An Exploratory Study of the Philosophy and Teaching Styles of Georgia Workforce Educators and Entrepreneurship Instructors by Tuboise D. Floyd A disertation submited to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degre of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama May 14, 2010 Keywords: Georgia, workforce, entrepreneurship, adult, education, inventory Copyright 2010 by Tuboise D. Floyd Approved by James E. Wite, Chair, Asociate Profesor of Adult Education Margaret E. Ross, Asociate Profesor of Measurement and Statistics Maria Martinez Wite, Asociate Profesor of Adult Education Lisa Kensler, Asistant Profesor of Educational Leadership ii Abstract This exploratory study examines the adult educational philosophies and teaching styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia. A workforce educator is an educator teaching workforce skils; an entrepreneurship instructor is an educator who teaches entrepreneurship skils. Conti?s Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) and Zinn?s Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) instruments were used to examine relationships betwen the educational philosophies and teaching styles among the participants. The PAEI describes which educational philosophy an educator values, and the PALS measures the frequency an educator practices one teaching style over another. The reliability coeficients were Cronbach?s alpha =.99 for both surveys. Descriptive statistics were computed for the sample. The alpha level for this study was p =.05. Sixty-two surveys were returned from each of the populations. Mean scores on the PAEI tended higher on the progresive and behaviorist orientation. A smal number of instructors reported scores reflecting some disagrement, but overal participants had no strong disagrement with al five educational philosophies. This tended to support the literature that instructors may not be aware of any inconsistencies within their beliefs due to lack of personal examination into their educational philosophies. Total mean scores fel below the mean established by Conti (2004) for the PALS. This indicated that instructors tended to be more teacher-centered rather than learner-centered. Entrepreneurship instructors had higher means scores on al teaching style factors, than workforce educators. iii Acknowledgments First, I would like to acknowledge and give praise to The Lord God Almighty! Second, I would also like to acknowledge and thank my commite: Dr. James W. Wite for teling me that writing a disertation was easy; Dr. Maria Wite for her encouraging words; Dr. Margaret Ross for helping me understand statistics; Dr. Lisa Kensler for her intuitive support. I would like to dedicate this disertation to the matriarchs in my life, my grandmother, Dela Lindsey and my mother, Helen Floyd. I would like to give a very special thanks to my sister Necole Floyd Turner, because she taught me how to read, and instiled the love of learning in me at a young age. Finaly, to my lovely wife, Dr. Jeaneta H. Floyd, thank you for being my best friend and major source of support, I Love You! iv Table of Contents Abstract...................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................iii List of Tables........................................................................................................................vii List of Figures.........................................................................................................................ix Chapter I. Introduction.............................................................................................................1 Introduction to the Study..............................................................................................1 Background of the Study..............................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem..............................................................................................2 Significance of the Study..............................................................................................3 Purpose of the Study.....................................................................................................4 Research Questions......................................................................................................4 Limitations of the Study...............................................................................................5 Definitions of Terms.....................................................................................................5 Summary......................................................................................................................7 Chapter I. Review of Literature...............................................................................................8 Introduction..................................................................................................................8 Entrepreneurs...............................................................................................................9 Entrepreneurship Training............................................................................................9 Mentors......................................................................................................................12 v Networking.................................................................................................................13 Incubators...................................................................................................................14 Andragogy and Pedagogy...........................................................................................15 Adult Learning Populations........................................................................................18 Teaching Philosophy..................................................................................................23 Teaching Philosophies................................................................................................25 Behavioral Philosophy....................................................................................26 Liberal Philosophy..........................................................................................27 Progresive Philosophy...................................................................................29 Humanistic Philosophy...................................................................................30 Radical Education Philosophy.........................................................................32 Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI).......................................................32 Teaching Styles..........................................................................................................33 Self-Directed Learning....................................................................................34 Learner-Centered Teaching.............................................................................40 Teacher-Centered Teaching.............................................................................41 Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS).................................................................42 Summary....................................................................................................................42 Chapter II. Methods..............................................................................................................44 Introduction................................................................................................................44 Design........................................................................................................................45 Population..................................................................................................................45 Instrumentation...........................................................................................................47 vi Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI)............................................47 Validity of the PAEI.......................................................................................48 Reliability of the PAEI....................................................................................50 Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS).....................................................50 Validity of PALS............................................................................................51 Reliability of PALS.........................................................................................52 Procedures..................................................................................................................52 Variables....................................................................................................................54 Data Analysis.............................................................................................................54 Summary....................................................................................................................54 Chapter IV. Findings..............................................................................................................56 Introduction................................................................................................................56 Review of the Research Questions..............................................................................56 Population and Sample...............................................................................................57 Summary Statistics.....................................................................................................59 Statistical Findings.....................................................................................................77 Research Hypothesis One................................................................................77 Research Hypothesis Two...............................................................................81 Research Hypothesis Thre.............................................................................85 Conclusion.................................................................................................................96 Chapter V. Summary, Recommendations, and Conclusions....................................................98 Introduction................................................................................................................98 Summary....................................................................................................................98 vii Discussion of the PALS Summary Statistics....................................................99 Discussion of the PAEI Summary Statistics...................................................101 Discussion of Statistical Findings...................................................................102 Recommendations.....................................................................................................105 Conclusions...............................................................................................................106 References ..........................................................................................................................108 Appendix 1 .........................................................................................................................119 Appendix 2 .........................................................................................................................120 Appendix 3...........................................................................................................................138 Appendix 4...........................................................................................................................143 Appendix 5...........................................................................................................................144 vii List of Tables Table 1 Gender and Educational Atainment of Research Sample......................................58 Table 2 Years of Employment, Training Others and Workforce Education........................59 Table 3 Cronbach?s Alpha for Research Surveys...............................................................59 Table 4 Descriptive Statistics: Philosophical Orientation Orientations...............................60 Table 5 Descriptive Statistics: Principles of Adult Learning Scale.....................................67 Table 6 Philosophy Orientation Descriptive Statistics by Educator Type...........................78 Table 7 Independent Samples t-Test Results: Philosophical Orientations...........................80 Table 8 Teaching Style Descriptive Statistics by Educator Type........................................82 Table 9 Independent Samples t-Test Results: Teaching Style.............................................84 Table 10 Pearson Correlation Coeficients: Philosophy Orientation and Teaching Style......91 ix List of Figures Figure 1 Liberal Adult Education Philosophical Orientation...............................................62 Figure 2 Behaviorist Adult Education Philosophical Orientation.........................................63 Figure 3 Progresive Adult Education Philosophical Orientation.........................................64 Figure 4 Humanistic Adult Education Philosophical Orientation.........................................65 Figure 5 Radical Adult Education Philosophical Orientation...............................................66 Figure 6 Total Principles of Adult Learning Scale Scores...................................................69 Figure 7 Learner-Centered Activities Factor Scale Scores...................................................70 Figure 8 Personalizing Instruction Factor Scale Scores.......................................................71 Figure 9 Relating to Experience Factor Scale Scores...........................................................72 Figure 10 Asesing Student Neds Factor Scale Scores.......................................................73 Figure 11 Climate Building Factor Scale Scores...................................................................74 Figure 12 Participation in the Learning Proces Factor Scale Scores.....................................75 Figure 13 Flexibility for Personal Development Factor Scale Scores.....................................76 Figure 14 Mean Diference by Philosophical Orientation......................................................79 Figure 15 Mean Diference by Teaching Style......................................................................83 Figure 16 Scater Plot: Liberal Orientation and Total Teaching Style....................................86 Figure 17 Scater Plot: Behaviorist Orientation and Total Teaching Style.............................87 Figure 18 Scater Plot: Progresive Orientation and Total Teaching Style.............................88 Figure 19 Scater Plot: Humanistic Orientation and Total Teaching Style.............................89 x Figure 20 Scater Plot: Radical Orientation and Total Teaching Style...................................90 Figure 21 Mean Correlation Coeficient betwen Teaching Style and Philosophical Orientation......................................................................95 1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 2 Introduction to the Study 3 This research was an exploratory study of the philosophy and teaching styles of Georgia 4 workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors. This chapter presents the background of 5 the study, the problem and describes its significance. The limitations of the study and summary 6 conclude the chapter. 7 Background of the Study 8 9 Educators should consider implications of what they are doing in their clasrooms before 10 interacting with students (de Chambeau, 1977). Unfortunately, few instructors consider the 11 implications of their methods or activities (Elias & Meriam, 1995; Zinn, 1990). Anyone who 12 engages in the act of teaching is ?guided by some theory or some philosophy? (Elias & Meriam, 13 1995, p. 5). Acording to Apps (1985), ?a wel-developed working philosophy can provide the 14 educator with an atitude that requires al of the pieces in the educational situation to be 15 considered? (p. 4). Therefore, a teacher becomes a philosopher of education when consideration 16 and application of principles occur in clasroom proceses (Elias & Meriam, 1995). 17 Elias and Meriman (1995) outlined six philosophies of adult education (liberal, 18 behavioral, progresive, radical, humanistic, and analytic) and described their origins and typical 19 usage in terms of methods, concepts and techniques. Each philosophy ilustrates the role of the 20 teacher and student engaged in very specific roles. Darkenwald and Meriam (1982) wrote that 21 al teachers ?make decisions and act in ways that asume certain values and beliefs? (p. 37). 22 2 Educational philosophies afect teachers, curiculum, and learning materials, therefore, it is vital 23 for teachers to ?engage in a proces of examining what (they) believe and value, (so that 24 teachers) wil have a clearer sense of where the instruction and learning journey is leading? 25 (Galbraith, 1999, p. 13). 26 Acording to descriptions of the philosophies writen by Elias and Meriman (1995), the 27 humanistic and radical philosophies incorporated learner-centered styles. The prevailing four 28 philosophies?behavioral, liberal, progresive and analytic?tend to be more teacher-centered. 29 Research suggests a direct relationship betwen educational philosophies and instructor teaching 30 style (Conti, 1985; Zinn 1990). ?The educator?s view of the role of the teacher in the teaching- 31 learning proces discriminates groups in this relationship? (Conti, 1990, p. 77) and ?the teacher?s 32 actual conception of philosophy wil afect his mode of teaching? (Suisa, 2008, p. 4). 33 The importance of the smal busines (micro-enterprise) to any economy cannot be 34 overemphasized (Acs & Audretsch, 1990). The micro-enterprise is viewed as a significant 35 contributor to economic growth and development of certain geographic areas, where large 36 busineses chose not to operate (Storey, 1982). Future economic expansion is reliant upon the 37 continued succes of smal busines owners; education and training of the smal busines owner 38 is an important factor in permeating that succes (Muske & Stanforth, 2000). Literature has 39 described, over the past decade, the best learning system within busines resource centers and 40 incubator training facilities were those that emphasized self-directednes and learner-centered 41 instruction (Lichtenstein & Lyons, 1996). 42 Statement of the Problem 43 The personal adult educational philosophies of Georgia?s workforce educators and 44 entrepreneurship instructors were examined, because ?personal philosophy afects the way an 45 3 educator works with people and the entire education proces? (Boone, Buckingham, Gartin, 46 Lawrence, & Odel, 2002). Researchers (Beder, 1989; Boone, Buckingham, Gartin, Lawrence, & 47 Odel, 2002) have meticulously delineated the importance of establishing the philosophical 48 orientation of training programs, reflected beliefs about how adult learning take place, identified 49 methods and proceses instructors needed to used in order to met training program goals. By 50 identifying the education philosophies and how they relate to the teaching styles of 51 entrepreneurship instructors and incubator faculty it is possible to ?produce a profesional who 52 questions the theories, practices, institutions, and asumptions of others? (Elias & Meriam, 53 1995, p. 206) and produce ?a consciousnes of unconscious beliefs and behaviors that afect 54 practice? (Tisdel & Taylor, 1999). 55 Significance of the Study 56 Big busineses for years have enjoyed the support of governments, financers, and other 57 stakeholders; since smal and medium-sized enterprises contribute significantly to economic 58 growth, the focus of support has shifted towards smal busines development (Ladzani & van 59 Vuuren, 2002). Future economic growth depends on the continued succes of smal busines 60 owners (Muske & Stanforth, 2000). And the succes of the entrepreneur, in the undertaking of 61 his or her micro-enterprise, depends upon the adult educators? ?ability to uncover, discover, and 62 stimulate the entrepreneur? (Yarzebinski, 1992, p. 32). 