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Explorations in Adult
Higher Education
An Occasional Paper Series
Our Work Today
Summer 2011 • Number 1
Editor: Alan Mandell Associate editor: Karen LaBarge Designer: Gael Fischer Copy editor: Debra Park Director of publications: Kirk Starczewski Print Shop supervisor: Ron Kosiba Keyboard specialist: Janet Jones SUNY Empire State College Print Shop Cover and inside art by Betty Wilde-Biasiny Betty Wilde-Biasiny is an artist, curator and has been a mentor in visual art at SUNY Empire State College since 1998. She is an associate professor and coordinates the visual art program at the college’s Metropolitan Center in New York City. Some career highlights include the Individual Artist Award from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and a solo exhibition of digital prints and watercolors at the SACI (Studio Art Centers International), in Florence, Italy, in May 2011. Academic degrees include a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio University, and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. Cover: Schemata II, 2010. Archival pigment print on paper.
Explorations in Adult
Higher Education
An Occasional Paper Series
Our Work Today
summer 2011
number 1
f
SUNY Empire State College’s occasional paper series brings together the ideas, voices and multiple perspectives of those engaged in thinking about adult higher education today. Our goal is to critically examine our theories and practices, to provoke dialogue, and to imagine new possibilities of teaching and learning. Advisory Board Catherine Marienau, School for New Learning, DePaul University Amy Rose, Northern Illinois University Steve Schapiro, The Fielding Institute Edward Taylor, Penn State University Kathleen Taylor, St. Mary’s College of California Alan Tait, Open University (UK) The ideas expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of SUNY Empire State College or the members of the Explorations in Adult Higher Education Advisory Board. ii explorations in adult higher education
Table of Contents
Introducing: Explorations in Adult Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Alan Mandell
Pioneers of the Learning Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Michael R. Welton
Adult Higher Education at the Intersection of Globalization,
Internationalization and Social Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Mary V. Alfred
The Role of Strategic Planning in Fostering Innovation in
Adult and Open Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Alan R. Davis, Mitchell S. Nesler and Lynne M. Wiley
Working Toward Wisdom in Adult Education in Changing Times . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Elizabeth J. Tisdell
explorations in adult higher education iii
Betty Wilde-Biasiny, Schemata I, 2010. Archival pigment print on paper. iv explorations in adult higher education
Introducing:
Explorations in Adult Higher Education
Alan Mandell, Editor
Enlightenment is useless but some of its principles are not –
for example, unconventionality.
Anne Carson, “The Anthropology of Water” (1995)
T
he education of adults is no longer an aside. Over the last 40 years or
so, degree programs for adults have become a significant part of the
university landscape around the world. Public and private, secular
and denominational, small and large colleges have opened their doors to the
so-called “mature student.” As adult educators, we can only take great pride in
our accomplishment.
The reasons why so many institutions have embraced such former outsiders is
complex but, without doubt, the growth of the adult student population into, for
example, the majority of American college students today is intimately tied to
fiscal realities in which the search for new market segments became a necessity.
Adults were right there – in desperate need of credentials and eager to start (or
complete) something that they believed was out of reach. Night and weekend
classes, online learning, new (often more professionally-oriented) curricula,
opportunities for part-time study, and even the recognition of prior experiential
learning (RPL, PLA) became the means by which a growing number of
institutions sought to welcome adult learners to post-secondary education.
But our accomplishments: significant access for those who had previously
been denied entry, the legitimacy of adult education as a rich and academically
significant area of study, and the grudging acknowledgment that the university
explorations in adult higher education 1does not have a monopoly on defining and delivering everything that could or should be learned – all of this work, all of these triumphs, cannot hide the fact that our important successes have been achieved not without traces of palpable limitations. Sprinkled through the long history of adult education has been a deeply critical spirit, one that has questioned taken-for-granted assumptions about teaching and learning, about the role of schooling in society, about the range of voices that have been given the right to speak, and about the power of educational institutions to control the content, the evaluation, and the very shape of our thinking. Indeed, in announcing the limits of the conventional, adult educators have continued to push us to rethink our core values and to deal straight on with the most basic questions that underlie everything we do: How, when and where do people best learn? How can we pay attention to the ideas, the feelings – to the experiences – of our students? What is the role of the teacher in encouraging and facilitating learning? What do we actually mean by learning? What is a good society and how can we contribute to its creation? How can we continue to deliberately, imaginatively and unconventionally take on these questions? The goal of this new SUNY Empire State College occasional paper series is to remind us of this rich legacy, of the issues that have informed its critique, and, especially at a time of significant success when the conventional seems to be going our way, to encourage us not to get rusty but, instead, to grapple with the kinds of questions that have infused the spirit and determination of so much of what so many adult educators have been trying to do for decades and decades. It is, perhaps, as Michael Welton describes in these pages, one small effort to try to “slow us down” in order that we can more carefully reflect on and “challenge” our work. It is to ask, perhaps in new ways, whether, as Mary Alfred wonders, we are, right now, actually in or “out of sync with the realities of a global world.” The goal of these “explorations” also is to think about the concrete ways that we can “sustain innovation,” given the institutional complexities that Alan Davis, Mitchell Nesler and Lynne Wiley outline in their contribution. It is about how not to lose the momentum urged by Elizabeth Tisdell of “embracing [the] paradox” and searching for the “wisdom” in our collective efforts. This is at the heart of our work today. m 2 explorations in adult higher education
Pioneers of the Learning Age
Michael R. Welton
A
dult educators in the 1950s had a big dream. They
imagined that they could establish a separate discipline
based on unique methods for teaching individual adults
in various settings and psychological insights into how individuals
learn. But they have had to abandon the dream of monopolizing the
scientific and humanist understanding of how and where and why
adults learn. As it turns out, many disciplines now share this complex
enterprise, often unaware of the fact that they are even studying adult
learning. Thus, paradoxically, adult education departments in Canada
and the United States – if they even still exist – remain small and
intellectually confused at this precipitous historical moment when the
discourse of the learning society has highlighted how central human
learning is to all dimensions of human existence and transformative
possibilities. In these brief reflections, I want to offer some comments
on this paradox and make some simple observations on what this
might mean for those of us still interested in viewing experience
and possibility through the learning lens (and teaching students in
marginal spaces in universities).
