goal of academic reciprocity in our work with our students?
• How can faculty be the best possible teachers and learners at the same time?

About Geleana Alston

Alston formerly served as the editorial assistant and inaugural social media coordinator for Adult Education Quarterly and as assistant to the co-editor-in-chief for New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education.

Her research interests include mentoring and advising adult learners in higher education, the history of African-Americans in adult education, adult learning theories/methods and professional development in higher education and critical ethnogerontology.

Alston earned her doctorate in adult, professional and community education from Texas State University, San Marco; her Master of Science in Adult Education from North Carolina A&T State University; and a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Laboratory Science from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.

She is an active member within the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education and the Commission of Professors of Adult Education.

The re-visioning adult higher education series is sponsored by the college’s Center for Mentoring, Learning and Academic Innovation and the office of College Professor of Adult Learning and Mentoring Alan Mandell. Contact Alan.Mandell@esc.edu, Shantih.Clemans@esc.edu or Karen.LaBarge@esc.edu with any questions about the webinars.