63 Zinn (1990), Conti (1985, 1990) and others linked educational philosophy to teaching- 64 style and teaching-style to student achievement. There is evidence indicating a relationship 65 betwen ?an individual?s beliefs, values, or atitudes and the decisions and actions? (Zinn, 1990, 66 p. 40), or more acurately, betwen ?what one believes and what one actualy does? (Tisdel & 67 Taylor, 2000, p. 6). A ?person?s philosophy of life provides a framework by which (he or she) 68 4 live and act? (Zinn, 1990, p. 40). Tisdel and Taylor (2000) described the importance of an 69 instructor knowing their educational philosophy because self-examination and critical inspection 70 of practices wil create a consciousnes of some unconscious beliefs that afect practice (Tisdel 71 & Taylor, 1999, p. 6). 72 The results of this study could be used to help entrepreneurship instructors and incubator 73 faculty individual identify individual teaching-styles, personal educational philosophies, and the 74 impact those philosophies and styles have upon teaching-learning proces. Roles of the state?s 75 incubator faculty and system ay be extended beyond their existing limits and local developers 76 could develop a community atitude, which welcomes supports, and fulfils the needs of 77 entrepreneurs (Yarzebinski, 1992). In addition, the findings might asist politicians, government 78 administrators, educators, community leaders, program developers and policy makers in the state 79 in asesing and evaluating the quality of adult education services provided through Georgia?s 80 incubator and post-secondary education system. 81 Purpose of the Study 82 The purpose of this study was to identify individual education philosophies and teaching 83 styles among workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia, 84 using Conti?s Principles of Adult Learning Scale and Zinn?s Philosophy of Adult Education 85 Inventory. The study examined the relationship betwen the teaching styles and educational 86 philosophies of entrepreneurship teachers. 87 88 89 90 91 5 Research Questions 92 93 This study addreses the research problem by responding to the following research 94 questions: 95 1. What diferences exist in philosophical orientations of workforce educators and 96 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 97 2. What diferences exist in teaching styles of workforce educators and 98 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 99 3. What relationship exists betwen the philosophical orientations and teaching 100 styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 101 Limitations of the Study 102 The disadvantage of a mailed questionnaire, acording to Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh 103 (1996), is the misinterpretation of the questions by respondents. Other limitations of this study 104 were: 105 1. This study was limited to in the state of Georgia. By using one state in a particular 106 region of the United States, the results may be dificult to generalize to other state. 107 2. The instrument was self-reported. Misunderstanding of the instrument texts may have 108 caused some respondents to answer inacurately. 109 3. Respondents were aware their personal philosophies and teaching styles were the 110 subject of research. The survey relied heavily on the respondents to be truthful. 111 4. The efects of post-Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are stil relevantly unknown. The 112 influx of displaced persons and relocation of refuges from Misisippi and Louisiana 113 impacted the state as wel as, the economic damage to busineses and financial impact 114 to employees and busines owners. 115 6 Definitions of Terms 116 The words below represent terms applied within this study 117 Adult Education Philosophy: The atitudes and ideas teachers and instructors poses and 118 incorporate, intentionaly or unintentionaly, into their learning environment and leson content. 119 Philosophies exist apart from curriculum tools and teaching techniques (Elias & Meriam, 1995). 120 Entrepreneur: An individual who starts and asumes acountability for the outcome of a 121 micro-enterprise. 122 Entrepreneurship Instructors: An educator who teaches entrepreneurship skils. 123 Entrepreneurship Training: Training prospective entrepreneurs specific busines skils on 124 how to start and operate a micro-enterprises. 125 Entrepreneurship: Is the practice of creating a start-up and operation of a micro- 126 enterprise in response to identified opportunities. 127 Incubator: A physical facility that provides busines support resources and services to 128 entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises. 129 Micro-Enterprise: Smal busines, typicaly having 5 or fewer employees. 130 Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI): Developed by Lorraine Zinn (1983), 131 the PAEI Instrument measures an Entrepreneurship Instructor?s Adult Education Philosophy. 132 Principle of Adult Learning Scale (PALS): Instrument measuring the teaching style of an 133 entrepreneurship instructor, developed by Gary Conti (1982). 134 Teaching: Regardles of the leson content or curriculum, the ?distinct qualities? (Conti, 135 2004, p. 77) or ?characteristic behavior? (Conti, 1982, p. 79) an instructor employs in learning 136 situations. 137 7 Workforce Education: Teaching and training undereducated adult learners workforce 138 skils that prepare them for employment in a variety of industries, instruction may include basic 139 literacy and numeracy. 140 Workforce Education Instructors: An educator teaching workforce skils. 141 Summary 142 The purpose of this study and research questions was to explore the philosophy and 143 teaching styles of Georgia workforce education and entrepreneurship instructors. Chapter I 144 present an overview of the research study. Chapter I provides a review of relevant literature. 145 Chapter II presents the methodology used. Chapter IV presents the findings reported. Chapter V 146 concludes the study, which presents a discussion of the findings and recommendations for future 147 research. 148 149 8 CHAPTER I. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 149 Introduction 150 Guttman (1992) suggested that job training is a second chance system for those, mainly 151 the poor and disadvantaged, who have not been wel served by the mainstream education system. 152 The U.S. Bureau of Census (2000) reported that the South has 34 percent of the nation?s total 153 population, of which 48 percent earn incomes below the poverty level. The 2000 Census further 154 revealed that the South has the lowest educational atainment level of any region in the U.S. As 155 our nation?s economy, industries, and busines transform to met the chalenges of the 21 st 156 century, it is also necesary that our government systems and structures evolve to support our 157 economic growth and job creation (U.S. Department of Labor, 2008). 158 Every sector of America?s economy has been hit by unemployment and factors such as 159 population growth, cheap foreign labor, corporate downsizing, and increase imports continue to 160 fuel unemployment. Communities crave economic growth and new jobs (Yarzebinski, 1992). As 161 economic developers make concerted eforts towards implementing job-generating solutions, 162 government officials are becoming more aware that economic growth relies heavily on local 163 entrepreneurs and community support of their smal busines or micro-enterprises (Yarzebinski, 164 1992). 165 Encouraging smal busines development is a way to fuel economic growth and expanded 166 employment opportunities (Nelson & Mburugu, 1991). Micro-enterprises have been an efective 167 strategic initiative in aleviating poverty and foster economic development (Soto, 2002). 168 Entrepreneurs generate a significant source of employment opportunities in undeveloped 169 9 economic regions by creating and seling products or services (Nelson & Mburugu, 1991). They 170 also provide opportunities to people beyond just a way to earn a living, but as a way to become 171 more active in their communities, improve their personal relationships and their quality of life. 172 Entrepreneurs 173 An entrepreneur is an individual who identifies economic resources in lower productivity 174 areas and then moves them to areas of higher productivity and greater yield (Yarzebinski, 1992). 175 Nelson and Mburugu (1991) described the entrepreneur as a person having ?the ability to 176 identify and evaluate busines opportunities in their environment, gather resources to take 177 advantage of those opportunities, and take appropriate action to ensure the succes of the 178 busines? (p. 34). Owning a busines has been typicaly asociated with being an entrepreneur. 179 But acording to Yarzebinski (1992), simply owning a smal busines doesn?t qualify a person as 180 an entrepreneur but rather entrepreneurs are people who hold certain identifiable behaviors that 181 alow them to respond to various busines situations. 182 Entrepreneurship Training 183 Increasing smal busines growth and impacting local economies through job creation 184 and smal busines sustainability is the primary purpose of entrepreneurship training. Most 185 entrepreneurship training programs ofer more that one type of training (Klein & Clark, 1996). 186 The literature identified two types of entrepreneurial training and support. The first is a prudent 187 approach that examines learning by doing. The second focuses on the core elements of busines. 188 The majority of entrepreneurship training programs are design around the core elements 189 of busines. This type training involves instruction in busines plan writing, basic busines law, 190 bookkeeping, time management, organizational skils, marketing and financing. Entrepreneurs 191 also learn ways to handle and deal with isues outside the physical entity of their enterprise and 192 10 learn how to sek support services and identify resources that wil aide in their busines 193 achievement goals (Ladzani & van Vuuren, 2002). Importantly, in this type of training, basic 194 busines literacy is addresed. Busines literacy is an individual?s ability to read, write, compute, 195 place orders, monitor inventory, and solve busines problems and type correspondence at 196 proficient levels to function as an entrepreneur. 197 Computer literacy is esential for today?s entrepreneur. It is considered a basic busines 198 competency. However, the literature reveals a significant lack of computer usage in the literacy 199 training of adults. Frer and Alexander (1996) conducted a study on the use of computers to 200 enhance adult literacy instruction. Sixty-seven adult literacy centers in Florida, and 169 centers 201 in Ohio were identified. Results from the study indicated that in Florida 444 out of 2,858 (16%) 202 instructors had knowledge of word procesing skils needed to teach adults, and 869 out 2,858 203 (30%) instructors reported that they had computer aces, but only 135 out of 2,858 (5%) 204 instructors used them to teach writing. Results from Ohio indicated that 745 out of 1,533 (49%) 205 instructors had knowledge of word procesing skils needed to teach adults, and 855 out of 1,533 206 (56%) reported that they had computer aces, but only 264 out of 1,533 (17%) used them to 207 teach writing. The study further identified the need for computer training for continuing 208 education teachers. In the state of Florida, 43 (64%) of their centers needed adult writing 209 programs, and Ohio identified 92 (54%). Based on the findings, the authors recommended that 210 policy developers study how to best supply state sponsored programs with the needed equipment 211 and facilities to teach writing. Staf developments for paid and volunter teachers on how to 212 teach writing using the computer were also recommended. 213 214 215 11 Many individuals sek out entrepreneurship training as a way to increase profits and to 216 grow their busineses (Ladzani & van Vuuren, 2002). Entrepreneurship program graduates fair 217 beter in these areas than those who do not atend training. Individuals who participate and 218 graduate from entrepreneurial/micro-enterprise programs ?se greater long-term succes, 219 increased income, shorter break even points, les employee turnover, decreased reliance on 220 public asistance, and busines revenue? (Cranwel, 2007, p. 4). Clas participants, who took 221 training clases on proposing and generating potential busines ideas or identifying market 222 opportunities, are enabled to succed in their entrepreneurial endeavors (Ladzani & van Vuuren, 223 2002). The programs should mainly stres the practical features of operating micro-enterprises 224 rather that theoretical knowledge (Gibson & Conceicao, 2003). The critical skils and conceptual 225 knowledge isues manifested in training clases should emulate actual busines experiences and 226 emphasize the practical application of entrepreneurship (Glenn, 2000). 227 Acording to Bredo (1997), in order to have the most efective training program, 228 instructors must formulate activities that alow program participants to manipulate the busines 229 concepts they are procesing. The transference of knowledge from teacher to the student should 230 be the major focus of any entrepreneurial training program (Gibson & Conceicao, 2003). 231 Entrepreneurship training programs should be designed to met the needs and goals of program 232 participants as wel as the specific needs of the comunity (Klofsten, 2000). A generic 233 curriculum wil fail to met the needs of the learners and wil be highly unsuccesful in 234 facilitating the training and development of succesful entrepreneurs (Ashmore, Larson, 235 Mahoney, & Leiken, 2000). 236 237 238 239 240 12 Mentors 241 242 A variety of definitions appear in the literature on mentoring. Mentoring has been 243 refered to as a relationship in which a knowledgeable person asists a les knowledgeable 244 person (Eisenman & Thorton, 1999). Bowen (1986) offers more clarity: ?Mentoring occurs when 245 a senior person in terms of age and experience undertakes to provide information, advice, and 246 emotional support for a junior person in a relationship? (p. 65). Mentoring relationships usualy 247 occur over extended time periods and have commitment by both parties (Bowen, 1986). New 248 entrepreneurs should be supported on a mentoring basis (Deakins et al., 1998). Research on 249 mentoring programs revealed the positive influences mentoring have on mente performance as 250 wel as fiting wel in organizational environments (Fagenson-Eland et al., 1997). Mentoring 251 helps entrepreneurs recognize critical incidents as learning experiences (Cope & Wats, 2000). 252 Having mentoring services further legitimizes the entrepreneurship-training program and offers 253 participants advisory capacity that fosters positive busines atitudes and increased program 254 relevance (Keyton et al., 1988). Mentors are prominent and established busines people who 255 have a skil set to required to run a specific busines. Acording to Cope and Wats (2000), 256 mentors have two roles: 257 1. To be there when an entrepreneur is experiencing a critical incidents to help them 258 step back and talk isues through. 259 2. To bring forward learning from the past to try and avoid certain critical incidents 260 or more prolonged periods in the future (p. 1). 261 Electronic communications offer an alternative to face-to-face mentoring. The literature 262 refers to this type of practice as e-mentoring. E-mentoring is defined as ?a relationship that is 263 established betwen a more senior individual (mentor) and a leser skiled individual (prot?g?) in 264 13 which information is pased through the use of electronic communication devices (Single & 265 Muller, 2001). For example, knowledge and confidence building with the intent to develop and 266 grow the skils of a prot?g? can be transmited through devices like a BlackBery or a computer 267 with instant mesaging software. These electronic communication devices provide a flexible 268 environment and alow for asynchronous exchanges with the intent to help the prot?g? to succed 269 (Single & Muller, 2001). The advantages of e-mentoring are its low cost and flexibility. 270 However, e-mentoring has its drawbacks, such as follow up and the ability to match pairs, and 271 should only be used as a supplement to face-to-face mentoring, and not a substitute, because it is 272 very dificult to handle complex interpersonal isues using e-mentoring (Bierema & Meriam, 273 2002; Single & Muller, 2001). 274 Networking 275 ?The smal firm is particularly dependent on the nature and quality of its relations with 276 other firms and with the external world; these relations can be conceived in terms of exchange 277 networks, communication networks and social networks? (Szarka, 1990, p. 10). The literature 278 presents arguments that ?networking by owner-managers of smal busineses wil enhance 279 busines performance? (Chel & Baines, 2000). Acording to Shane and Cable (2002), 280 networking ?might provide an advantage to people who sek to obtain resources from others? (p. 281 370). However, many entrepreneurs sparsely use networking, and use contact trading as sources 282 of useful information (Chel & Baines, 2000). When applied to an entrepreneurship training 283 program, networking can help improve productivity for al the students (Gredler, 2001; Seidel, 284 2001), and in training students can aid one another by sharing information, brainstorming ideas, 285 and testing products and services. 286 287 14 Incubators 288 Various techniques and methods can be used to enrich an education experience 289 (Galbraith, 1990). Though equipment, facilities, proceses, and material miror real-life busines 290 situations in scholarly activity (Roth, 1987), ?not al methods wil complement the adult learning 291 transactional proces and adhere to the esential characteristics of collaboration, chalenge and 292 reflection? (Galbraith & Zelenak, 1991, p. 103). Acording to Roth (1987), ?it can be quite 293 dificult to replicate real work situations in a training environment because of safety, economics, 294 equipment or other bariers? (p. 60). Busines incubators are excelent for entrepreneurship and 295 busines training. Incubators houses clients in a nurturing environment and provide an aray of 296 busines asistance services, support personnel, and equipment. 297 The National Busines Incubation Asociation (2008) clarifies: 298 Busines incubation is a busines support proces that acelerates the succesful 299 development of start-up and fledgling companies by providing entrepreneurs with an 300 aray of targeted resources and services. These services are usualy developed or 301 orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the busines incubator and 302 through its network of contacts. A busines incubator?s main goal is to produce 303 succesful firms that wil leave the program financialy viable and frestanding. These 304 incubator graduates have the potential to create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, 305 commercialize new technologies, and strengthen local and national economies. (p. 1) 306 The organizational structure and the types of clients served by Incubators vary from one 307 program to another. The core function of a busines incubation program is to ofer support 308 services to start-up companies; such as management guidance, technical asistance and 309 consulting designed specificaly for new companies. Delivery services vary from incubator to 310 15 incubator. For example, one incubator program ay provide fre office space, while another 311 provides rental space with flexible leases. In addition to shared basic busines services, such as 312 bookkeeping, some incubators may ofer asistance in obtaining financing necesary for 313 company growth. Incubators have also promoted programs to support micro-enterprise creation. 314 Commonly, a Busines Resource Center may be near an Incubator, or be a frestanding facility, 315 connected to a university or housed in government buildings, where resources, information and 316 training are centralized for entrepreneurs. 