Today, the notion of the “learning society” – and its cognates, the
“learning organization,” the “learning city” – has made its way into
corporate boardrooms and the policy dens of governing elites. We
have become increasingly self-conscious that we are some sort of
learning society; that a learning organization is a hopeful kind of
enterprise, that something good might happen if we think of our
cities as learning cities. What is it that our troubled global society
is trying to name, to discover, to accomplish? Is the learning age
rhetoric just one more desperate gasp at breathing life and hope
explorations in adult higher education 3into our world of terrorism, financial and spirits, at work, in civil society’s
meltdown, global pandemics, many domains, in cultural expression
celebrities and mayhem? and play. And, I would suggest, in
a world increasingly aware of the
Some skeptics and cynics might think pathologies of modernity.
so. But I think differently. Humankind’s
consciousness has advanced to the The absence of solidity and
point where we now recognize the permanence stripped us down to
centrality of learning processes and a core or elemental understanding
pedagogic procedures in all domains that learning was our most precious
of existence. This acute learning resource, symbolizing hope that if we
sensibility represents a significant shift can only find the right pedagogical
in educational discourse in the last 50 procedures and suitable organizational
years. When adult education was trying modalities, we would be able to
to carve out space in the academy, confront the many problems before
it did so by imagining that it could us in our ever-shrinking world. We
conceptualize “adult education” as the can learn our way out. We are not
activity of professionally prepared adult without hope. It is clear, however, that
educators. They called it “andragogy” learning which is lifelong, lifewide
to differentiate this fledgling discipline and just has many forces aligned
from pedagogy. against its realization. Powerful people
and organizations in our world (in
This attempt to draw a circle around a economic, political and cultural
thing called “adult education” fell apart systems) skew learning processes and
in the late 20th century. It disintegrated substance in particular directions.
because things were moving so fast, Corporate leaders can use the learning
things were so fluid and speedy, that organization rhetoric to mobilize
our inherited scripts could no longer learning resources to learn how to
guide us through the night. We could dominate marketplaces, and not how
no longer take for granted that the to create well-being in their own
knowledge and skills of the ancestors organizations. The lovely language of
would orient us to an ever-changing empowerment may mask practices
present. We became conscious of that do the opposite. Governments
ourselves as persons who were scheme and connive to maintain their
constantly adapting to new learning power. They choose not to mobilize
challenges – in our own bodies, minds energy to create the suitable forms
4 explorations in adult higher educationfor participatory democracy, even It must be intentionally designed
when the technological capacities and enacted.
make new ways of learning citizenship
Learning has broken out everywhere –
possible. The mainstream media
perhaps exploded. Even the local
fosters an in-your-face, win at all cost,
gardening store has its own newsletter,
anti-intellectual “culture of cruelty.” It
weaves gardening knowledge into daily
also is evident that our scientific and
conversations, and offers weekend
technological acumen is not matched
workshops on healing gardens or
by our moral and ethical achievements.
how to manage your garden from
Our knowledge does not always
year to year. Doctors, once the sole
translate into wisdom. One British
locus of knowledge about health
filmmaker has even suggested that,
and disease, now face patients who
when future citizens look back at our
have read everything about their
time, they will call it The Age of Stupid
medical problems on numberless
(Armstrong, 2008).
websites. Social movements – such
Thus, the complacent idea that we have as the women’s, cooperative or the
been propelled into a shiny, new, bright environmental – are fundamental
learning society and that “it’s all good” learning sites where men and women
must be challenged. Human learning learn new identities and exercise
is not free from the entanglements of control over their life situations.
interest and power. In fact, one might Universities do not have a monopoly
argue that modern human history has over knowledge. They are forced to
been pulled along by the tug of war consider their role in the learning
between the money code and the life society where their monopoly over
code. At its most elemental, human knowledge is not as secure as it was
learning can be in the service of these 30 years ago. Indeed, the presence
two modes, and one, the money code, of Aboriginal and Women’s and
has in our time captured the lion’s Environmental Studies in our
share of human motivational resources, universities attests to the learning
intelligence and energy. But our potentials within social movements
learning capacities also can be impelled and civil society.
by compassion and desire to alleviate
When early university extension
the suffering of all creatures. The just
workers traveled down their bumpy
learning society does not just happen.
and muddy back roads to teach in
explorations in adult higher education 5some farm community, they were questions suggest themselves: How do
bringing coveted knowledge from the universities recraft their traditional
center to the periphery. Many of the role of fostering deep critical reflection
farm communities lacked libraries, on the meaning of our time? What
and farmers lacked instant access to does it mean to live and work well?
