EDST 503 FOUNDATIONS OF ADULT
EDUCATION (Section 021)
Instructor: Shauna Butterwick
Tuesdays, 4:30-7:00 PM
Ponderosa F 203
Shauna’s Office: #104, Ponderosa H
Phone #: 822-3897
Fax #: 822-4244
E-mail: shauna.butterwick@ubc.ca
Office hours: by appointment
A. Course Overview
In this hybrid course (face to face classes plus online activities) students will explore the
meanings of adult education and its functions in relation to the state, civil society and the market.
One definition of AE is that offered by UNESCO illustrating how AE is perceived as serving a
variety of purposes. “[Adult education is] the entire body of organized educational processes,
whatever the content, level and method, whether formal or otherwise, whether they prolong or
replace initial education in schools, colleges and universities as well as in apprenticeship,
whereby persons regarded as adult by the society to which they belong develop their abilities,
enrich their knowledge, improve their technical or professional qualifications or turn them in a
new direction and bring about changes in their attitudes or behaviour in the twofold perspective
of full personal development and participation in balanced and independent social, economic
and cultural development”.
Students will explore the formal and informal elements of AE, as evident by adult
learning activities that exist within educational institutions, workplaces, unions/labour groups,
and volunteer and spiritual organizations, as well as how it is integral to movements for social
justice and to community organizing and community development. Students will also be
introduced to different philosophical traditions e.g. liberal and radical and how they inform
different AE practices. Canadian examples of AE and its function in relation to social
movements, nation building and economic competitiveness will be the main territory explored.
Attention will also be given to AE practices and meanings in other parts of the world.
Pedagogical activities include face to face classes plus online learning i.e. for some of the
weeks, the class activities will occur online (a course framework has been established on WebCT
and all registered students are automatically enrolled). Lectures, small and large group
discussions, field visits, viewing of films, as well as some arts-based activities will be employed.
Assignments will include a mapping activity (that documents visually and textually the variety of
AE activities occurring within their communities), short reflective essays, and a final paper.
B. Course Materials
Required Text: Fenwick, T, Nesbit, T & Spencer B (Eds.) (2006) Contexts of Adult Education in
Canada. Thompson Educational Publishing. (ISBN: 1-55077-160-4) This book has been ordered
the UBC bookstore.
A reading package will also be available
A full syllabus will be posted online this summer.