317 Andragogy and Pedagogy 318 Although the term ?andragogy? is of European origin, Knowles (1978) popularized its use 319 and refined its application within the United States. Andragogy asumes that the point at which 320 individuals achieve a concept of self-direction is the point at which they psychologicaly become 321 adults. Acording to Knowles (1980), there are four critical asumptions upon which andragogy 322 is based: 1) Dependency transition?a shift from a learner (child) being dependent on the teacher 323 to being a responsible participant (adult) in the learning proces; 2) Life experience?life 324 experience plays an ever-increasing role in the learning proces; 3) Readines and wilingnes to 325 learn?readines and wilingnes to learn becomes more focused in the developmental tasks of 326 the diferent roles within society; and 4) Subject-centered to performance-centered?there is a 327 shift from subject-centered activity to performance or problem-centered activity for the learner 328 (Knowles, 1980, p. 43). In support of his position, Knowles (1980) notes: 329 It is a normal aspect of the proces of maturation for a person to move from dependency 330 toward increasing self-directednes, but at diferent rates for diferent people and in 331 diferent dimensions of life. Teachers have a responsibility to encourage and nurture this 332 movement. Adults have a deep psychological need to be generaly self-directing, 333 16 although they may be dependent in particular temporary situations. (p. 43) 334 The model of pedagogy is derived from the Grek words ?paid? (meaning ?child?) and 335 ?agogus? (meaning ?leading?). Pedagogy literaly means the art and science of teaching children. 336 It is the proces of teaching children to learn, based upon the principle that education is the 337 transmital of known knowledge and skils. From a pedagogical view, the concept of the learner, 338 their experiences, readines and orientation to learning, acording to Knowles (1980): 339 ? is a dependent one and the teacher is expected by society to take full responsibility for 340 determining what is to be learned, when it is to be learned, how it is to be learned, and if 341 it has been learned the experience learners bring to a learning situation is of litle value. 342 People are ready to learn whatever society says they ought to learn, and learning is 343 organized into a standardized curiculum, with a uniform step-by-step progresion for al 344 learners. The curriculum is organized into subject mater units which follow the logic of 345 the subject because people are subject centered in their orientation to learning. (p. 43?44) 346 ?Individuation involves the separating of oneself from the ordinary conformity to the 347 goals and values of the mas culture? (Crain, 2005, p. 343). ?Children enter the world in a 348 condition of complete dependency in which society defines their appropriate role of learners? 349 (Knowles, 1980, p. 54). Adults decide what information children should have and how, when 350 and where this information would be obtained. ?As children move up the education ladder, they 351 encounter more and more of the responsibility for their learning being taken by teachers, the 352 curriculum planner, and their parents? (Knowles, 1980, p. 54). In some situations, some 353 andragogical and pedagogical asumptions are realistic for adults. When applied to the learning 354 needs of adults and children, their connection and implication toward adult learning create a 355 commonality of helping human beings learn. Five implications for practice when teaching adults 356 17 flow from the diference in asumptions about pedagogy and andragogy (Knowles, 1980, p. 47? 357 49). They are listed as follows: 358 1. The learning climate. The physical environment should be one in where adults fel 359 comfortable. For example, meting rooms should be comfortable with d?cor towards 360 adult taste, furnishings and equipment should be adult-sized. The psychological 361 climate should be one where adults fel acepted, respected, and supported. In 362 andragogical practice, care should be taken to remove the symbols of childishnes 363 and teacher influences. For example, podiums on a stage makes adults fel that they 364 are being talked down to; in correction, a smal table on the floor would provide a 365 more appropriate workspace. 366 2. Diagnosis of needs. The adult?s self-concept of self-directivity is in direct conflict 367 with the traditional practice of the teacher teling the students what they need to learn. 368 Adults wil learn what others want them to learn if their power to punish them for not 369 learning is strong enough, but are more deeply motivated to learn those things they 370 se the need to learn. In andragogical practice, great emphasis should be placed on the 371 involvement of adult learners in a proces of self-diagnosis of needs for learning. 372 3. The planning proces. Human beings tend to fel commited to a decision or an 373 activity to the extent that they have participated in planning it. In andragogical 374 practice, the basic element of skil is the involvement of the learners in the planning 375 proces with the teacher serving as the procedural guide and content resource. The 376 responsibility for performing this function is a mutual one betwen the learners and 377 the teacher. 378 18 4. Conduction learning experiences. In pedagogical practice, the function of teacher is 379 defined as ?to teach.? The teacher is expected to take full responsibility for what 380 happens in the teaching-learning transaction. In andragogical practice, the learning- 381 teaching transaction as the mutual responsibility of learners and teacher with the 382 assumption that a teacher cannot realy ?teach? in the sense of ?make a person learn,? 383 but that one person can only help another person learn. 384 5. Evaluation of learning. The crowning instance of incongruity betwen traditional 385 education practice and the adult self-concept of self-directivity is the act of a teacher 386 giving a grade to a student; this makes the adult student fel like a child. Giving 387 grades are the ultimate sign of disrespect. 388 In andragogical practice, the proces of self-evaluation, in which the teacher devotes 389 energy to helping the adults get evidence for themselves about the progres they are making 390 toward their education goals. When adult students perceive what they do at the end of a learning 391 experience as re-diagnosing rather evaluating, they enter into the learning activity with more 392 enthusiasm and view it as being more constructive. 393 Adult Learning Populations 394 The changing demographics of more adults and an increase in the number of older adults 395 in the United States are a social reality shaping the provision of learning in our society (Meriam 396 & Cafarela, 1999). Contributing to the population increase are the seventy milion people born 397 betwen 1946 and 1964, known as the baby boomers, and the efect on age distribution wil 398 continue to rise into the 21 st century (Meriam & Cafarela, 1999; U.S. Bureau of Census 2000). 399 Wagschal (1997) wrote, ?people over fifty represent 26 percent of the population? (p. 25). 400 Acording to the U.S. Bureau of Census (2000), the median age of the US population is 35.3 401 19 years, with life expectancy of 77 years. ?Acording to participation data from the Center for 402 Education Statistics 16 percent of adults with fewer than four years of high school participate in 403 adult education, while 31 percent of high school graduated and 58 percent of college graduates 404 participate? (Meriam & Cafarela, 1999 p. 8). Kim, Collins, Stowe, and Chandler (1995) wrote, 405 ?adults with les than a high school diploma are least likely to participate in adult education 406 activities overal, in credential programs, and in work-related courses, and only 5 percent of 407 these adults participate in adult basic education or GED preparation? (p. 3). 408 Unfortunately, ?there are no neat boundaries such as age in adult education, as in the case 409 of elementary and secondary education, or mision as in the case of higher education? (Meriam 410 & Cafarela, 1999, p. 62). Acording to the literature, numerous methods were used to identify 411 adult learners, before any formal definition was completed. For example, one method identified 412 who participated and what was being studied; and another one identified life situations and 413 respective roles (Meriam & Cafarela, 1999). However, a study by The National Opinion 414 Research Center in Chicago, know as the national inquiry into the nature of adult education in 415 America, resulted in the adult being defined as ?either twenty-one or over, maried, or the head 416 of a household? (Meriam & Cafarela, 1999, p. 27). The National Center for Education 417 Statistics defined participants as ?persons beyond compulsory school age, seventen and over), 418 who are not enrolled full-time in a regular school or college program but who are engaged in one 419 or more activities of organized instruction? (NCES, 1978, p .2). The U.S. Department of 420 Education (1986), defined adult education as any course or educational activity taken part-time 421 and reported as adult education by respondents seventen years old and over. 422 Brookfield (1986) wrote, ?simply because individuals who are adult by age are gathered 423 together in a clasroom does not mean that learning is automaticaly occurring? (p. 9). Clearly, ?a 424 20 transactional proces must occur betwen those individuals involved in the educational activity 425 before chalenging, meaningful, and purposeful learning results? (Galbraith & Zelenak, 1991, p. 426 2). Collaboration is the core of the transactional proces (Galbraith & Zelenak, 1991). Therefore, 427 ?in an efective teaching-learning transaction al participants learn, no one members is regarded 428 as having a monopoly on insight, and disension and criticism are regarded as inevitable and 429 desirable elements of the proces? (p. 24). 430 Acording to Knowles (1970) adult learners already posses a reservoir of life 431 experiences they are able to draw upon when entering into a learning environment. However, a 432 person is only an adult when he or she matures to the point where their self-concept moves from 433 dependency to self-direction (Knowles, 1970). Self-concept is a maturation proces involving 434 two major forces, external and internal, that influences growth or development (Crain, 2005). 435 Moreover, the self-concept is a ?function of developmental growth? (Cross, 1981, p. 238). In 436 framing the self-concept, Knowles (1980) ilustrates that: 437 Adults begin to se their normal role in life as no longer being a full-time learner. They 438 se themselves increasingly as producers or doers. The chief sources of self-fulfilment 439 are now their performances as workers, spouses, parents, and citizens. Adults acquire a 440 new status, in their own eyes and in the eyes of others, from these non-educational 441 responsibilities. Their self-concept becomes that of a self-directing personality. They se 442 themselves as being able to make their own decisions and face the consequences, to 443 manage their own lives. (p. 46) 444 The foundation of andragogy is based upon the life experiences adults have and are using 445 when seking education in order to increase their competence and earning potential. Andragogy 446 is ?a proces in which individuals take the initiative in designing learning experiences, 447 21 diagnosing needs, location resources, and evaluating learning? (Brookfield, 1986, p. 40). 448 Educators should take into consideration their students? current life situations and respective 449 roles and learning occurs in varied places in the lives of adults (Knowles, 1980; Meriam & 450 Cafarela, 1999). Because diferences exist betwen adult learners in terms of values, interests, 451 personalities, atitudes, and motivation, the instructor should customize teaching methods in 452 order to teach the diverse population (Kennedy, 2003; Knowles, 1970). The self-concept 453 asumption can be useful when creating succesful learning environments for adult students. And 454 ?a good adult education teacher suppreses their own compulsion to teach what they know 455 students ought to learn in favor of helping students learn for themselves what they want to learn? 456 (Knowles, 1980, p. 56). Atention in the literature and in practice to creating a positive learning 457 experience for adults has grown over the past decade. Acording to Wlodkowski (1985), there 458 are ten things an instructor can do to help create a positive self-concept for adult students: 459 1. Encourage the learner by giving recognition for real efort. 460 2. Emphasize learning from mistakes; demonstrate a confident and realistic expectancy 461 that the learner wil learn. 462 3. Show faith in the adult?s capacity as a learner, work with the learner at the beginning 463 of dificult tasks, and reinforce the proces of learning. 464 4. Promote personal control of the context of learning through planning and goal seting, 465 and alow learners to make choices about what, how, and when they are to learn 466 something. 467 5. Encourage the use of logs to record personal progres while learning. 468 6. Provide prompt fedback. 469 22 7. Atribute their succes to their ability and their efort. Build confidence by providing 470 learners with learning tasks suitable to their ability; stres the importance of efort for 471 succes on learning tasks prior to their initiation. 472 8. Provide verbal and writen mesages that acentuate any achievement that turns out 473 wel in the eyes or the learner. 474 9. Help learners understand that efort and persistence can overcome failure. If a learner 475 experiences an unsuccesful learning outcome emphasize their power and 476 responsibility in the learning task and give them real hope for future performance 477 when a similar task is undertaken. 478 10. Use self-evaluation procedures to heighten awarenes of personal strengths and 479 abilities in their learning tasks. (p. 88?97) 480 A good number of entrepreneurs have a strong locus of control, desire achievement, are 481 energetic, detail oriented, and problem solvers (Cole & Ulrich 1987; Yarzebinski, 1992). The 482 adult educator should make further consideration and adjustments in the training program, 483 because adult learners wil have additional characteristics and diferent styles of cognitive 484 procesing, as wel as diferent learning styles, life situations, and personalities (Nuckles, 1999). 485 For example, currently or previously employed busines workers bring specific and identifiable 486 skils to the entrepreneurship-training program. Even though these profesionals are established, 487 and more confident about their learning ability than their clasroom peers, they may fel internal 488 presure and external motivation, such as family or money obligations, to move swiftly though 489 the training program to reach their goals. Some participants may have just recently experienced 490 ?a major life change, transition, or development? (Smith, 1982, p. 50) and are pursuing 491 entrepreneurship (training) as a means to survive. They too may fel presure, and their decision 492 23 to enroll in an entrepreneurship training program ay have been driven by a dramatic event or 493 crises in which their values and roles may have been reconsidered. In contrast, the under 494 educated learner may dislike structured training programs, and may lack basic skil or have 495 learning disabilities; therefore, they are more likely to drop out of training programs than other 496 populations (Smith, 1982). Therefore, ?the teacher of adults are especialy chalenged to be 497 sensitive to the idiosyncrasies of each learner and ensure that educational and learning activities 498 are efective and match the special characteristics of each learner? (Meriam & Cafarela, 1999, 499 p. 36). 500 Teaching Philosophy 501 502 The principles that direct teachers? lives shape their methodology to the adult clasroom 503 (Day & Amstutz, 2003). Teaching technicians, not teaching profesionals, teach material without 504 a plan, mision or rationale (Galbraith, 2000). Various disciplines propose that a relationship 505 exists betwen the beliefs, atitudes, values, and the decisions and actions that provide the 506 fundamental framework for an instructor?s teaching style and action (Conti, 1990; Zinn, 1990). 507 Zinn (1990) notes, ?life philosophy is often unrecognized and rarely expresed, though it may be 508 understood implicitly? (p. 40). 509 Since atitudes, beliefs, and values provide the basis for philosophical orientation, an 510 instructor individual and prior experience would also influence the development of their 511 philosophy and teaching style. Therefore, adult educators decide how to proced when they 512 employ lecture or activities to convey information, show new skils, aid discussion, point 513 students to additional resources, or direct learners through generate and test and problem solving 514 exercises. The course of action that the educator selects is a synthesis of practice based upon 515 24 educator beliefs (on what is suitable for the adult learners) and philosophical orientation (Zinn, 516 1990). 517 The literature on teaching philosophy explains, ?When an adult educator engages in the 518 practice of education, certain beliefs about life in general are applied to the practice? (Galbraith, 519 1990, p. 40). Therefore, teachers hold beliefs about how adults learn, how they should be taught, 520 and what instructional practice should look like. Furthermore, ?a basic asumption underlying 521 the teaching/learning proces is that the purpose of education is to promote, guide, and/or 522 facilitate some sort of change in individuals? (Galbraith, 1990, p. 42). These asumptions of 523 education, the role of the adult educator and students, and the understanding of diferences 524 among learners are al components of an educational philosophy. Yet, ?teachers as a group are 525 not able to clearly state their beliefs about teaching? (Conti, 1990, p. 75), stresing the 526 significance of increasing their consciousnes of the implications of their actions and beliefs. 527 Teachers are in a position to determine whether they desire to do something diferently in their 528 clasrooms, when they are provided opportunities to examine the ful impact of how their 529 educational beliefs influence their practical clasroom activities. Furthermore, when a teacher 530 formulates their educational philosophy and understand its relationship to clasroom practice, 531 they are in a beter position to ?negotiate the everyday realities of life with adult learners? 532 (Tisdel & Taylor, 1999, p. 6). 533 Education has a significant focus to transmit change and understanding of educational 534 philosophy provides vision for practice (Galbraith, 2000), and a ?foundation for criticaly 535 thinking about?practice, ideas and the political and social structure? (Galbraith, 2000, p. 16). 536 Acording to Brookfield (1990) a working education philosophy provides an answer of why a 537 teacher is doing what they?re doing. Heimlich and Norland (1994) clarifies: ?Teachers who 538 25 uncover their underlying beliefs, recognize their own behaviors, and work to make the two 539 congruent wil experience a fredom that alows them to explore, reflect, apply and grow in ways 540 that they may never have experienced before? (p. 11). 541 Adult educators who plan and conduct training programs waste a lot of time and energy 542 when philosophies of education are not translated into concrete programs (Elias & Meriam, 543 1995; Galbraith, 1990). Quite a few training facilities place more importance on the survival of 544 the institution rather than identifying the needs of the adult learner (de Chambeau, 1977). 545 Training programs should be developed by the instructor philosophies (Strom, 1996). Elias and 546 Meriam (1995) suggested that instructors ?choose one particular theory as a framework upon 547 which one builds a personal educational philosophy? (p. 206). As a result, adult educators have 548 the ability and autonomy, to select and determine the scope and content of materials; as wel as 549 determining the best means of incorporating the material into the clasroom seting. Whatever 550 teaching philosophy the adult educator adopts, the position should inspire activities, and provide 551 direction to practice (Elias & Meriam, 1990). Apps (1985) found that when instructors 552 identified with one educational philosophy, they can fit their beliefs ?into one of these 553 established philosophies and become comfortable with this new found intelectual home? (p. 72). 