scientific knowledge about farming. What does it mean to be grounded
Today, we have more access to a wide in a concrete time and place? In a
variety of information. In fact, it may world characterized by incessant
be more accurate to say that we live entertainment and distraction, what
in an Age of Infotainment, an age of specific tools ought we provide to
info glut, of the information deluge. our students? In a world harnessed
It washes over, leaving us reeling and to the money code and driven by
bewildered and disoriented. technical/instrumental rationality,
how can universities reimagine
The age of information is not exactly themselves as a moral and ethical
“good news for postmodern man.” enterprise? In an academic milieu
Being deluged by information does not where “everyone studies learning” and
mean we are more knowledgeable and adult educators come in infinite variety,
wise. The United States invaded Iraq, how does one prepare professional
and a National Geographic Education adult educators? These questions are
Foundation (2006) study revealed salient to those of us with an interest
that 63 percent of American youth in adult higher education.
could not locate Iraq on a map! Many
theorists of our postmodern time of We have to be courageous pioneers of
discontent have pointed out that we live the new learning age. Let me highlight
more and more in virtual, simulated some of the challenges we face if we
worlds that bombard us with endless are going to be able to enable our
entertainment and propaganda for students to acquire the knowledge,
commodities. As a result, we are often skill, sensibility and attitudes to hold
deeply disconnected from the sources their heads high and speak with clear
of our lives, and can easily imagine voices in our confusing and anguished
that we are the center of the world, world of too much information and too
accessible at the tap of a key. little wisdom.
Within the framework of our 1. Our world on speed encourages us
ambiguous learning society, several to surf, skip lightly, bounce distractedly
6 explorations in adult higher educationand lose concentration. Winifred widely, to arrive at the “best argument.”
Gallagher, in her recent book, Rapt: Even fewer pay attention to the proper
Attention and the Focused Life (2009), citation of sources.
suggests that we may be experiencing a
Thus, our task as university educators
new moral panic: the attention-deficit
is not just about making knowledge
panic. Professors report that their
resources, packaged in lovely self-
students are often tired, insanely busy,
directed modules, accessible to men
distracted and unfocused. “Paying
and women. We are inducting them
attention” – the mind’s cognitive
into a “community of practice” that
currency – is a diminishing resource. I
contradicts the frenetic worlds of
have been tutoring Educational Studies
the social and conventional media.
courses at Athabasca University for
University study ought to slow us all
almost four years. What I notice is that
down and teach us to concentrate.
the quick, flippant and breezy style of
Students should be nurtured to read
the social media (the uncapitalized “I”
widely and slowly, to never settle for
particularly irks me) has seeped into
any easy answers. We ought to build a
the communication that some, not all,
“culture of critical discourse,” a phrase
of my students use when they write me.
used by the late maverick sociologist,
My students seem rushed, almost Alvin Gouldner (1979). The university
breathless sometimes, as they scamper as a “community of practice” ought to
to complete assignments. The ethos counterpoint the restless, monkey mind
of surfing, inability to live with silence that is fermented by our information
and constant battering by aggressive age. We need to figure out how to
media (social and other) makes it encourage our students to focus their
difficult for my students to concentrate, minds for extended periods of time.
and to really dig into topics. Far too This means switching off other inputs;
many of my students make assertions it means being absorbed in our work of
without evidence, accept conventional, discovery and articulation.
media-imposed and politically correct
2. In an age of info glut and instant
narratives, and have little sense of
information, we educators must help
what it means to sustain an argument.
our students to not only slow down,
Few have acquired the composition
but also acquire the interpretive
skills of respectful dialogue with other
frameworks for making sense of the
writers. Few seem to want to probe
world. They need to learn the skill
deeply into a subject, to read and think
explorations in adult higher education 7of discernment, how to assess the become incubators of little monsters,
authority of the countless sources aridly trained for a job, with no general
present to us. A quick glance at a ideas, no general culture, no intellectual
Wikipedia entry on Locke’s philosophy stimulation, but only an infallible eye
just won’t do. Universities can be and a firm hand.” Gramsci and Hedges
islands of clear, rigorous, deep thinking underscore the fact that learning must
in a glossy sea of information and be directed by a strong moral and
propaganda. But we will have to teach ethical framework. We must know why
courageously for this to happen. we are doing what we are doing. We
The art of discernment, I believe, is cannot become, as Richard Hoggart
intimately linked to understanding said, “blinkered ponies” (as cited in
the reasons why we think the way we Hedges, 2009).
do and how we justify our actions in
3. The profound realization that “all
the world.
of society is a vast school,” as Gramsci
In his recent polemical book, Empire (1971) once said, enables the small
of Illusion: The End of Literacy and band of adult educators in universities
the Triumph of the Spectacle (2009), to bear prophetic witness for all
Chris Hedges stated bluntly, “To train citizens to become aware of the nature
someone to manage an account for of learning that is occurring in their
Goldman Sachs is to educate him workplaces, civil society domains
or her in a skill. To train them to and public spheres. The intellectual
debate stoic, existential, theological breakthroughs accomplished by critical
and humanist ways of grappling with learning theorists have made it possible
reality is to educate them in values to see how societies actually work as
and morals. A culture that does not learning societies. This means, for one
grasp the vital interplay between thing, that adult education visionaries
morality and power, which mistakes can enable people who are actually
management techniques for wisdom, teaching other adults to become aware
not its speed or ability to consume, that they are actually doing so. For
condemns itself to death” (p. 103). another, this means that we must
bear testimony to the way learning
Antonio Gramsci (1916), the Italian is structured and organized to either
revolutionary who rotted to death block or open up possibilities for
in Mussolini’s prison, believed that human cognitive, moral, ethical and
the educational system ought not “to spiritual development in the interest of
8 explorations in adult higher educationwell-being for all creatures. Our task, Gramsci, A. Unsigned, Piedmont
then, is to play the role of visionary Edition of Avanti!, 24 December 1916,
midwife; to make the ambiguous under the banner “Socialists and
learning society aware of itself as a Education.”
learning society in the first place, and
then to press it beyond its present form Gramsci, A. (1971). The prison
toward a just learning society. This, it notebooks (pp. 5-27). New York, NY:
seems to me, is to reimagine the role of International Publications.
the professional adult educator in the Hedges, C. (2009). Empire of illusion:
21st century. m The end of literacy and the triumph of
spectacle. New York, NY: Nation Books.
