Adult/Continuing Education.

Overview & Synopsis

Patterns that emerged from reviewing course syllabi on adult and continuing education are discussed, and a sample syllabus is presented. These courses are offered as part of graduate level studies in the field of higher education administration. Seventeen professors provided syllabi from 43 courses taught at 9 universities. Modest agreement on course titles was found. Subject matter of courses and the frequency of each category were as follows: introductory and survey courses (9), program planning and marketing (7), adult learning (7), organization and administration (5), aging/gerontology (3), adult development (2), research methods (2), international (2), and other (6). There was little consensus on what constitutes a basic reading list. A total of 45 textbooks and required readings were listed. The four most frequently used books, their authors, publishers, and publication dates are identified. No book emerged as a "definitive" overview of adult and continuing education. A large number of the books were recently published, suggesting that adult education is a field of growing interest and/or that adult education professors are keeping current with the latest scholarship in the field. Overall, there appeared to be little consensus on what constitutes a base of knowledge of adult education. A sample syllabus from Rutgers University is presented. A list of members of the course syllabi network is included. (SW)