554 Teaching Philosophies 555 Elias and Meriam (1995) presented a detailed review of each adult education philosophy 556 along with their historical ancestry, modern programs and practices. In addition, Elias and 557 Meriam (1995) described the role of educators and presented a concise description of the 558 technique educators would use to facilitate learning. Acording to McKenzie (1985), they 559 created ?a helpful device for organizing philosophical thinking about adult education? (p. 18) 560 that is highly regarded. 561 26 Behavioral Philosophy 562 The behavioral philosophy is deeply rooted in thre philosophical traditions: materialism, 563 scientific realism and empiricism, and positivism. In the materialist viewpoint, the British 564 philosopher Hobbs believed that humans are part of nature; in scientific realism, human knowing 565 came through the empirical proces; and in positivism, understanding and knowledge is achieved 566 through scientific observation and the measurement of facts (Elias & Meriam, 1995). Education 567 behaviorists emphasize control, behavioral modification, learning through reinforcement, and 568 management by objectives based upon the psychological work of Thorndale, Pavlov, Skinner, 569 and Watson (Elias & Meriam, 1995; Gredler, 2001). Skinner (1968) theorized that humans 570 control environments and emphasized that learning occurred through reinforcement and behavior 571 modification. Observable behavior is highlighted by the philosophy and how a person?s 572 environment may mold their behavior. Acording to Elias and Meriam (1995), ?needs and 573 interests are learned from the environment? (p. 95) and behaviorist believed that through 574 manipulation of the environment, student?s needs and interest could be changed. In ?practice, 575 much of adult education is behavioral? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 237). 576 Acording to Elias and Meriam (1995) ?individual diferences (among learners) need to 577 be more eficiently dealt with? (p. 87); and ?on the individual level, behaviorist education 578 emphasizes the acquisition of job skil? but ?de-emphasize competition and individual succes? 579 (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 87). Behaviorists believe the esential goal of education is to 580 reinforce cooperation and interdependence for the good of the collective and the global society. 581 They also believe it is the instructor?s responsibility to create environments that prompt and 582 reinforce behaviors, in order eliminate undesirable behaviors and met the goal of survival for 583 mankind. In the behaviorist framework, the teacher and learner roles are precisely defined. The 584 27 teacher acts as a ? contingency manager, an environmental controller, or behavioral engineer 585 who plans in detail the conditions necesary to bring about desired behavior? (Elias & Meriam, 586 1995, p. 88); and the environment should be one in which al student-teachers interactions should 587 be favorable and positively reinforced. Esentialy, when the learner practices new behavior, 588 fedback is received as their role is transformed from pasive to active. 589 Behavioral educators acknowledge that adults learn at diferent speeds and have diferent 590 learning styles. They acommodate students by alowing extended time for meting the course 591 objectives and present material in various formats. The behavioral instruction philosophy ?is an 592 ideal vehicle for a self-directed individual learning experiences? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 95). 593 Traditionaly, vocational education has been competency based. Competency-based education 594 models have been integrated into adult vocational programs. Preparation for a vocation means 595 identifying skils, and teaching them. Behavioral philosophy is commonly used in skils and 596 vocational training, and utilizes skils identification, standardization and certification (Elias & 597 Meriam, 1995; Zinn, 1990). 598 Liberal Philosophy 599 The liberal educational philosophy should not be confused with Clasical or Liberal Arts 600 education (Zinn, 1990). Liberal philosophy influenced early adult education eforts and propeled 601 eforts in understanding that adults learn individualy or in groups (Elias & Meriam, 1995). 602 Educational theory and practice developments in England and France fueled the transplant of 603 liberal education into America during the Colonial period, and were meant to produce a 604 gentleman scholar fit for citizenship demands (Elias & Meriam, 1995). 605 Liberal philosophy emphasizes learning for the sake of learning. Clasical humanism, 606 comprehensive education, and traditional knowledge are stresed in the broadest sense. Liberal 607 28 tradition considers humanities, religion, and philosophy superior to science and presents ?the 608 values by which science and technology are to be criticized? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 27). To 609 date, many liberal educators stil disregard the sciences as a component of a clasical liberal 610 education. 611 Liberal education is pertinent for al disciplines and is considered timeles. Acording to 612 Zinn (1990), the adult learner is a ?renaisance person? (p. 72) who is cultured and seks 613 knowledge. For the liberal educator, the ?mere transmision and absorption of factual knowledge 614 or development of technical skil? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 29) is not the goal, but rather a 615 conceptual and theoretical understanding of subject mater. In liberal education, knowledge can 616 be applied to various areas. Experiences and ?practical wisdom? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 23) 617 are gained ?from an inteligently formed mind? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 31). Through liberal 618 education continuing education programs, older adults are recognized as the audience best 619 equipped to utilize and incorporate the new education experiences because of previous life 620 experiences. However, in liberal education, the prominent instructor position is reserved for the 621 educator. Elias and Meriam (1995) explained: 622 There are many things liberal educators fel that can best be taught directly by the 623 teacher. The lecture method, if wel organized and suited to the ability of the students, is 624 recognized as an eficient instructional strategy. Learning through projects, insight, or 625 discovery methods de-emphasize the directive role of the teacher and are not endorsed by 626 liberal educators. (p. 30) 627 Liberal education philosophy was the impetus for the Great Books Program, Elderhostel, 628 and the Center for the Study of Liberal Education (Elias & Meriam, 1995; Zinn, 1990). 629 ?Progres, change, newnes, optimism, activity, practicality, eficiency, measurability, and 630 29 technology? (Zinn, 1990, p. 56) are not typicaly asociated with asociated with this philosophy. 631 However, liberal education is stil a strong force in educational today, and focuses on the actual 632 teaching of the disciplines (Elias & Meriam, 1995). 633 Progresive Philosophy 634 The progresive movement, during industrialization, was instrumental in providing 635 stimulation in the creation of practical programs and philosophical positions in adult education. 636 John Dewey (1916) emphasized problem solving and experimental methods in education as the 637 foundation for the progresive education philosophy. At the turn of the century, the United States 638 underwent imense social, economic, and political changes; this time period was known as the 639 Progresive Movement (Elias & Meriam, 1995). The Progresive Movement period provided 640 the groundwork for the progresive educational philosophy because it reflected community 641 reactions to ?industrialization, imigration, emancipation, urbanization, and national 642 maturation? (Knowles, 1977, p. 75) as wel as many other ?social, political, and economic 643 problems? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 47). Although the Progresive Movement culminated in 644 the 1950s, the education philosophies are stil important. 645 The goals of education, for early progresives, were individualistic and social. The 646 progresive philosophy promotes wel-being and efectivenes within society by taking into 647 acount the relationships betwen society and education. Dewey (1916) believed the highest 648 ideal for progresive movement was maintained through education for the democracy so that 649 educated could work together to solve societal problems. 650 The desires and understanding of the learner are at the core of the progresive education 651 movement. Learners ascertain problems and identify solutions in order to enhance their aptitude 652 through experience based education and skils acquisition (Elias & Meriam, 1995; McKenzie, 653 30 1985; Zinn, 1990). Progresive programs elicited the community to help improve public 654 education, as wel as enhance the community by providing educational opportunities to people of 655 al ages. 656 In progresive education, programs are focused on learners, and should be adjusted 657 continualy in order to addres the specific needs and circumstances adults face. Progresive 658 educators, to ascertain important truths about the student?s environment, use a mixture of 659 experimental and scientific techniques. The ?natural inclination of learners to grapple with 660 problems? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 59) is capitalized through integrating an activity method 661 involving explanation of the problem and development of hypotheses. Because teachers are not 662 the sole possesor and diseminator of knowledge, students are responsible for their own 663 learning, learner experiences are reconstructed through interactive proceses, and the experiences 664 of the teacher are used as examples that ?stimulate, instigate, and evaluate? the learning proces 665 (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 62). 666 Al adult educators acknowledge the fundamental progresive principle that education is 667 a practice of reflective inquiry (Elias & Meriam, 1995). Acording to Elias and Meriam, 668 ?Progresivism has had a greater impact upon the adult education movement in the United States 669 than any other single school of thought? (p. 45). Several educational practices in adult education 670 are stimulated by progresivism, and it helped pave the way for English as a second language 671 programs, community schools, university without wals, cooperative extension, vocational 672 education, and lifelong learning (Elias & Meriam, 1995; Zinn, 1990). 673 Humanistic Philosophy 674 Humanism is an expansive philosophical position that holds dear the ?dignity and 675 autonomy of human beings? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 109). Humanistic adult education and 676 31 liberal adult education utilize some of the same sources. But humanism fuses human reason, 677 inteligence and thirst for life with personal fredom and truth against the establishment and 678 institutionalization (Elias & Meriam, 1995). The development of the entire person, which is 679 contrary to behavioral philosophy, is the chief concern of humanistic educators because they 680 believe human nature is naturaly good. 681 Knowles (1970) related with the humanistic philosophy in his explanation of the learner- 682 centered model in which the learner is empowered and self-directed, asuming responsibility for 683 the learning activities. Much of the language and writing surrounding adult education is derived 684 from the humanistic philosophy (Elias & Meriam, 1995). The main reason that humanistic 685 education is equated with adult education is because the learner is viewed as self-directed and 686 self-motivated. In addition, humanistic philosophy conceptualizes learning in terms of fredom 687 and autonomy, cooperation and participation. 688 Under the humanistic philosophy, the teacher is a facilitator or learning partner and 689 respects the self-directed nature of the student. They create learning opportunities and promoting 690 learning without dictating the behavior or activities by valuing and incorporating the life 691 experiences of the learner into the clasroom. Curriculum is student-centered so learners are fre 692 to pursue what they identify to be ?necesary, important, or meaningful? (Elias & Meriam, 693 1995, p. 126). Evaluation is based upon self-evaluation model, because students are the best 694 judges for knowledge acquisition (Elias & Meriam, 1995). Humanistic educators use pas-fail 695 grading system, and students evaluate themselves with self-reporting tools. Fundamentaly in the 696 humanistic philosophy, ?the emphasis is upon learning rather than teaching and the student rather 697 that the instructor? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 123). 698 699 32 Radical Education Philosophy 700 Radical Adult Education has its ?historical roots in the various radical movements that 701 have emerged in the past thre centuries: anarchism, Marxism, socialism and left-wing 702 Freudianism? (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 11). However, Paulo Freire is commonly equated with 703 the philosophy along with his pedagogy of the oppresed and radical approach to literacy 704 education (Elias & Meriam, 1995). Ultimately, radicalism joins a person?s education to his or 705 hers? economic, political, and socio-cultural understanding. 706 In radical education philosophy, education is used as a vehicle to create consciousnes- 707 raising methods designed for the purpose of sparking political and social action. Also, education 708 is a conduit for combating oppresion and forcing necesary changes in society through uniting 709 individual action with reflection. Radical education philosophy seks to increase personaly 710 awarenes that knowledge is power and radical change in society and history can only be 711 achieved through their education. 712 In the radical philosophy, teachers are removed from positions of power and control over 713 the learning environment. Teachers become liberators who suggest but do not determine the 714 direction of learning (Tisdel & Taylor, 1999) and students asist teachers with curriculum 715 design. Clas work focuses on dialogue and the exchange of ideas with total participation from 716 course participants. Discussions are based on personal exposure to real life situations and societal 717 problems, and students utilize critical reflection and problem-posing techniques to identify 718 possible solutions as a group. 719 Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) 720 The Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) is a self-reporting instrument used 721 to explore the educational philosophical orientations of adult educators (Conti, 1990) (Appendix 722 33 2). The instrument asists teachers in selecting instructional content, teaching and learning 723 objectives, instructional material, and how to interact and evaluate learners (Zinn, 1983). In part, 724 the PAEI is based upon the Brostrom (1979) Training Styles Inventory. Brostrom created his 725 instrument to look at educators? various beliefs about teaching and learning (Brostrom, 1979). 726 Galbraith (2000) depicted the PAEI as ?an excelent way of geting started in the development of 727 an instructional philosophy? (p. 15). 728 Teaching Styles 729 Fischer and Fischer (1979) defined teaching styles as ?a pervasive way of approaching 730 the learners that might be consistent with several methods of teaching? (p. 251). ?Teaching style 731 refers to the distinct qualities displayed by a teacher that are persistent from situation to situation 732 regardles of the content? (Galbraith, 1990, p. 80). Conti (1990) wrote, ?because teaching style is 733 comprehensive and is the overt implementation of the teacher?s beliefs about teaching, it is 734 directly linked to the teacher?s educational philosophy? (p. 77). ?The behavior of the teacher 735 probably influences the character of the learning climate more than any other single factor? 736 (Knowles, 1970, p. 41). 737 The development and efective implementation of teaching methods present a daunting 738 chalenge for educators who are resistant to change and reluctant to learn a new instructional 739 method. For example, expository teaching can be a very useful tool in a teacher?s pedagogical 740 repertoire. This method is teacher centered. The teacher dominates al the content, delivery and 741 discussion of material. A more suitable approach would employ an instructional method that 742 ilustrates clear curricular and learning goals and matched them to the audience. By including the 743 adult learner in the curiculum planning proces the instructor wil not alienate the student from 744 the learning proces, and achieve both instructor and learner goals. The teacher?s responsibility is 745 34 deeply rooted in understanding the adult and transforming their understanding into a force for 746 learning. Teachers must be wiling to change if they wish to improve student achievement. 747 Self-Directed Learning 748 Adult education concepts and philosophies reveal the development of self-directednes is 749 a goal for adult learners and educators. In general terms, a teacher aims to transfer the skils 750 associated with teaching, such as to decide what should be learned, the most efective means of 751 learning it, and to know realisticaly and correctly when the learning has been achieved. Self- 752 directed learning is ?deliberate learning in which the person?s primary intention is to gain certain 753 definite knowledge or skils? (Cross, 1983, p. 186?187). It is the ability to exercise learner 754 sovereignty and ?adult-learning eforts that are initiated and directed by the individual; the adult 755 learner decides what resources wil be used and how they wil be used? (Seaman & Felenz, 756 1989, p. 26). Skager (1978) ilustrates self-directed learning as the ?individualization of the 757 learning experience toward the goal of developing the learner?s own skils and competencies in 758 the planning, execution and evaluation of learning activities both as an individual and as a 759 member of a co-operative learning group? (p. 14). It is ?a proces in which individuals take the 760 initiative in designing learning experiences, diagnosing needs, location resources, and evaluating 761 learning? (Brookfield, 1986, p. 40). 762 Self-directednes shifts the locus of control. Knowles (1990) viewed this shift as a 763 proces in which learners, with or without the help of others, takes responsibility for: 764 1. Diagnosing their own needs for learning. 765 2. Formulating their own learning objectives. 766 3. Identifying efective human and material resources for acomplishing their 767 objectives. 768 35 4. Evaluating the extent to which they have acomplished their objectives. (p. 135) 769 Tough (1979) proposed 13 decision points relative to individuals when they are ready to 770 learn. Tough?s reflections provide a fairly acurate representation of key elements within the 771 developmental proces. Those elements are: 772 1. Deciding what detailed knowledge and skil to learn. 773 2. Deciding the specific activities, methods, resources, or equipment for learning. 774 3. Deciding where to learn. 775 4. Seting specific deadlines or intermediate targets. 776 5. Deciding when to begin a learning episode. 777 6. Deciding the pace at which to proced during a learning episode. 778 7. Estimate the current level of one?s knowledge and skil or one?s progres in 779 gaining the desired knowledge and skil. 780 8. Detecting any factor that has been hindering learning or discovering ineficient 781 aspects of the current practice. 782 9. Obtaining the desired resources or equipment or reaching the desired place or 783 resource. 784 10. Preparing or adapting a room (certain furniture or equipment) for learning or 785 aranging certain other physical conditions in preparation for learning. 786 11. Saving or obtaining the money necesary for the use of certain human or 787 nonhuman resources. 788 12. Finding time for the learning. 