References
National Geographic Education
Armstrong, F. (Director). (2008). The Foundation. (2006). National
age of stupid [Motion picture]. United Geographic-Roper Public Affairs 2006
Kingdom: Spanner Films. geographic literacy study. Retrieved
from http://www.nationalgeographic.
Gallagher, W. (2009). Rapt: Attention
com/roper2006/pdf/FINALReport2006
and the focused life. New York, NY:
GeogLitsurvey.pdf
Penguin Press.
Gouldner, A. W. (1979). The future of
intellectuals and the rise of the new class
(pp. 8-29). New York, NY: Seabury.
Michael R. Welton taught courses in adult education history and critical
learning theory at Dalhousie and Mount St. Vincent Universities in Halifax,
Nova Scotia until 2003. Since then, he has tutored undergraduate students in
educational studies at Athabasca University in Alberta. He received his Ph.D.
from the University of British Columbia in the history of education. He is the
author of many books, and the editor of In Defense of the Lifeworld: Critical
Perspectives on Adult Learning (1995). His latest book is Designing the Just
Learning Society: A Critical Inquiry (2005).
explorations in adult higher education 9Betty Wilde-Biasiny, Schemata IV, 2010. Archival pigment print on paper. 10 explorations in adult higher education
Adult Higher Education at the
Intersection of Globalization,
Internationalization and
Social Justice
Mary V. Alfred
D
uring the last century, pursuit of education has become
an ideal the world over (Suarez-Orozxo, 2007), and
higher proportions than ever before are completing
post-secondary education (Cohen, Bloom & Malin, 2007). Suarez-
Orozxo observes that schools across the world – whether in Africa,
the Americas, Asia, Europe or Oceana – tend to share some basic
features: They are designed to prepare students to become engaged
citizens, ethical human beings and productive workers who will
contribute to the societies in which they live. However, she laments
the fact that educational institutions are out of sync with the realities
of a global world; they have an obligation to prepare graduates for
global citizenship and they most often fail in achieving that goal.
At the start of the 21st century, there is no question that “college
graduates will live and work in a world where national borders
are permeable; information and ideas flow at lightning speed; and
communities and workplaces reflect the growing diversity of cultures,
languages, attitudes and values” (Green, 2002, p. 12). These shifts
in the demographic landscape of nation states are mirrored on the
campuses of colleges and universities worldwide, and globalization
and immigration are major forces shaping the demographic
transformation of world nations (Green, 2002; Smith, 2007).
explorations in adult higher education 11While some view this globalization internationalization is influenced by
phenomenon with skepticism, others immigration and globalization and
see it as an inescapable worldwide represents “deliberate, systematic
occurrence with tremendous influence and integrated attempts by national
on the way we organize our lives. If governments, supranational agencies
globalization is such a vibrant force that and higher education institutions
affects the current order, then there is themselves to engage in a range
good reason to assume that institutions of international activities” (p. 1).
of higher education are not insulated Knights (1993) specifically describes
from its impact. Indeed, recognizing the internationalization of higher
the interdependence of our global education as the “process of integrating
societies, the Association of American an international/intercultural
Colleges and Universities (1998) called dimension into the teaching, research
for institutions of higher education and service functions of higher
to prepare students to understand education” (p. 21). Altbach (2002)
global issues and their local effects on agrees that internationalization is a
individuals and communities. One major trend in higher education that
suggestion made for accomplishing has global implications and, yet, is
this goal is through the process of widely misunderstood. He explains:
internationalization.
“In broad terms, globalization refers
to trends in higher education that
A Closer Look at have cross-national implications.
Globalization and These include mass higher
Internationalization education; a global marketplace for
Globalization is now a central issue students, faculty and other higher
confronting higher education, and education personnel, and the global
adult education as a discipline in impacts of Internet technologies,
higher education is impacted by the among others. Internationalization
changes brought about as a result of its refers to the specific policies and
myriad effects. One way institutions initiatives of individual academic
are responding to the impact of institutions, systems … . Examples of
globalization is through the process internationalization include policies
of internationalization. According relating to recruitment of foreign
to Enders and Fulton (2002), students, collaboration with academic
institutions or systems in other
12 explorations in adult higher educationcountries, and the establishment of resulting need to internationalize
branch campuses abroad” (2002, p. 29). its structure and its pedagogy. He
argues that academic and professional
While Altbach sees globalization and requirements for graduates
internationalization as interrelated, increasingly reflect the demands
Currie, DeAngelis, de Boer, Huisman of the globalization of societies,
and Lacotte (2003) disagree, noting economies and labor markets; thus,
a distinct difference between higher education must provide the
globalization and internationalization. adequate preparation to meet those
They posit that the use of the term demands. Qiang offers other arguments
globalization represents neoliberal regarding the internationalization
economic ideology and its material of higher education, as well: “The
strategies that aim to increase recruitment of foreign students
profits and power for transnational has become a significant factor for
corporations and similar strategies that institutional income and of national
enable government agencies to gain economic interests and the use of
economic advantages and a competitive new information and communication
edge. The authors further argue that technologies in the delivery of
the process of globalization promotes education has now become a real
“homogenization of cultures and part of the globalizing process: the
promotion of so called ‘world’s best cross-border matching of supply and
practices’ where one idea is considered demand” (2003, p. 249). To Qiang,
to be the best strategy to progress the driver for the internationalization
within the world economy” (p. 9). of higher education is capitalism and
Even as Currie et al. call attention to international trade, rather than the
the hegemonic effects of globalization, development of global citizenship that
others argue that higher education Currie et al. (2003), among others,
must be actively engaged with the claim to promote.