789 13. Taking steps to increase the motivation for certain learning episodes. (p. 116-117) 790 Skager (1978) ilustrates self-directed learning as the ?individualization of the learning 791 36 experience toward the goal of developing the learner?s own skils and competencies in the 792 planning, execution and evaluation of learning activities both as an individual and as a member 793 of a co-operative learning group? (p. 14). ?Learning outside the confines of formal education and 794 training programs, learning on one?s own, is the way most adults go about acquiring new ideas, 795 skils, and altitudes? (Meriam & Cafarela, 1999, p. 41). In addresing the broad concept, 796 Langenbach (1993) refers to Knowles definition of self-directed learning: 797 It is a proces in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, 798 in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and 799 material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning 800 strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes. And self-directed learning usualy takes 801 place in asociation with various kinds of helpers, such as teachers, tutors, mentors, 802 resource people, and peers. (p. 163?164) 803 In framing the concept, Candy (1991) ilustrates that: 804 Self-direction embraces dimensions of proces and product, and that it refers to four 805 distinct (but related) phenomena: ?self-direction? as a personal atribute (personal 806 autonomy); ?self-direction? as the wilingnes and capacity to conduct one?s own 807 education (self-management); ?self-direction? as a mode of organizing instruction in 808 formal setings (learner-control); and ?self-direction? as the individual, non-institutional 809 pursuit of learning opportunities in the ?natural societal seting? (autodidaxy) (p. 22-23). 810 There are several things known about self-directed learning. First, learners can be 811 empowered to take more responsibility in the decision making proces of their learning 812 endeavor. Second, self-direction is best viewed as a characteristic that exists to some degre in 813 every person and learning situation. Third, self-direction does not necesarily occur in complete 814 37 isolation. Fourth, self-directed learners have the ability to transfer knowledge and skil from one 815 situation to another. Fifth, learning activities and resources include writing activities that are 816 reflective, study group participation, electronic dialogues, internship and self-guided reading. 817 Sixth, teachers can have efective roles in self-directed learning situations, for example 818 establishing a dialogue with the learner, and being a valid resource of information. Seventh, 819 many educational institutions support self-directed study by ofering individualized study, open- 820 learning programs, and non-traditional courses. 821 Seaman and Felenz (1989) outlined specific advantages of self-directed learning as 822 follows: 823 1. It contributes to what many maintain is the ultimate goal of al education that is, the 824 development of autonomous learners. 825 2. Succesful direction of one?s own learning often brings with it much satisfaction. 826 3. The learner frequently anticipates using the knowledge gained and plans the learning 827 eforts to met recognized needs. 828 4. The convenience and flexibility of choosing the time, place, and other incidentals of 829 the learning experience make it more atractive. (p. 26?27) 830 Applied to a learning environment, many adults find themselves in situations that do not 831 alow for self-direction. And these situations often contradict their culture, which builds tension 832 betwen the situation and the adult?s self-concept. For instance, a test on bookkeeping skils can 833 ostracize entrepreneurship students who have been socialized to dislike test for various reasons 834 or has experienced failures in the past from failing grades. Pasing the exam could open up more 835 opportunities for busines loans if a pas grade is made. However, in the eyes of the student, his 836 self-image of himself and the one his culture has afirmed the felings and fear of failure. 837 38 Alexander (2005) afirms that a sense of self also colors how individuals interpret their own 838 actions and those of others. The situation of having to take a test often places the adult in a 839 quandary and forces the adult into a resentful and resistance state. 840 Langenbach (1993) identified Alen Tough and Malcolm Knowles as ?two pioneer 841 thinkers in the field of self-directed learning? (p. 147). During the 1960s and 1970s, Alen Tough 842 conducted several studies on self-directednes. His research focused on the adult?s succesful 843 eforts to learn and change, particularly the 70% of adults who are self-guided without relying 844 much on profesionals or institutions. Tough?s best-known books are The Adult?s Learning 845 Projects and Intentional Changes. He developed the concept learning projects ? a model about 846 how adults want to learn; more specificaly, when they learn they engage in specific learning. In 847 learning projects, the adult decides how and when they are going learn, and when they have 848 learned enough. 849 Tough believed that the episodes are the cornerstones in which larger learning activities 850 are built. He suggested that an episode is a ?basic unit or ?chunk? of time that individuals use 851 naturaly when learning on their own? (Langenbach, 1993, p. 149?150). Tough further concluded 852 that episodes have exact time periods and are held together by the likenes in objectives, 853 activities, or places of the thoughts and actions. And stresed that episodes are not interupted for 854 a period of two or thre minutes and can last betwen thirty to sixty minutes. As more and more 855 episodes occur, learning projects develop which are clearly related episodes in a series. 856 Langenbach (1993) wrote, 857 Self-directed learning revolves around learning projects that are made up of related 858 learning episodes. The nature of the episodes within a project can take many forms, e.g., 859 reading a book, listening to a lecture, etc., but they are related in the sense that they al 860 39 contribute to gaining knowledge and skil asociated with a learning project. (p. 152) 861 In addition, Tough simplified Houle?s motivational model by suggesting that adults learn 862 things that are important to them with the purpose having an increase in self-estem, a sense of 863 pleasing and impresing others, and certain pleasures or satisfactions. Tough?s model of self- 864 directed learning is very descriptive and provides a fairly acurate representation of key elements 865 within the developmental proces. Knowles (1978) refers to self-direction as ?taking the 866 initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating 867 learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning choosing and 868 implementing appropriate learning strategies and evaluating learning outcomes? (p. 18). 869 Knowles? approach towards self-directed learning is similar to Tough?s. Both describe 870 self-directed education from the viewpoint of managing learning resources. However, Knowles 871 atempts to bridge the gap betwen conventional schooling and the new role of facilitator of 872 learning by discussing the new competencies required of facilitator and learner. Certain 873 competencies should exist if the learner and the teacher desire to improve the efectivenes of 874 self-directed learning. ?The negotiation betwen facilitator and learner is paramount in the 875 learning contract proces? (Langenbach, 1993, p. 175). 876 Knowles? theory on instruction for adult learners rests on four basics asumptions that are 877 contrasted with self-directed learning (andragogy) and teacher-directed learning (pedagogy). 878 Knowles suggested that andragogy would be a beter term to describe self-directed learning 879 because it?s based on asumptions that are vastly diferent than those of pedagogy. His 880 comparison of asumptions are listed as follows: 881 1) As a person moves towards self-directednes dependency diminishes and is a 882 natural proces of maturation. 883 40 2) As people grow and develop, they acumulate an increasing reservoir of 884 experience that becomes an increasingly rich resource for learning-for themselves 885 and for others. 886 3) People become ready to learn something when they experience a need to learn it 887 in order to cope more efectively with real?life tasks or problems. 888 4) Learners se education as the proces of developing increased competence to 889 achieve their full potential in life. 890 In self-directednes, the locus of control shifts from the facilitator to the learner. Knowles (1990) 891 viewed this shift ?as a proces in which learners, with or without the help of others, take 892 responsibility for diagnosing their own needs for learning, formulating their own learning 893 objectives, identifying efective human and material resources for acomplishing their objectives 894 and evaluating the extent to which they have acomplished their objectives? (p. 135). 895 Learner-Centered Teaching 896 A learner-centered teaching style is solely focused on the learning proces. The 897 responsibility for knowledge obtainment is solely the responsibility of the student. The 898 procedings in the clasroom concentrate on what the students are doing and not what the teacher 899 is doing. Therefore the learning environment should be ?conducive to students needs? (Conti, 900 1990, p. 78), with the purpose of problem-solving skil acquisition by the student (Conti, 1990). 901 Learner-centered teaching occurs wel in advance of the students ariving in the learning 902 environment. Teachers can ?engaged in a self-asesment proces regarding their own 903 proficiencies? (Nuckles, 1999, p. 5). Al of the clasroom atitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values 904 wil spotlight the student (Nuckles, 1999). Therefore ?the need for individualizing instruction, is 905 a recognition of belief that learners difer in al respects: intelectual, cognitive, afective, and 906 41 situational? (Nuckles, 1999, p. 5). The humanistic education philosophy can fully support the 907 function of the learner-centered instructional model, because ?the role of the teacher in a 908 humanistic education seting is that of a facilitator, helper, and partner in the learning proces? 909 (Elias & Meriam, 1995, p. 125). 910 In learner-centered instruction, the teacher is more of a facilitator rather than a lecturer 911 who is fred from the duty of ?being the fount of al knowledge? (Glenn, 2000, p. 12). Learner- 912 centered instruction alows students to be proactive, and empowers them to determine the 913 direction of the course. Empowering students and guiding their learning proces is the goal for 914 learner-centered instructors (Knowles, 1990). A learner-centered instructor directs and asists 915 students in gaining their own knowledge rather than learning from lectures on theories (da 916 Silveira et al., 1998). The teacher asks questions but do not provide answers. Elias and Meriam 917 (1995) clarifies by stating that, ?the teacher does not simply provide information; it is the 918 teacher?s role to create the conditions within which learning can take place? (p. 125). But they 919 also must criticize the proces or methods used by students while suggesting options. 920 Teacher-Centered Teaching 921 Teacher-centered instruction is ?currently the dominant approach throughout al levels of 922 education in North America? (Conti, 1990, p. 77). The teacher-centered approach takes for 923 granted that students are pasive and react to environmental motivation. The role of the instructor 924 is to be primary information giver and evaluator and have the responsibility to design an 925 environment reinforcing desirable behavior. They also determine whether any ?change in 926 behavior? has encouraged learning (Conti, 1990, p. 78). 927 Most teachers are prone to teach with the teaching style they experienced as students as 928 wel as the one they learn (Brown, 2003). Many teachers have been succesful in course delivery 929 42 with lectured based teacher centered instruction, it is logical to se why the style is commonly 930 used and popularized (Brown, 2003). An instructor led clasroom is efective with content 931 related. However, when training is ?physical, emotional, and intelectual environment that 932 surrounds an experience and gives it meaning? (Caudron, 2000, p. 55), student-centered methods 933 are more efective. 934 Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) 935 Developed by Conti (1982), the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) is a self- 936 reporting, self-interpreting, self-scoring instrument that combines several learning principles 937 commonly promoted in the literature (Appendix 3). The purpose of the PALS is to determine 938 prefered teaching styles. The PALS measures certain activities of a teacher that are practiced in 939 the clasroom and the regularity in which they are performed (Conti, 1990). The instrument can 940 identify tendencies in whether teachers: use activities that are learner-centered, use personalize 941 instruction, relate activities to learner experiences, ases student needs, create positive learning 942 climates, alow students to develop evaluation materials, and ascertain whether teachers view 943 themselves as facilitators or just information diseminators within the learning environment. 944 Summary 945 Entrepreneurship training and workforce instruction is available in various institutions 946 and facilities. Many programs are atached to community colleges or universities, while others 947 are government sponsored or busines resource centers or frestanding incubators. These 948 facilities provide esential economic growth opportunities for distresed or depresed 949 communities. The succes and failure rates of micro-enterprises are directly asociated to the 950 training entrepreneurs receive. Acording to the literature, self-directed and student-centered, 951 practical application teaching methods are the best suited for adult learners (Lichtenstein & 952 43 Lyons, 1996). 953 A teacher?s educational philosophy is influenced by their beliefs, values, and atitudes or 954 by their view of what is appropriate for adult learners (Zinn, 1990). Elias and Meriam (1995) 955 outlined five educational philosophies: behavioral, liberal, progresive, humanistic, and radical. 956 The educational proces and the role of the instructor and student are stated within each of these 957 philosophies. Each philosophy has characteristics that conflict with the other philosophies, 958 however al five are valid. 959 Education philosophy also impacts the teaching style of the instructor (Conti, 1990). 960 Teaching styles are composed of the individual traits the teacher posseses and exhibit despite of 961 the content or curriculum. Teacher-centered and learner-centered are two types of teaching 962 styles. Many instructors prefer one style to the other, while they may practice behaviors of both. 963 Research continues to investigate the impact diferent teaching styles have in various learning 964 environments. Many adult learners require more time and energy to master what is taught 965 (Galbraith, 1990); therefore, the instructor?s duty remains in improving curriculum delivery to 966 met individual learner needs (Conti, 1985). 967 968 44 CHAPTER II. METHODS 968 Introduction 969 This chapter describes the sample, the instruments, data collection and analysis 970 procedures. The data collection and analysis procedures used were submited and approved by 971 Auburn University prior to the initiation of the study. The purpose of this study was to identify 972 individual teaching styles and education philosophies among workforce education and 973 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia using a web based survey. The survey 974 was based upon the Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) and Principles of Adult 975 Learning Scale (PALS) instruments. Additionaly, this study identified similarities and 976 diferences among the participants through mean comparison as wel as examined the 977 relationship betwen the philosophies and styles. The following research questions were 978 addresed: 979 1. What diferences exist in philosophical orientations of workforce educators and 980 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 981 2. What diferences exist in teaching styles of workforce educators and 982 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 983 3. What relationship exists betwen the philosophical orientations and teaching 984 styles of workforce education and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 985 986 987 988 45 Design 989 Surveys are efective sources of data collection because they concentrate on a specific 990 isue or event and can be quickly compiled for study (Bogdan & Taylor, 1975). They alow the 991 researcher to obtain representative information from a larger sample than by observing and 992 interviewing and offer the ability to rapidly collect and manage, and analyze large data sets 993 (Creswel, 2003). The PAEI and the PALS are two published survey instruments appropriate for 994 measuring the philosophies and teaching styles of entrepreneurship instructors and workforce 995 educators. The PAEI and PALS are self-scoring and self-reporting and easy to administer to the 996 participants through a web-based portal. 997 In this study, a cross-sectional survey design was used and delivered through a web-based 998 portal. Acording to Creswel (2002) cross-sectional surveys offer the design advantage of 999 measuring current atitudes or practices and provide information in a short period of time. 1000 Further, Web-based surveys are powerful tools for collecting and analyzing information; they 1001 take les time to prepare and deliver, and simply the proces of collecting and analyzing results 1002 (Potvin, 2007). Lazar and Prece (1999) suggest various electronic methods for reaching survey 1003 participants, including posting of a mesage to a newsgroup, bulletin board or listserv, or by 1004 directly e-mailing the population. Direct emailing was used, which contained inform and consent 1005 leters, survey directions, and a direct link to the survey. 1006 Population 1007 Acording to the National Busines Incubator Asociation (2008) there are over 1,400 1008 incubators in North America. Of those, 1,115 were in the United States in which 94% of them 1009 were operated by nonprofit organization focused on economic development. About 53% of 1010 busines incubators operate in urban areas, 28% in rural areas, and 19% in suburban areas 1011 46 (National Busines Incubator Asociation 2008). The state of Georgia has 25 incubator facilities 1012 with 17 of them operating outside Metro Atlanta. However, more incubator facilities operate 1013 inside the Metro-Atlanta area, totaling 8, than many surrounding southern states (Louisiana, 1014 Misisippi, Tennese). Comparatively, the state of Florida has a large number of incubators, 1015 which are solely located on university campuses. And several incubator facilities, in Alabama, 1016 are connected with the Chamber of Commerce, major universities, and are located in the larger 1017 cities. In the state of Georgia 25 incubator educational facilities employ 30 instructors who 1018 provide training in entrepreneurship to adults. Al 30 entrepreneurship instructors were surveyed 1019 in this study. 1020 Acording to the Technical College System of Georgia (2008), there are 31 facilities 1021 offering workforce education and training. These facilities operate within technical colleges 1022 across the state offering GED, English Literacy, Health Literacy programs. Also, there were 60 1023 Certified Literate Community Programs (CLCPs) encompasing 74 counties and 2 cities, 1024 offering childcare, adult literacy services, and economic development, workplace skils training, 1025 and ESOL clases (Technical College System of Georgia, 2008). In addition, the Ofice of Adult 1026 Education (OAE) has 37 service delivery areas throughout the state of Georgia ofering training 1027 for busines and industry that focus on training in Workkeys and Carer/Technical Education. 1028 Random sampling was used for this population because of the sizeable number of workforce 1029 education instructors in the state of Georgia. 