global phenomenon (Merriam, Cervero Whether the internationalization of
& Courtney, 2006; Qiang, 2003; higher education is viewed from an
Ramadas, 1997). Qiang, for example, economic perspective or is seen as
noted that there are various reasons the development of global citizenship,
to bring attention to the increasing Enders and Fulton (2002) observe that
requirement for higher education it is leading to a process of rethinking
to focus on globalization and the the social, cultural and economic roles
explorations in adult higher education 13of higher education. It is forcing the Adult Education,
leadership to reconceptualize education
Globalization and
in a broader context in order to
respond to the impact of globalization
Internationalization
and the need to internationalize higher In Global Issues and Adult Education:
education. Perspectives from Latin America, South
Africa, and the United States, Merriam,
Moreover, globalization is a contested
Cervero and Courtney (2006) note,
terrain, having different meanings for
“Globalization is an exceedingly
different people, with strong supporters
complex issue” (p. 486). It has the
and equally strong opponents. As
potential to build societies while
Currie et al. (2003) reported, there
it destroys individuals, groups and
have been antiglobalization protests
communities within nation states.
aimed at corporate globalization or
neoliberal globalization, that point Despite the negative impact of
to the growing inequalities resulting globalization, Merriam et al. see
from supposed free trade across the potential for adult educators to
borders. Similarly, those supporting transform adult education to respond
globalization argue that free trade more constructively to the impact
will increase world prosperity, and of globalization on marginalized
that internationalization of higher populations. They suggest that (a)
education is one avenue through which we create space and listen to diverse
the democratization of information voices, (b) adopt a critical stance,
and the interconnectedness of world (c) attend to policy, (d) develop
cultures can be realized. From this partnerships, and (e) foster collective
perspective, adult education should learning and action. To these we
be poised to take a more active role should add and give priority to the
in the discourse on globalization and deliberate attempt to include and make
the internationalization of higher visible an international dimension
education. to our programs. It is through the
internalization of the curricula and
through critical pedagogy that we
can begin to attend to the roles and
responsibilities that Merriam, Cervero
and Courtney have articulated.
Similarly, we must clearly define our
14 explorations in adult higher educationgoal as we set out to internationalize “I was surprised to find few authors
the field of adult education. refer to or reflect upon the national
and international political issues that
Is it our goal to prepare graduates marked the 1990s. The corporate
to meet the demands of global labor scandals, the rapid increase in
markets as Qiang (2002) and others economic globalization, the growing
suggest, or is our goal to prepare gap between rich and poor, the drift
graduates to respond through critical toward various fundamentalisms,
action to the impact of globalization on continued conflict in the Middle
marginalized groups and communities East, including those of Iraq and
as many advocate? I believe that adult Afghanistan (and a few others not so
education has a responsibility to do apparent), the demise of the Soviet
both. I see our role as building civil Union, genocide in Rwanda, ethnic
societies while preparing graduates cleansing in the former Yugoslavia …
to compete in the global marketplace are hardly mentioned at all” (p. 74).
for their economic well-being. Yet,
as described above, at every turn, we Alfred and Guo (2007) found similar
also are reminded that education is a neglect from their analyses of the
contested domain, as the process of 1995 - 2005 proceedings of the Adult
global destruction and transformation Education Research Conference
continues both to empower and (AERC) and the Canadian Association
disempower various stakeholders in for the Study of Adult Education
adult education. (CASAE) conference to determine
the level of faculty engagement with
It is thus critical that we must first international issues. The authors
start global conversations to explore found that only 8 percent of the AERC
the range of possibilities available papers and 7 percent of the CASAE
through our collective action. However, papers published during that period
Alfred and Guo (2007) and Nesbit made some mention of globalization,
(2005) found that adult educators are immigration, or addressed other
not actively engaged in research and international issues. Overall, the
conversations about the impact on study highlights the near static nature
the global phenomena. For example, of American and Canadian adult
Nesbit (2005) notes in his review of education and the reluctance on the
the Handbook of Adult and Continuing part of adult educators to move beyond
Education (Wilson and Hayes, 2000): the local to more global issues. Without
explorations in adult higher education 15doubt, moving to a more global agenda teaching and speaking out against the
in adult education is necessary to our negative impacts of globalization, thus
social justice agenda – the hallmark of contributing to a significant worldwide
our discipline. movement to address the fundamental
issues of human rights. In a plenary
Call to Adult Educators: address at the UNESCO International
Bridging Globalization Conference on Adult Education held
in July 1997 in Hamburg, Germany,
and Social Justice
Ramdas argued:
Ramdas (1997) reminds us of a
well-documented characteristic “In my view, adult education – in its
of globalization. She notes, “For a broadest sense – is uniquely positioned
small segment of the population, to make an empowering intervention
globalization means the concentration on behalf of the underprivileged
of wealth and power; for the rest of in every society, and at the same
the human population, it means the time, influence macro policy. We
globalization of misery and poverty. need to take an imaginative leap, to
The numbers of those who fall into the move beyond the dialectics of the
category of ‘suffering’ are increasing current discourse which continues to
day by day” (p. 36). As a result, Ramdas propagate a compartmentalized view of
calls for a transnational, integrated education and learning. I believe that
approach to adult education and our challenge is to reinterpret adult
suggests that in order to make that education as a powerful instrument, to
happen, “we need to reinterpret – and build, in the words of Nelson Mandela,
reclaim – globalization” (p. 36). ‘a new political culture of human
rights’” (p. 36).