1030 Random sampling, acording to Martela et al. (1999), is a ?probability sampling 1031 selection technique that ensures that each individual, object, or event within the population has 1032 an equal and independent chance of being selected? (p. 120) for inclusion in the sample. Gay and 1033 Airasian (2000) wrote random sampling is ?the best single way to obtain a representative sample 1034 47 because it provides a higher probability for achieving representative samples than any other 1035 method? (p. 124). By request of the researcher, the directors of each facility were to randomly 1036 select five instructors from their facility and randomly distribute the survey instrument sets. 1037 There is no way to discover bias in the selection proces or the criteria the directors may have 1038 used in randomly selecting which instructors were to complete the surveys because the choice or 1039 selection of participants was completely removed from the researcher?s control. 1040 Instrumentation 1041 Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) 1042 The Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI), developed by Zinn (1983), is an 1043 asesment tool to asist in ascertaining the extent to which an educator adheres to or values a 1044 certain educational philosophy (McKenzie, 1985; Zinn, 1990). Totaling 75 questions, the PAEI 1045 consists of 15 incomplete sentences, which frame the main stem items that addres elements of 1046 education: purpose of adult education, how adults learn, teacher role, beliefs about learners, and 1047 teaching methods. Five statements, which were potential conclusions, precede each of the 15 1048 items. A 7-point Likert scale ranged from (1) Strongly Disagre to (7) Strongly Agre with a (4) 1049 Neutral point in which the respondent selected the degre of agrement with the statement. 1050 Ranging from 15 to 105, the responses were summed and the result reflects the respondent?s 1051 agrement with each of the philosophical orientation. An investigation of al five scores should 1052 reveal the dominant adult education philosophy of the teacher (McKenzie, 1985; Zinn, 1990, 1053 1994). 1054 The respondents transfered the scores for each of the 75 questions to a separate 1055 recording sheet, and the score was calculated by the sum value of the grouped responses. The 1056 highest score indicated the philosophy the instructor is most likely to agre with and use in the 1057 48 learning environment. The lowest score indicated the philosophy most unlike the educator?s 1058 beliefs about education. A score range of 95?105 indicated a strong agrement with the 1059 philosophy, and a score range of 66?94 indicated agrement with the philosophy, a disagrement 1060 with the philosophy is a score below 55, a score range of 15?25 indicated a strong disagrement. 1061 A score range of 56?65 indicated a neutral perception of the philosophy. It is possible for 1062 educators to have two philosophies with high scores, because of overlap among the philosophies. 1063 Teachers may need to closely examine their beliefs for innate contradictions, if score 1064 combinations of thre or more are close or high (Zinn, 1983). 1065 Validity of the PAEI 1066 Surveys and questionnaires require the same standards and levels of acuracy and 1067 consistency as with any other type of research measurement (Gal, Borg, & Gal, 1996). Gal et 1068 al., (1996) defined validity as the ?appropriatenes, meaningfulnes, and usefulnes of the 1069 specific inferences made from test scores? (p. 249). It governs the appropriatenes of the 1070 inferences made from the scores or results of the test, and establishes whether or not an 1071 instrument measures what it is suppose to measure. 1072 The extent to which test items measure a specific and intended area of content constitutes 1073 the content validity of scores from the test. Gal, Borg and Gal (1996) describe the systematic 1074 examination by content experts of the domain of specific content of a test to determine the 1075 content validity. Zinn (1983) described the proces of an expert jury panel, considered 1076 knowledgeable in adult education philosophy, which examined the PAEI. Their responses 1077 showed high content validity through separate item analysis (p. 145). 1078 Ary, Jacobs and Razavieh (1996) define content validity as defense that reveals the test 1079 items to be representative of some domain of content. ?Careful and critical examination by 1080 49 expert judges of the test?s content to determine the relationship betwen the test and the defined 1081 universe? (p. 263) alows for evidence of content validity to be collected. Zinn (1983) described 1082 the proces of the PAEI examination by expert judges: 1083 Both the content and construct validity testing produced evidence that the instrument, as a 1084 whole, exhibited fairly high validity. The select jury confirmed the findings that the PAEI 1085 instrument is a valid way to identify instructors; adult education philosophy and compare 1086 with other prevailing philosophies for the field (p. 154). 1087 Construct validity, acording to Ary, Jacobs and Razavieh (1996), is the degre to which 1088 test items measure the particular construct it was intended to measure. Factor analysis, a 1089 commonly used method of gathering evidence of construct validity, statisticaly tested the 1090 PAEI?s construct validity. Zinn (1983) described the PAEI?s validation proces below: 1091 Test data were analyzed to determine the extent to which each of the variables (i.e., 1092 response options) on each of the scales (liberal, behavioral, progresive, humanistic, and 1093 radical) was a measure of one or more of the factors underlying the scale. Coeficients 1094 were calculated and presented in a rotated matrix for each of the scales, yielding betwen 1095 21 (R scale) and 25 (B, P, and H scales) variables with significant factors loading. The 1096 conclusion drawn from these data was that al of the response options on the Inventory 1097 were significant measures of at least one of the factors on each scale and thus, none of the 1098 individual variables or items could be eliminated without making other modifications and 1099 retesting for validity. (p. 150) 1100 1101 1102 1103 50 Reliability of the PAEI 1104 Reliability is the consistency, precision, and stability of scores on a test, or whether test 1105 scores would be esentialy the same if the same test were re-administered (Gal et.al, 1996). The 1106 ?Pearson product moment corelations were used to establish estimates, internal consistency and 1107 test-retest stability with individual response options, items, and overal scales? (Zinn, 1983, p. 1108 150), which ?showed a tendency toward moderately high stability of the instrument? (Zinn, 1109 1983, p. 154). The Alpha coeficients on the five scales (behavioral, liberal, progresive, 1110 humanistic, and radical) ranged from .75 to .86. And ranges of (r of .48 to .83) deemed the 1111 instrument to have moderate-high reliability. There was an apparent positive correlation betwen 1112 internal consistency and test-retest reliability measures on overal scales (Zinn, 1983). 1113 Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) 1114 The Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) is a 44-item instrument that contains 1115 statements based on theoretical and general principles from adult education literature and have 1116 behavioral terms that are familiar to adult educators. The PALS?s purpose is to measure the 1117 frequency an educator practice one teaching style over another. The instrument can be completed 1118 in les than 15 minutes and is self-administered, self-reporting and self-scoring. Its scores reveal 1119 the tendency an educator has towards a learner-centered or teacher-center style. Educators may 1120 have a tendency to prefer one style to another, but may stil practice components from both styles 1121 (Conti, 2004). 1122 The inventory used contained twenty-two items that were positively stated and randomly 1123 located throughout the instrument. The PALS used had 44 items total. The inventory items were 1124 based upon and laden with theoretical, general and behavioral principles and language familiar to 1125 adult educators. The survey instrument asked participants to gauge how frequently she or he 1126 51 practiced several diferent clasroom activities. Six-point Likert-type scales with numerical 1127 values of 0-5 were asigned to the responses. The response categories were: Always = 0, Almost 1128 always = 1, Often = 2, Seldom = 3, Almost never = 4, Never = 5. The scores for al items are 1129 summed together, and the total value of the responses yield a score and the strength of the 1130 instructors support for a particular teaching style (Conti, 2004). 1131 The PALS has an average score of 146, and score interpretation should be conducted 1132 based upon that average. Scores below 146 indicate a tendency towards a teacher-centered style 1133 and scores above 146 indicate a tendency towards a learner-centered teaching style (Conti, 1134 1990). Scores tend to fal betwen 126 and 166, because the PALS has a standard deviation of 1135 20, and an increased commitment particular teaching style can be interpreted by scores tending 1136 towards these numbers (Conti, 1990). 1137 Validity of PALS 1138 Full-time adult basic education teachers in the Ilinois public school system field-tested 1139 the PALS instrument. Participants were asked to identify items that appeared to support 1140 collaborative education and those that did not. Participant total scores were used as criterion 1141 measures, for their support for the model, because the items on the instrument were based upon 1142 literature that supported collaborative education models. Construct validity was determined using 1143 Pearson correlations by measuring relationships betwen scored and items for participants 1144 (Conti, 1985). The construct validity of the PALS was confirmed by two panels of adult 1145 education practitioners, in which seventy-eight percent agred that the 44 item instrument was 1146 congruent with adult education literature and principles surrounding the collaborative model 1147 (Conti, 1985). 1148 52 Confirmation of the criterion-related validity was made through a comparison of scores 1149 on the Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) and scores of the PALS. The FIAC 1150 consist of 10 categories of communication that are inclusive of al communication possibilities in 1151 a clasroom environment; it is a system of coding spontaneous verbal communication and gives 1152 the ability to draw conclusions about the verbal clasroom climate (Hopkins & Moore, 1993). 1153 The comparison was based upon the responsive actions and identification of imitation on items 1154 betwen the FIAC and PALS. The bivariate corelation betwen the two instruments? ratio score 1155 revealed a positive asociation of .79 for the teacher question ratio, .85 for the teacher response 1156 ratio, and .82 for the pupil initiation ratio (Conti, 1982, p. 139). 1157 Reliability of PALS 1158 In an efort to establish the reliability of the PALS, twenty-thre adult basic educators 1159 participated in a test-rest method. The bivariate correlation yielded a reliability coeficient of .92 1160 (Conti, 1982). 1161 Procedures 1162 In a cross-sectional survey design approach, the researcher collects data one-time, as 1163 compared to a longitudinal survey design approach; the researcher collects data over time (Gay 1164 & Airasian, 2000). Acording to Creswel (2002), ?a cross-sectional study can examine current 1165 atitudes, beliefs, opinions or practices? (p. 398). The cross-sectional design approach was used 1166 in this study, since the goal of this study was to identify the curent beliefs regarding adult 1167 education philosophy and the teaching style of workforce educators and entrepreneurship 1168 instructors. A one-time e-mailing began February 28 and concluded April 31, 2009. 1169 One 75 question (15 questions, with five statement steams) and one 44-question survey 1170 instrument was developed. Rather than being presented on a single, lengthy web page, questions 1171 53 were loaded into a survey designer and web links to the surveys were to be e-mailed to the 1172 perspective respondents. The inform and consent leter, survey directions were atached to the 1173 invitation email as Adobe PDF files and a web link to the surveys was embedded as a hyperlink 1174 into the invitation email. 1175 Invitation leters, containing a link to the survey hosted on Survey Monkey, were e- 1176 mailed to each of the identified 30 entrepreneurship instructors. An additional 31 invitation 1177 letters were e-mailed to the vice presidents of instruction supervising the 31 educational facilities 1178 providing workforce education and training to the adults through the local technical colleges. 1179 The vice presidents of instruction were instructed to randomly distribute, through e-mail, the 1180 survey instruments among the 276 identified workforce education instructors. Secure Socket 1181 Layer (SL) was used for transmiting information privately over the Internet, and is supported 1182 in al modern web browsers. SL encryption was used for collecting and downloading data. 1183 Follow-up emails and phone cals were made one wek after the initial invitation email. Nineten 1184 responses were received from the 30 entrepreneurship instructors (63%), and forty-thre 1185 responses were received from the 276 workforce education instructors (16%). 1186 Variables 1187 1188 The independent treatment variable was the type of institution where the entrepreneurship 1189 training took place. Demographic data was collected for gender and length of employment, as 1190 wel as length of experience working with adults. The training entities were coded and grouped 1191 acording to the institution, organization or facility type and analyzed in SPS. 1192 The instructor?s philosophical orientation toward teaching as identified by the PAEI was 1193 the dependent variable. The numerical score for each of the philosophies?liberal, progresive, 1194 54 behavioral, humanistic, and radical?were entered acording to the results of each survey 1195 instrument and atached to the appropriate training entity variable. 1196 The PALS reported the teaching style the instructors tended to gravitate towards 1197 regardles of the curriculum content. Additionaly, the instrument measured seven diferent and 1198 specific aspects of the teaching style. The 44 responses were totaled and the sum was compared 1199 against the established mean of 146 to indicate a preference for teacher or learner-centered 1200 styles. The questions for the seven factors were also totaled and the sum compared to the 1201 established means. 1202 Data Analysis 1203 1204 To identify individual education philosophies and teaching styles among 1205 workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors and to examine the relationships betwen 1206 the education philosophies and teaching styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship 1207 instructors in Georgia, descriptive statistics were calculated for al variables. For quantitative 1208 variables, the mean, standard deviation, and minimum score, maximum score, and standard 1209 deviation were calculated and identified for the entire sample. Inferential statistics were used to 1210 determine statisticaly significant diferences betwen philosophical orientations and teaching 1211 styles of the sample population. Graphical techniques, including histograms, scater plots and bar 1212 graphs, also aided in the interpretation of data. Qualitative variables were summarized via the use 1213 of frequencies. Al statistical procedures were performed at the p < .05 significance level. 1214 Summary 1215 1216 Two survey instruments were e-mailed to 30 entrepreneurship instructors and 276 1217 workforce educators in Georgia for a cross sectional survey study of philosophies and teaching 1218 styles. There was a sufficient return rate of the survey instruments. The number of 1219 55 entrepreneurship instructors who provided data for this study was 19, or a 63.3% response rate. 1220 The number of workforce educators who provided data for this study was 43, or a 15.3% 1221 response rate. These return rates supplied enough survey sets for data analysis in this descriptive 1222 study. 1223 1224 1225 56 CHAPTER IV. FINDINGS 1225 Introduction 1226 The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify individual education philosophies 1227 and teaching styles among workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors and to examine 1228 the relationships betwen the educational philosophies and teaching styles of workforce 1229 educators and entrepreneurship instructors in Georgia. This chapter presents the results of the 1230 statistical analyses of the data collected to addres the research questions. First, the research 1231 questions are reviewed. Second, a description of the population and sample is provided. Third, a 1232 presentation of the summary statistics for al variables under consideration in the study is also 1233 included. Finaly, the research findings from the inferential statistical procedures are provided in 1234 order to test the research questions. 1235 Review of the Research Questions 1236 The research questions of this study are as follows: 1237 1. What diferences exist in philosophical orientations of workforce educators and 1238 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 1239 2. What diferences exist in teaching styles of workforce educators and 1240 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 1241 3. What relationship exists betwen the philosophical orientations and teaching 1242 styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 1243 1244 1245 57 Population and Sample 1246 In order to addres the research hypotheses, a solicitation to participate in two on-line 1247 surveys through Survey Monkey was made to the population of interest. The population of 1248 interest included entrepreneurship instructors employed in 25 incubator entrepreneurship 1249 education facilities offering entrepreneurship training to adults within the State of Georgia; and 1250 workforce educators employed among 40 facilities offering workforce education and training 1251 operating out of technical college facilities as wel as 37 Focused Industry Training Programs 1252 across the state. Due to the large numbers of workforce educators, random sampling from this 1253 population was used. Specificaly, the researcher solicited 30 entrepreneurship instructors and 1254 276 workforce educators. 1255 The number of entrepreneurship instructors who provided data for this study through the 1256 completion of the surveys was 19, which yielded a response rate of 63.3%. The number of 1257 workforce educators who provided data for this study through the completion of the surveys was 1258 43, which yielded a response rate of 15.6%. The summarized demographics to follow pertain to 1259 the research sample used for this study (n = 62). 1260 Table 1 provides a summary of the survey participants? gender and educational 1261 atainment. The results in Table 1 indicate that the study was composed of an equal number of 1262 males and females. The results also indicate that participants were most likely to have a master?s 1263 degre (64.5%), although the study contained participants ranging from high school only to a 1264 doctorate degre. 1265 1266 1267 1268 58 Table 1 1269 Gender and Educational Atainment of Research Sample 1270 Demographic Frequency Percent Gender Male 31 50.0 Female 31 50.0 Education High school 3 4.8 Asociates/technical 4 6.5 Working on bachelors 1 1.6 Bachelors 6 9.7 Masters 40 64.5 Specialist 1 1.6 Doctoral candidate 1 1.6 Doctorate 5 8.1 Work experience 1 1.6 1271 1272 The participants? length of employment, length of experience in training others and 1273 length of experience in workforce education is sumarized in Table 2. The results in Table 2 1274 indicate that the number of years on the current job, number of training others and number of 1275 years in workforce education varied widely from les than one year to wel over 25 years. The 1276 mean number of years at the current job was 9.55, the mean number of years in training others 1277 was 16.71 and finaly the mean number of years in workforce education was 13.18 years. 1278 1279 59 Table 2 1280 Years of Employment, Training Others and Workforce Education 1281 Source Minimum Maximum Mean Std. deviation Years at current job 0.50 28.00 9.55 7.47 Years in training others 0.00 52.00 16.71 12.46 Years in workforce education 0.00 45.00 13.18 11.05 N = 62. 1282 Summary Statistics 1283 Al of the survey data were scored and analyzed using SPS, Version 16.0. However, 1284 prior to computing the philosophical orientation scores and the teaching style scores, a reliability 1285 analysis was conducted for both surveys using Cronbach?s alpha. The reliability coeficients are 1286 presented in Table 3 and indicate that the internal reliability of both surveys was very high (alpha 1287 = .99). 1288 1289 Table 3 1290 Cronbach?s Alpha for Research Surveys 1291 Source No. of items alpha Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory 75 0.985 Principles of Adult Learning Scale 44 0.987 1292 Due to the scaled nature of the outcome variables in this study, descriptive statistics such 1293 as means and standard deviations were computed for the sample in aggregate. In addition, 1294 histograms were constructed for each philosophical orientation and each teaching style outcome 1295 in order to ilustrate the shape of the distributions and to determine the amount of variability 1296 60 along the x-axis for each research variable. Since this study has a correlation component, it is 1297 critical that the overal sample yields at least a moderate amount of variability along the x-axis 1298 for each outcome so that the true magnitude of the relationships may be detected. 1299 The descriptive statistics for the philosophical orientations are provided in Table 4. The 1300 minimum score possible for each orientation was 15 and the maximum score possible for each 1301 orientation was 105. The results in Table 4 indicate that the range of values for al five 1302 orientations was wide. On average, participants scored highest on the Progresive orientation 1303 (67.68) followed by the Behaviorist orientation (67.19). Conversely, on average, participants 1304 scored lowest on the humanistic orientation (59.47) followed by the radical orientation (60.45). 1305 1306 Table 4 1307 Descriptive Statistics: Philosophical Orientation Orientations 1308 Source N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. deviation Liberal orientation 62 15 90 63.39 12.54 Behaviorist orientation 62 18 97 67.19 16.45 Progresive orientation 62 20 96 67.68 17.50 Humanistic orientation 62 14 85 59.47 13.04 Radical orientation 62 23 90 60.45 14.13 1309 Acording to Zinn (1994), scores betwen 95 and 105 indicate strong agrement of the 1310 philosophy orientation while scores betwen 15 and 25 indicate strong disagrement with the 1311 philosophy orientation. Furthermore, scores betwen 55 and 65 indicate neutrality with regard to 1312 the philosophical orientation. Therefore, since the means scores for the participants in this study 1313 tended to be betwen 55 and 65, the participants in this study tended to have neutral 1314 61 philosophical orientations and therefore were not likely to have extreme agrement or 1315 disagrement with the philosophical orientations. 1316 The distribution of scores for the liberal orientation is presented in Figure 1. The 1317 histogram in Figure 1 indicates that there was a very high peak around a score range of 1318 approximately 52 to 60. The distribution was also negatively skewed with a few extreme scores 1319 on the low end of the scale. Finaly, although most of the scores fel towards the middle and 1320 upper end of the scale, some participants had scores that fel towards the bottom of the scale. 1321 1322 1323 62 1324 Figure 1. Liberal Adult Education Philosophical Orientation. 1325 1326 The distribution of scores for the behaviorist orientation is presented in Figure 2. The 1327 histogram in Figure 2 indicates that a high peak formed around a score range of approximately 1328 52 to 60. Also, the range of values spanned across almost the entire scale. Finaly, although most 1329 of the scores fel above 50, several participants had scores that fel towards the bottom of the 1330 scale. 1331 1332 63 1332 1333 Figure 2. Behaviorist Adult Education Philosophical Orientation. 1334 1335 Figure 3 displays the distribution of scores for the progresive orientation. The histogram 1336 in Figure 3 indicates that the distribution was heavily negatively skewed with a very high peak 1337 around an approximate score range of 60 to 68. Although the majority of the scale was utilized, 1338 participants tended to have scores that fel in the middle to upper end of the scale. 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343 64 1344 1345 Figure 3. Progresive Adult Education Philosophical Orientation. 1346 1347 The distribution of scores for the humanistic orientation is presented in Figure 4. The 1348 histogram in Figure 4 indicates that a high peak formed around a score range of approximately 1349 52 to 60. Also, the distribution was negatively skewed with no participants faling at the highest 1350 end of the scale. In general, the number of participants was fairly evenly split betwen the lower 1351 half of the scale and the upper half of the scale; although some participants? scores fel at the 1352 very bottom of the scale while none of the participants? scores fel at the very top of the scale. 1353 65 1354 1355 Figure 4. Humanistic Adult Education Philosophical Orientation. 1356 1357 Finaly, the distribution of scores for the radical orientation is provided in Figure 5. The 1358 histogram in Figure 5 indicates that the scores were fairly evenly split above and below the 1359 center of the scale with a very high peak around an approximate score range of 60 to 65. Also, 1360 although the range of scores was wide, none of the participants scored at the lowest or highest 1361 end of the scale. 1362 1363 1364 66 1364 Figure 5. Radical Adult Education Philosophical Orientation. 1365 1366 The descriptive results for the teaching style outcomes are provided in Table 5. The 1367 lowest possible score for the overal scale was zero while the highest possible score was 220. For 1368 the individual factors, the lowest possible score was zero and the highest possible score 1369 depended on the factor, since the total number of items per factor was not the same. 1370 1371 67 Table 5 1371 Descriptive Statistics: Principles of Adult Learning Scale 1372 Source N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. deviation Total score 62 60 220 132.17 62.03 Learner-centered activities 62 19 60 44.50 11.90 Personalizing instruction 62 5 45 24.19 14.82 Relating to experience 62 1 30 15.85 10.53 Asesing student needs 62 1 20 10.98 6.78 Climate building 62 3 20 11.46 6.27 Participate in learning proces 62 1 20 9.97 7.22 Flexible: personal development 62 4 25 15.23 7.25 1373 Acording to the scoring instructions (Conti, 1990), the average total teaching styles 1374 score for the PALS is 146. Scores above 146 indicate a tendency towards a learner-centered style 1375 while scores below 146 indicate teacher-centered styled. The results in Table 5 indicate that on 1376 average, the sample in this study had a tendency to be teacher-centered (132.17). However, the 1377 range of values was wide indicating that some of the teachers were highly learner-centered while 1378 others were highly teacher-centered. 1379 The mean for the learning-centered activities was 44.50 out of a possible score range of 1380 zero to 60, since the factor is comprised of 12 items based on a scale of zero to five. Therefore 1381 the participants in this study tended to provide learner-centered activities. However the range of 1382 scores was wide indicating that there were some educators in the study who provide learner- 1383 centered activities regularly and other educators who rarely provide learner-centered activities. 1384 68 The mean for personalizing instruction was 24.29 out of a possible score range of zero to 1385 45. Therefore participants scored somewhere near the middle of the scale on average. However, 1386 the range of scores was wide indicating that there were some educators in the study who 1387 personalize instruction regularly and others who rarely personalize instruction. 1388 The mean for relating to experience was 15.85 out of a possible score range of zero to 30. 1389 Therefore participants scored near the middle of the scale on average. However, the range of 1390 scores was wide indicating that there were some educators in the study who regularly relate to 1391 learners? experiences and some that rarely (if ever) relate to learners? experiences. 1392 The mean for asesing student needs was 10.98 out of a possible score range of zero to 1393 20. Therefore participants scored near the middle of the scale on average. However, the range of 1394 scores was wide indicating that there were some educators in the study who regularly ases 1395 student needs and some that rarely (if ever) ases student needs. 1396 The mean for climate building was 11.46 out of a possible score range of zero to 20. 1397 Therefore participants scored near the middle of the scale on average, although slightly closer to 1398 the higher end of the scale than the lower end of the scale. Also, the score range was wide 1399 indicating that some educators in the study regularly focus on climate building while other 1400 educators rarely focus on climate building. 1401 The mean for participation in the learning proces was 9.97 out of a possible score range 1402 of zero to 20. Therefore participants scored near the middle of the scale on average. However, 1403 the range of scores was wide indicating that some educators in this study regularly participate in 1404 the learning proces while others rarely (if ever) participate in the learning proces. 1405 Finaly, the mean for flexibility for personal development was 15.23 out of a possible 1406 score range of zero to 25. Therefore participants tended to score near the middle to the upper- 1407 69 middle end of the scale. However, the wide range of scores in the sample indicates that while 1408 some educators regularly exercise flexibility for personal development, some educators rarely 1409 exercise flexibility with regard to personal development. 1410 The distribution of scores for the total scale is presented in Figure 6. The histogram in 1411 Figure 6 indicates that a high peak emerged at the highest point of the scale while the majority of 1412 the scores fel betwen an approximate score range of 50 to 140. Also, none of the participants 1413 scored at the lowest end of the scale. 1414 1415 Figure 6. Total Principles of Adult Learning Scale Scores. 1416 1417 1418 70 1418 Figure 7 presents the distribution of scores for the learner-center activities factor. The 1419 histogram in Figure 7 indicates that a high peak emerged at the highest point of the scale while 1420 the remaining scores tended to fal betwen an approximate score range of 25 to 55. Also, none 1421 of the participants scored at the lowest end of the scale. 1422 1423 Figure 7. Learner-Centered Activities Factor Scale Scores. 1424 1425 1426 1427 71 The distribution of scores for the personalizing instruction factor is presented in Figure 8. 1427 The histogram in Figure 8 indicates that a high peak emerged at the highest point of the scale 1428 while the remaining scores tended to fal betwen an approximate score range of five to 25. Also, 1429 the majority of the scores fel in the lower half of the distribution therefore creating a division in 1430 teaching styles with scores tending to be below the midpoint of the scale or at the highest point 1431 of the scale with very few scores in betwen. 1432 1433 Figure 8. Personalizing Instruction Factor Scale Scores. 1434 1435 1436 72 Figure 9 provides the distribution of scores for the relating to experience factor. The 1436 histogram in Figure 9 indicates that a high peak emerged at the highest point of the scale while 1437 the remaining scores tended to fal betwen an approximate score range of zero to 15. Also, the 1438 majority of the scores fel in the lower half of the distribution therefore creating a division in 1439 teaching styles in that scores tended to be either normaly distributed below the midpoint of the 1440 scale or bunched up at the highest point of the scale. 1441 1442 Figure 9. Relating to Experience Factor Scale Scores. 1443 1444 73 The distribution of scores for the asesing student needs factor is displayed in Figure 10. 1445 The histogram in Figure 10 also had a high peak of scores faling at the highest point of the scale 1446 with a large gap betwen those scores and the rest of the distribution. The remaining scores 1447 ranged from zero to approximately 13. Therefore participants were more likely to have scores 1448 below the midpoint of the scale than above the midpoint of the scale. However, when they scored 1449 above the midpoint, they tended to score at the highest point of the scale. 1450 1451 Figure 10. Asesing Student Neds Factor Scale Scores. 1452 1453 1454 74 Figure 11 provides a visual depiction of the distribution of scores for the climate building 1454 factor. The histogram in Figure 11 indicates that the scores tended to peak at the highest point of 1455 the scale and then they peaked, although not as high, at an approximate score range of six to 1456 eight. Also, although participants were most likely to score at the highest point of the scale, the 1457 majority of the scores fel below the midpoint of the scale. Finaly, none of the participants 1458 scored at the lowest point of the scale. 1459 1460 Figure 11. Climate Building Factor Scale Scores. 1461 1462 1463 75 The distribution of scores for the participation in the learning proces factor is presented 1464 in Figure 12. The histogram in Figure 12 indicates that the scores tended to peak at the highest 1465 point of the scale and then they peaked, although not as high, at an approximate score range of 1466 five to seven. Also, although participants were most likely to score at the highest point of the 1467 scale, the majority of the scores fel below the midpoint of the scale. 1468 1469 Figure 12. Participation in the Learning Proces Factor Scale Scores. 1470 1471 1472 76 Finaly, the distribution of scores for the flexibility for personal development factor is 1472 presented in Figure 13. The histogram in Figure 13 indicates that the most common score was at 1473 the highest point of the scale with a very high peak at a score of 25. However, the majority of the 1474 scores fel at or below a score of 15. Also, none of the participants scored at the very bottom of 1475 the scale. 1476 1477 Figure 13. Flexibility for Personal Development Factor Scale Scores. 1478 1479 The descriptive results indicate that the participants in this sample were diverse with 1480 regard to their philosophical orientations as measured by the Philosophy of Adult Education 1481 77 Inventory, and their teaching styles as measured by the Principles of Adult Learning Scale. With 1482 regard to philosophical orientations, participants tended to score around the middle of the 1483 distribution with only a few of the participants scoring at the extremes of the scale. With regard 1484 to the teaching style factors, participants tended to score at the lower end of the scale or at the 1485 highest point of the scale with a fewer number of participants scoring around the midpoint of the 1486 scale. Finaly, for both sets of outcomes (philosophical orientations and teaching styles), the 1487 mean scores tended to reflect the middle of the scale. 1488 Statistical Findings 1489 This section of the chapter provides the results from the research hypothesis tests, which 1490 determine whether the null hypothesis should be rejected or retained. The alpha level used for 1491 this study was .05. Therefore significance values of .05 or les indicate a significant efect, which 1492 means that the null hypothesis should be rejected because the chance of commiting a Type 1 1493 eror (rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true) is only 5% or les. Conversely, significance 1494 values greater than .05 indicate a lack of statistical significance and therefore we fail to reject the 1495 null due to the fact that the researcher cannot be at least 95% confident that a true diference or a 1496 true relationship (diferent from zero) exists in the overal population. 1497 Research Hypothesis One 1498 The first research hypothesis stated that a significant diference exists betwen 1499 workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia with regard to 1500 philosophical orientation mean scores. Therefore independent samples t-tests were used to test 1501 this hypothesis. Specificaly, the two groups of educators were compared on each of the five 1502 philosophical orientations. 1503 78 One of the statistical asumptions of the independent samples t-test is that the two groups 1504 being compared have equal eror variances (homogeneity or equality of eror variances). In order 1505 to test for this statistical asumption, Levene?s test of equality of eror variances was conducted. 1506 The results of Levene?s test indicate that a significant diference was found betwen the two 1507 groups with regard to the radical orientation (p = .02) and therefore the results based on equal 1508 erors not asumed were presented and discussed for that particular orientation. 1509 Table 6 provides the descriptive statistics broken down by group. The results in Table 6 1510 indicate that the workforce educators had higher mean scores across al five orientations with the 1511 largest discrepancy being for the behaviorist orientation (63.53 vs. 68.61). Conversely, the 1512 smalest diference was found relative to the liberal orientation (61.58 vs. 64.19). 1513 1514 Table 6 1515 Philosophy Orientation Descriptive Statistics by Educator Type 1516 Educator Source N Mean Std. deviation Std. eror Entrepreneur Liberal orientation 19 61.58 15.19 3.49 Workforce Liberal orientation 43 64.19 11.29 1.72 Entrepreneur Behaviorist orientation 19 63.53 18.29 4.20 Workforce Behaviorist orientation 43 68.81 15.51 2.37 Entrepreneur Progresive orientation 19 65.53 20.15 4.62 Workforce Progresive orientation 43 68.63 16.37 2.50 Entrepreneur Humanistic orientation 19 57.53 16.30 3.74 Workforce Humanistic orientation 43 60.33 11.43 1.74 Entrepreneur Radical orientation 19 57.79 19.12 4.39 Workforce Radical orientation 43 61.63 11.35 1.73 1517 79 Figure 14 shows the mean diference betwen the two groups of educators. Positive 1517 values indicate that the workforce educators had a higher mean score than did the entrepreneur 1518 educators. As previously stated, the largest discrepancy was found for the behaviorist orientation 1519 and the smalest discrepancy was found for the liberal orientation. 1520 1521 1522 Figure 14. Mean Diference by Philosophical Orientation. 1523 1524 The results for the independent samples t-tests are presented in Table 7. The results in 1525 Table 7 indicate that although the workforce educators had higher mean scores than did the 1526 entrepreneur educators, no statisticaly significant diferences were found with regard to the 1527 liberal orientation (t = -0.75, p = .46, d = -.21); the behaviorist orientation (t = -1.17 p = .25, d = - 1528 80 .33); the progresive orientation (t = -0.64, p = .52, d = -.18); the humanistic orientation (t = - 1529 0.78, p = .44, d = -.22) or the radical orientation (t = -0.81, p = .42, d = -.28). 1530 1531 Table 7 1532 Independent Samples t-Test Results: Philosophical Orientations 1533 95% confidence interval Source t df p Lower Upper Liberal orientation -0.75 60.00 0.46 -9.54 4.33 Behaviorist orientation -1.17 60.00 0.25 -14.32 3.75 Progresive orientation -0.64 60.00 0.52 -12.79 6.59 Humanistic orientation -0.78 60.00 0.44 -10.01 4.41 Radical orientation -0.81 23.80 0.42 -13.57 5.90 1534 1535 The confidence intervals in Table 7 reflect the parameters in which the researcher can be 1536 95% confident that the true mean diference in the overal population lies. For example, the 1537 confidence interval for the liberal orientation indicates that the researcher can be 95% confident 1538 that in the overal population, the workforce educator group has a mean liberal orientation score 1539 as much as 9.54 points higher than the entrepreneur group to as much as 4.33 points lower than 1540 the entrepreneur educator group. In fact, al of the confidence intervals in Table 7 indicate that 1541 either group could have the true higher mean in the overal population and therefore the 1542 diferences found in this research study could be due to sampling eror only, and not due to true 1543 diferences in the overal population. Finaly, the lower bound of the interval reflects a higher 1544 population mean for the workforce educator group while the upper bound of the interval reflects 1545 a higher population mean for the entrepreneur educator group. 