Unfortunately, with regards to global
issues, adult education has remained For adult educators to build this
within a largely instrumentalist, status culture of human rights, we must
quo framework as some scholars begin to make more purposeful
have found (Alfred & Guo, 2007; attempts at the internationalization of
Cruikshank, 1996, 2001; Hall, 1997; our research, our curricula and our
Nesbit, 2005). Alternatively, adult pedagogy. Adult education, therefore,
education, with its philosophy of should answer to the call put forth by
social justice and equity, can take a Ramdas to build an adult education
more aggressive stance in researching, that goes beyond instrumentalism.
16 explorations in adult higher educationA new agenda for adult education, Cruikshank, J. (1996). Proceedings of
then, is to re/claim globalization the 15th CASAE Conference: Are we
and to engage in research and aiding the enemy? The role of adult
pedagogical activities that would education in the new global economy.
highlight the benefits and pitfalls Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.
of the phenomenon. Engaging in
Cruikshank, J. (2001). Proceedings
the discourse allows space for the
of the 20th CASAE Conference:
development of a true critical pedagogy
Lifelong learning in the new economy:
that contests the hegemonizing
A great leap backwards. Laval, Quebec:
effects of globalization on individuals,
University of Laval.
groups and societies beyond our
national borders. m Currie, J. M., DeAngelis, R., de Boer,
H., Huisman, J., & Lacotte, C. (2003).
References Globalizing practices and university
responses: European and Anglo-
Alfred, M. V., & Guo, S. (2007).
American differences. Westport, CT:
Globalization and the
Praeger.
internationalization of adult and
higher education: Challenges and Cohen, J., Bloom, D., & Main, M.
opportunities for the U.S. and Canada. (Eds.). (2007). Educating all children:
Paper presented at the annual Adult A global agenda. Cambridge, MA:
Education Research Conference, MIT Press.
Mount St. Vincent University, Canada.
Enders, J., & Fulton, O. (Eds.). (2002).
Altbach, P. G. (2002). Perspectives Higher education in a globalizing
on international higher education world: International trends and mutual
(Resource Review). Change, 34(3), observations. Boston, MA: Klewer
29-31. Academic Publishers.
Association of American Colleges Green, M. F. (2002). Joining the world:
and Universities. (1998). Statement of The challenge of internationalizing
liberal learning. Retrieved June 8, 2006 undergraduate education. Change,
from http://www.aacu-edu.org/about/ 34(3), 12-21.
liberal_learning.cfm
explorations in adult higher education 17Hall, B. L. (1997, October). Adult Qiang, Z. (2003). Internationalization
learning, global civil society, and of higher education: Towards a
politics. Paper presented at the Midwest conceptual framework. Policy Futures
Research-to-Practice conference, East in Education, 1(2), 248-270.
Lansing, MI.
Ramadas, L. (1997). Adult education,
Knights, J. (1993). Internationalization: lifelong learning, global knowledge:
Managing strategies and issues. The challenge and potential.
International Education Magazine, 9, Convergence, 30(4), 34-37.
pp. 6, 21-22.
Smith, B. Q. (2007). Globalization and
Merriam, S., Courtenay, B. C., & desire: A case study of international
Cervero, R. M. (2006). The role of adult graduate student education in
education in addressing global issues. literacy studies. Journal of Studies in
In S. Merriam, B. C. Courtenay and. International Education, 11(1), 54-72.
M. Cervero (Eds.), Global issues and
Suarez-Orozxo, M. M. (2007). Wanted:
adult education: Perspectives from Latin
Global citizens. Educational Leadership,
America, Southern Asia, and the United
64(7), 58-62.
States (pp. 485-496). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Nesbit, T. (2005). No direction home:
A book review essay. Adult Education
Quarterly, 56(1), 71-78.
Mary V. Alfred is associate dean for faculty affairs and associate professor
of adult education and human resource development in the College of
Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University. Her research
interests include the sociocultural contexts of immigration and globalization,
low-income/low-literate adults in education and in the workplace, and
learning and development among people of the African Diaspora. She
received her Ph.D. in educational administration with a focus in adult
education and human resource development leadership from the University
of Texas at Austin.
18 explorations in adult higher educationBetty Wilde-Biasiny, Arcitectonica V, 2010. Archival pigment print on paper.
explorations in adult higher education 19Betty Wilde-Biasiny, Arcitectonica II, 2010. Archival pigment print on paper. 20 explorations in adult higher education
The Role of Strategic Planning in
Fostering Innovation in Adult
and Open Higher Education
Alan R. Davis, Mitchell S. Nesler, Lynne M. Wiley
A
s an institution with a mandate and mission that is unique to
our sector in New York, and with few comparators around
the country, the leadership needs and issues for Empire State
College are likewise unusual, with only one known text that is specific
to open learning systems such as ours (Paul, 1990). The college is large
in some respects: 20,000 learners served annually, both online and
onsite at one of more than 35 locations across the state and beyond. In
other respects, it is small: the seven regional centers and their satellite
units have a good deal of autonomy, as do the three global centers
(distance and international learning, graduate programs, and labor
studies), all striving to meet local or specific needs.
The full-time faculty complement of about 200 is smaller than for a
traditional campus serving so many students, with a more integrated
approach across staff sectors to serving learner needs. This unusual
staffing structure has its roots in the individualized approach to
mentoring and learning that the college developed in its early years,
and which still informs much of its discourse internally. It also is
reflected in the core values and organizational culture of the college.
The autonomy of the mentor-learner relationship also is evident in
the relative autonomy of each mentor, and of each center.
About half of the 2,000 employees at the college are adjunct
instructors, many of whom are widely dispersed; this adds to
the issues of fragmentation and disconnectedness among the
academic centers.
explorations in adult higher education 21The Context for were added despite considerable
controversy (Bonnabeau, 1996). In
Strategic Planning
2000, the second president arrived
Ongoing tensions between the original and recognized the need for systems
regional centers and units (with their to better track student progress and
focus on individualized face-to-face to systematize what had been a fairly
studies, study groups and residencies), loose set of practices that had evolved
and the faster growing, predominantly from the original individualized model.
online instruction (through distance He also engaged in a comprehensive
learning and in the college’s School approach to rebuild or renovate
for Graduate Studies), have created the college’s facilities both at its
a complex environment for strategic coordinating center and in the regions.
planning. Some felt that the core
values and the identity of the college The two eras and the approaches of the
were being threatened by the rapid first two college leaders reflect nicely
expansion of online studies (and the the dichotomy between the incremental
associated allocation of resources), versus the management science
while others were concerned that approaches to running an institution
the inability of the college to change (Keller, 1983). Both have enormous
and adopt various technologies and power, but also some shortcomings; a
scalable approaches in order to new blend of approaches that focused
prosper and grow not only would on the strategic plan seemed to evolve
undermine our mission (to reach naturally for the new president who
and serve all students), but also our came to Empire State College in 2008.
viability as a college in the face of
The third president arrived to a sense
reduced state support and increased
of exhaustion among many who were
competition from other public and
responding to the amount and rate
for-profit institutions.
of recent change, but also to much
Empire State College’s founding optimism that, working openly and
president was in place for almost collaboratively, the college could find a
three decades, and after the initial new way to stay rooted in, but not be
and highly creative early years of limited by, its past. In particular, many
the college, it entered a period of seemed to feel that the existing 2006-
incremental growth and diversification; 2010 strategic plan had been developed
distance learning and graduate studies without significant consultation, and
22 explorations in adult higher educationthough reasonable in many ways, did college’s presidents were left somewhat
not have a wide sense of ownership. to their own devices.
It was not used in budgeting and
Although the financial crises of 2008
decision making, there were no related
(and beyond) led to a number of cuts
and nested plans (e.g., no marketing,
in state funding, because the college
technology and academic plan), and
was more tuition-dependent than most
tracking progress toward its execution
it was in a better position to determine
was seen as a chore, and, indeed, was
its own destiny. New York state and
in danger of being ignored altogether.
the State University of New York over-
Likewise, there was no place within
regulation was in some ways more
the college to provide expertise, and
problematic: there was little incentive
take ownership for, the processes
for the college to grow and expand
and mechanics of planning. In other
its mandate. In fact, for the 11 years
words, the college was still in a period
from 1998 to 2009, the college had lost
of transition from its “golden years” as
over $25 million to the state university
the crucible of exciting and brave new
system as a “penalty” for being too
approaches to higher education, to one
efficient, and thus not needing as many
that was able to stay innovative and to
resources as traditional campuses.
respond to changing demographics,
This situation is expected to change
learner needs and the affordances of
as a result of the arrival of the new
new technologies – all in a scalable and
chancellor in June of 2009, who
affordable way.
undertook an extensive process of
This situation was exacerbated to planning for SUNY that occurred in
some extent by weak leadership parallel with our process, and raised
from the state university level, which the importance of such planning for
had its focus on “memoranda of the system and for its 64 campuses,
understanding,” whereby enrollment including a complete rethinking of the
and other targets were to be met. budget allocation model.
This was the “performance plan” for
presidents, and no broader, modern Overview of the Strategic
approach to strategic planning was Planning Process
given much credit. Given this, and
the strangeness of the college to most The complete strategic planning
SUNY and state bureaucrats, this process for Empire State College was
split into two roughly equal periods.
explorations in adult higher education 23The first was to develop a vision for innovation, leading to inconsistencies
the college for 2015, and to do this in among learners’ experience that were
a highly consultative manner with no not justified by the individualized
assumptions except for the common approach. There was no incentive or
desire to see the college prosper for the direction to share in this way, and
benefit of its learners. the technology did not support easy
networking. It was clear that, although
The seven months of deep inquiry there was wide interest in seeing the
that preceded the development of college act and present itself as “one
the college’s Vision 2015 provided an college,” we behaved as many smaller
important opportunity for the new colleges, sometime for good reason, but
president to directly engage with more often not.
all sectors of this highly distributed
college. It also revealed a number It was thus clear that a major theme
of serious infrastructural issues that of the new strategic plan must be
needed immediate attention, and to address the perceived and actual
others that would need longer and fragmentation within the college,
deeper engagement. Technology to provide ways for best practices
systems were awkward and there was to be shared, issues to be discussed,
no plan in place for improvement. No and innovation to be supported – in
new programs were in development, other words, to become, rather than
and ideas for new areas of overall “one college,” a networked, learning
improvement were stifled. Budgeting organization in every sense.
and assignment of workload were
Since the first period of developing a
divorced from the strategic plan, and
shared vision for the college revealed
did not reflect the best interests of
a number of such challenges facing
almost anyone (learners, faculty and
the institution, it was essential that
staff, deans). Educational planning, a
the second period focus on strategies
core activity of the mentoring-learning
to address them. A small team,
model, was evolving in ways that were
consisting of the president and two
not widely understood nor shared.
other senior administrators from the
Lastly, and perhaps most significantly,
college, worked to categorize and
the fragmentation of the college was
classify these challenges. This proved
manifest in the lack of sharing and
to be very difficult, largely because the
networking across the institution
challenges identified often overlapped
regarding issues, best practices and
24 explorations in adult higher educationand many issues occurred at different between people so that each center
levels at the institution. Through a does not have to recreate the wheel.
series of meetings, which devolved
The second theme addresses the trends
largely into brainstorming sessions,
of growth in both students and all
themes ultimately emerged, providing
levels of employees at the college. Part
a framework for classification of the
of the sense of exhaustion evident when
institutional challenges. And as this was
the third president arrived was not
an iterative process with feedback from
just from the pace of change, but also
multiple constituencies, the themes
the pace of growth, and the sense that
evolved and became more refined over
an underresourced faculty, staff and
a six month process.
administration could not be stretched
any further to accommodate all of the
The 2010-2015 Strategic adult learners who sought an education
Plan: Vision 2015 and from the college. “Sustaining and
Strategic Plan for 2010-2015 managing growth” includes goals that
The three overarching themes that were address faculty and staff climate issues
used to organize the strategic plan were: (ensuring that work life indicators
demonstrate improvement), growth in
• the college as an innovative, both the student body and the types
learning organization of services and offerings they receive,
and developing sustainable models for
• sustaining and managing growth
space, budgeting and deployment of
• telling our story human resources.
The first theme addresses issues The third theme addresses issues of
of reflection, effectiveness and reputation, recognition and funding.
innovation. Institutional intelligence Strategic communications, external
gathering about processes, procedures, relations and generating new sources
student learning and all measures of of revenue are the goals associated with
effectiveness are addressed within this this theme.
theme. Key goals include improving
student retention and satisfaction, Each of the three themes has specific
enhancing productivity, providing key goals associated with it. The key
clear communications, and sharing goals are designed to be measurable
knowledge and making connections and allow for the tracking of the
explorations in adult higher education 25success of the overall plan (Dooris, programs and activities become less
Kelley & Trainer, 2004; Taylor & Massy, consequential, while others become
1996). Action plans are developed at more complex and challenging.
the level of individual budget managers In essence, planning benefits from
(deans, vice presidents, directors, etc.) re-examination and redefinition.
to address the goals and strategies. The
Selznick’s concept of organizational
newly established Center for Planning
character bears directly on this process.
and Institutional Effectiveness is
Selznick (1957) views organizational
charged with overall coordination of
character as a four-fold entity
the strategic plan and the measurement
composed of historical precedents,
of the institution’s progress toward
social integration, functional
achieving its goals. To accomplish
adaptations to the internal and
this, a collegewide report card (or
external environment, and dynamic
dash board indicators) is under
responses to new opportunities,
development, reflecting institutional
needs and problems. Institutional
key performance indicators. The
character develops over time into
KPIs relate directly to the eight goals
“distinctive competence” – the informal
outlined in the strategic plan. However,
commitments or values that guide
each division is charged with tracking
organizations in making decisions.
its own KPIs and performance
Strategic planning provides academic
indicators, which reflect divisional
institutions with the opportunity to
effectiveness but may not rise to the
engage in self-definition and self-
level of a key performance indicator.
reconstruction on a regular basis,
something that they might not typically
Reflections on the Process do unless prompted.
The best institutional planning
This kind of redefinition is the key to
models tie goals to resource allocation
sustaining innovation in adult higher
decisions on an annual basis, with a
education, where changes in the
view toward transforming institutions
external environment are rapid, and
over time. When done well, strategic
the opportunity to respond to changing
planning is a process that is capable
contexts and social configurations
of responding to unexpected events
present themselves regularly. Doing
and unintended consequences. As
so in light of the outlooks, habits and
ideas are implemented, budget and
commitments that give institutions
planning priorities evolve; some
26 explorations in adult higher educationtheir distinctive character allows meeting the goals identified in the plan:
them to maintain their identity projects they have begun in an effort to
while remaining responsive to meet key goals; what they have learned
changing conditions. from these initiatives that suggest new
directions for funding; what changes,
Empire State College’s strategic plan if any, they need to make to projects
addresses the aspirations of the college that are currently underway; new
community and develops a vision initiatives that they wish to begin; and
of the platform that the college will what they must accomplish during the
occupy in mid-decade and beyond. remainder of the plan in order to fulfill
The key question driving the strategic the goals associated with their areas
plan, as identified collectively by the of responsibility.
community, was: “What must Empire
State College accomplish by 2015 in These priorities connect the long and
order to enhance and differentiate its short-term planning of the college
position among the nations’ leaders with the budgeting process. Indeed,
in adult learning, and provide high- the budget is the tangible link between
quality and affordable interdisciplinary our operations and our strategic plan.
and professional education to A typical planning process includes
motivated learners in New York state not only situational analyses, forecasts
and beyond?” Vision 2015 articulates and detailed recommendations, but
goals that are mission related, focused implementation strategies.
connected to ongoing and projected The information we obtain annually
needs, and capable of being achieved relative to departmental, divisional and
by 2015. institutional priorities is systematically
fed back into planning and into the
In order to ensure that the plan is used development of key performance
to guide decision making, planning indicators. Issues and opportunities for
is now tied directly to budgeting, and innovation rise to the top of the agenda
the vice president of the Center for depending on external circumstances
Planning and Institutional Effectiveness and internal priorities. The process
oversees implementation. Achieving allows us to look back and determine
the objectives listed in Vision 2015 is a what became important to us during
continuing priority. Annually, members the previous year, and assess whether
of the senior staff are asked to reflect recommendations that were not
on what they have accomplished in addressed have changed in priority.
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