1546 81 The results for research hypothesis one indicate that since none of the comparisons 1547 reached statistical significance, the null hypothesis of no diference in the overal population 1548 betwen workforce educators and entrepreneur educators with regard to philosophical 1549 orientations was retained and the research hypothesis of a diference in the overal population 1550 was rejected. 1551 Research Hypothesis Two 1552 The second research hypothesis stated that a significant diference exists betwen 1553 workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia with regard to 1554 teaching style mean scores. Therefore independent samples t-tests were used to test this 1555 hypothesis. Specificaly, the two groups of educators were compared on their total teaching style 1556 mean scores as wel as their seven teaching style factor mean scores. 1557 Levene?s test of equality of eror variances was conducted to determine whether or not 1558 the two groups being compared have equal eror variance. The results indicated that no 1559 violations were noted (p > .05). Therefore al of the findings are presented and discussed based 1560 on the results for equal variances asumed. 1561 Table 8 provides the descriptive statistics broken down by group for the overal 1562 leadership scale score as wel as for the individual factor scale scores. The results in Table 8 1563 indicate that the entrepreneur educators had higher mean scores across the board. The largest 1564 discrepancy was found relative to the total teaching style score (144.69 vs. 126.64). The smalest 1565 discrepancy was found for flexibility for personal development (15.68 vs. 15.02). 1566 1567 82 Table 8 1567 Teaching Style Descriptive Statistics by Educator Type 1568 Educator Source N Mean Std. deviation Std. eror Entrepreneur Total score 19 144.68 57.65 13.23 Workforce Total score 43 126.64 63.74 9.72 Entrepreneur Learner-centered activities 19 46.95 9.80 2.25 Workforce Learner-centered activities 43 43.42 12.68 1.93 Entrepreneur Personalizing instruction 19 26.63 13.83 3.17 Workforce Personalizing instruction 43 23.10 15.26 2.33 Entrepreneur Relating to experience 19 18.00 9.74 2.23 Workforce Relating to experience 43 14.90 10.83 1.65 Entrepreneur Asesing student needs 19 12.68 6.20 1.42 Workforce Asesing student needs 43 10.23 6.95 1.06 Entrepreneur Climate building 19 12.63 5.92 1.36 Workforce Climate building 43 10.94 6.42 0.98 Entrepreneur Participate in learning proces 19 12.11 6.60 1.51 Workforce Participate in learning proces 43 9.02 7.35 1.12 Entrepreneur Flexible: personal development 19 15.68 7.33 1.68 Workforce Flexible: personal development 43 15.02 7.29 1.11 1569 The mean diference betwen the two groups for each teaching style factor is ilustrated 1570 in Figure 15. Negative values indicate that the entrepreneur educators had a higher mean score 1571 than did the workforce educators. The results in Figure 15 provide a summary of the mean 1572 diferences for each teaching style outcome. The results in Figure 15 indicate that most of the 1573 83 mean diferences were relatively smal (les than four points). However, cumulatively the 1574 diference was somewhat large with a diference of 18.04 points, as previously indicated. 1575 1576 1577 Figure 15. Mean Diference by Teaching Style. 1578 1579 The results for the independent samples t-tests are presented in Table 9. The results in 1580 Table 9 indicate that although the entrepreneur educators had higher mean scores than did the 1581 workforce educators, no significant diferences were found with regard to total teaching style (t = 1582 1.06, p = .30, d = .30); the learner-centered activities factor (t = 1.08, p = .29, d = .30); the 1583 personalizing instruction factor (t = 0.86, p = .39, d = .24); the relating to experience factor (t = 1584 1.07, p = .29, d = .30); the asesing student needs factor (t = 1.32, p = .19, d = .37); the climate 1585 84 building factor (t = 0.98, p = .33, d = .27); the participate in the learning proces factor (t = 1.57, 1586 p = .12, d = .44) and the flexibility for personal development factor (t = 0.33, p = .74, d = .09). 1587 1588 Table 9 1589 Independent Samples t-Test Results: Teaching Style 1590 95% confidence interval Source t df p Lower Upper Total score 1.06 60.00 0.30 -16.11 52.19 Learner-centered activities 1.08 60.00 0.29 -3.02 10.08 Personalizing instruction 0.86 60.00 0.39 -4.66 11.71 Relating to experience 1.07 60.00 0.29 -2.69 8.90 Asesing student needs 1.32 60.00 0.19 -1.26 6.16 Climate building 0.98 60.00 0.33 -1.77 5.15 Participate in learning proces 1.57 60.00 0.12 -0.85 7.01 Flexible: personal development 0.33 60.00 0.74 -3.36 4.68 1591 The confidence intervals in Table 9 reflect the parameters in which the researcher can be 1592 95% confident that the true mean diference in the overal population lies. For example, the 1593 confidence interval for the total learning style score indicates that the researcher can be 95% 1594 confident that in the overal population, the workforce educator group has a mean total score as 1595 much as 16.11 points higher than the entrepreneur educator group to as much as 52.19 points 1596 lower than the entrepreneur educator group. In fact, al of the confidence intervals in Table 9 1597 indicate that either group could have the true higher mean in the overal population and therefore 1598 the diferences found in this research study could be due to sampling eror only, and not due to 1599 true diferences in the overal population. Finaly, the lower bound of the interval reflects a 1600 85 higher population mean for the workforce educator group while the upper bound of the interval 1601 reflects a higher population mean for the entrepreneur educator group. 1602 The results for research hypothesis two indicate that since none of the comparisons 1603 reached statistical significance, the null hypothesis of no diference in the overal population 1604 betwen workforce educators and entrepreneur educators with regard to teaching styles was 1605 retained and the research hypothesis of a diference in the overal population was rejected. 1606 Research Hypothesis Thre 1607 The third and final research hypothesis stated that a relationship exists betwen the 1608 philosophical orientations and teaching styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship 1609 instructors within the State of Georgia. In order to test this research hypothesis, Pearson 1610 correlation was used whereby each philosophical orientation was correlated with each teaching 1611 style factor for al participants in the study. 1612 The statistical conclusion validity of the Pearson correlation coeficients is based on the 1613 researchers? ability to obtain data that has a sufficient amount of variability in order to have the 1614 statistical power to identify the true magnitude of the relationship betwen the variables. The 1615 participants? responses in this study were found to be diverse and therefore philosophical 1616 orientations and teaching styles varied across the scales and therefore variability in the responses 1617 has been obtained. In addition, the statistical conclusion validity of Pearson correlation depends 1618 on the statistical asumption that the relationships being tested are linear. Therefore, in order to 1619 ensure the appropriatenes of the use of Pearson corelation, scater plots were constructed in 1620 order to demonstrate the linearity of the relationships. 1621 Due to the large number of corelations being tested, the scater plots were constructed 1622 betwen each of the philosophical orientations and the total teaching style scores. If the 1623 86 relationship betwen the philosophical orientations and the total teaching style scores are linear, 1624 then the relationship betwen the teaching style factors and the philosophical orientations should 1625 also be linear. 1626 The scater plot showing the relationship betwen the total teaching style score and the 1627 liberal orientation is shown in Figure 16. The data in the scater plot form a linear patern in that 1628 the line of best fit through the center of the data points is a straight line (r = -.32). Therefore 1629 linearity has been established for the relationship betwen teaching style and the liberal 1630 orientation. 1631 1632 Figure 16. Scater Plot: Liberal Orientation and Total Teaching Style. 1633 87 Figure 17 ilustrates the patern of the data when examining the relationship betwen the 1634 behaviorist orientation and teaching style. The scater plot in Figure 17 indicates that the data 1635 form a linear patern in that the line of best fit through the center of the data points is a straight 1636 line (r = -.39). Therefore linearity has been established for the relationship betwen teaching 1637 style and the behaviorist orientation. 1638 1639 Figure 17. Scater Plot: Behaviorist Orientation and Total Teaching Style. 1640 1641 Figure 18 ilustrates the patern of the data when examining the relationship betwen the 1642 progresive orientation and teaching style. The scater plot in Figure 18 indicates that the data 1643 88 form a linear patern in that the line of best fit through the center of the data points is a straight 1644 line (r = -.36). Therefore linearity has been established for the relationship betwen teaching 1645 style and the progresive orientation. 1646 1647 1648 Figure 18. Scater Plot: Progresive Orientation and Total Teaching Style. 1649 1650 The scater plot showing the relationship betwen the total teaching style score and the 1651 humanistic orientation is shown in Figure 19. The data in the scater plot form a linear patern in 1652 that the line of best fit through the center of the data points is a straight line (r = -.28). Therefore 1653 89 linearity has been established for the relationship betwen teaching style and the humanistic 1654 orientation. 1655 1656 Figure 19. Scater Plot: Humanistic Orientation and Total Teaching Style. 1657 1658 Finaly, Figure 20 ilustrates the patern of the data when examining the relationship 1659 betwen the radical orientation and teaching style. The scater plot in Figure 20 indicates that the 1660 data form a linear patern in that the line of best fit through the center of the data points is a 1661 straight line (r = -.13). Therefore linearity has been established for the relationship betwen 1662 teaching style and the radical orientation. 1663 90 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 Figure 20. Scater Plot: Radical Orientation and Total Teaching Style. 1688 1689 Given that the relationships were found to be linear, the data were scaled and the 1690 participants? responses were found to be variable, Pearson correlation was deemed appropriate. 1691 The results for the Pearson correlations are provided in Table 10. The results in Table 10 indicate 1692 that al of the relationships were negative indicating that the lower the philosophy orientation 1693 score, the higher the teaching style score. Also, al of the significant relationships were smal to 1694 moderate or moderate in strength. 1695 1696 91 Table 10 1696 Pearson Correlation Coeficients: Philosophy Orientation and Teaching Style 1697 Scale Statistic L B P H R Total score r -0.32 -0.40 -0.36 -0.28 -0.12 p 0.01 < .01 < .01 0.03 0.33 Learning-centered activities r -0.32 -0.39 -0.33 -0.24 -0.26 p 0.01 < .01 0.01 0.06 0.04 Personalizing instruction r -0.28 -0.35 -0.33 -0.24 -0.07 p 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.06 0.61 Relating to experience r -0.31 -0.37 -0.33 -0.25 -0.07 p 0.01 < .01 0.01 0.05 0.60 Asesing student needs r -0.29 -0.37 -0.34 -0.29 -0.04 p 0.02 < .01 0.01 0.02 0.74 Climate building r -0.32 -0.39 -0.36 -0.27 -0.13 p 0.01 < .01 < .01 0.04 0.31 Participating in learning proces r -0.29 -0.36 -0.32 -0.26 -0.08 p 0.02 < .01 0.01 0.04 0.53 Flexible: personal development r -0.38 -0.47 -0.42 -0.35 -0.17 p < .01 < .01 < .01 0.01 0.20 1698 The relationships betwen the total teaching style scores and each of the philosophical 1699 orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was negative and moderate and statisticaly 1700 significant (r = -.32, p = .01); behaviorist orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r 1701 = -.40, p < .01); progresive orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.36, p < 1702 .01); humanistic orientation was smal to moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.28, p = .03) 1703 92 and the radical orientation was very smal and not statisticaly significant (r = -.12, p = .33). 1704 Therefore the only orientation not significantly asociated with total teaching style scores was 1705 the radical orientation. 1706 The relationships betwen the learning-centered activities scores and each of the 1707 philosophical orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was moderate and statisticaly 1708 significant (r = -.32, p = .01); behaviorist orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r 1709 = -.39, p < .01); progresive orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.33, p = 1710 .01); the humanistic orientation was smal to moderate and not statisticaly significant (r = -.24, p 1711 = .06) and the radical orientation was smal to moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.26, p = 1712 .04). Therefore the only orientation not significantly asociated with learning-centered activities 1713 scores was the humanistic orientation. 1714 The relationships betwen the personalizing instruction scores and each of the 1715 philosophical orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was smal to moderate and 1716 statisticaly significant (r = -.28, p = .03); the behaviorist orientation was moderate and 1717 statisticaly significant (r = -.35, p = .01); the progresive orientation was moderate and 1718 statisticaly significant (r = -.33, p = .01); the humanistic orientation was smal and not 1719 statisticaly significant (r = -.24, p = .06) and the radical orientation was close to zero and not 1720 statisticaly significant (r = -.07, p = .61). 1721 The relationship betwen the relating to experience scores and each of the philosophical 1722 orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = - 1723 .31, p = .01); the behaviorist orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.37, p < 1724 .01); the progresive orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.33, p = .01); the 1725 humanistic orientation was smal and statisticaly significant (r = -.25, p = .05) and the radical 1726 93 orientation was close to zero and not statisticaly significant (r = -.07, p = .60). Therefore the 1727 only orientation not significantly asociated with relating to experience scores was the radical 1728 orientation. 1729 The relationships betwen the asesing student needs scores and each of the 1730 philosophical orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was smal to moderate and 1731 statisticaly significant (r = -.29, p = .02); the behaviorist orientation was moderate and 1732 statisticaly significant (r = -.37, p < .01); the progresive orientation was moderate and 1733 statisticaly significant (r = -.34, p = .01); the humanistic orientation was smal to moderate and 1734 statisticaly significant (r = -.29, p = .02) and the radical orientation was close to zero and not 1735 statisticaly significant (r = -.04, p = .74). Therefore the only orientation not significantly 1736 asociated with asesing student needs scores was the radical orientation. 1737 The relationships betwen the climate building scores and each of the philosophical 1738 orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = - 1739 .32, p = .01); the behaviorist orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.39, p < 1740 .01); the progresive orientation was moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.36, p < .01); the 1741 humanistic orientation was smal to moderate and statisticaly significant (r = -.27, p = .04) and 1742 the radical orientation was very smal and not statisticaly significant (r = -.13, p = .31). 1743 Therefore the only orientation not significantly asociated with climate building scores was the 1744 radical orientation. 1745 The relationships betwen the participating in the learning proces scores and each of the 1746 philosophical orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was smal to moderate and 1747 statisticaly significant (r = -.29, p = .02); the behaviorist orientation was moderate and 1748 statisticaly significant (r = -.36, p < .01); the progresive orientation was moderate and 1749 94 statisticaly significant (r = -.32, p = .01); the humanistic orientation was smal to moderate and 1750 statisticaly significant (r = -.26, p = .04) and the radical orientation was very close to zero and 1751 not statisticaly significant (r = -.08, p = .53). Therefore the only orientation not significantly 1752 asociated with participating in the learning proces scores was the radical orientation. 1753 Finaly, the relationships betwen the flexibility for personal development scores and 1754 each of the philosophical orientations were as follows: liberal orientation was moderate and 1755 statisticaly significant (r = -.38, p < .01); the behaviorist orientation was moderate to substantial 1756 and statisticaly significant (r = -.47, p < .01); the progresive orientation was moderate and 1757 statisticaly significant (r = -.42, p < .01); the humanistic orientation was moderate and 1758 statisticaly significant (r = -.35, p = .01) and the radical orientation was smal and not 1759 statisticaly significant (r = -.17, p = .20). Therefore the only orientation not significantly 1760 asociated with flexibility for personal development scores was the radical orientation. 1761 In order to synthesize these correlation findings, a mean correlation coeficient was 1762 computed by averaging across al five correlation coeficients for each teaching style outcome. 1763 The results in Figure 21 indicate that the teaching style outcome most strongly asociated with 1764 philosophical orientation was flexibility for personal development (e.g. mean correlation 1765 coeficient of -.36). However, on average, al mean correlation coeficients were smal to 1766 moderate or moderate in strength and negative indicating that higher philosophical orientation 1767 scores were weakly to moderately asociated with lower teaching style scores. 1768 95 1769 1770 Figure 21. Mean Correlation Coeficient betwen Teaching Style and Philosophical Orientation. 1771 1772 The results for research hypothesis thre indicate that the relationships betwen each 1773 philosophical orientation and each teaching style outcome were statisticaly significant. In 1774 addition, the relationships betwen philosophical orientation and each teaching style outcome 1775 were smal to moderate or moderate in strength. Therefore the nul hypothesis of no relationship 1776 in the overal population was rejected and the research hypothesis of a relationship in the overal 1777 population betwen philosophical orientation and teaching style was retained. 1778 1779 1780 96 1780 Conclusion 1781 1782 This chapter provided the data analysis findings for each research hypothesis based on a 1783 total sample of 62 survey participants of which 19 were entrepreneur educators and 43 were 1784 workforce educators. Descriptive statistics were computed for al of the philosophical 1785 orientations and al of the teaching style outcomes. In addition, inferential statistics were used to 1786 determine if significant diferences existed betwen workforce educators and entrepreneur 1787 educators with regard to their philosophical orientations and their teaching styles. Furthermore, 1788 the relationship betwen participants? philosophical orientation scores and teaching style scores 1789 was tested. The alpha level for this study was set at .05. 1790 The results of this study indicate that workforce educators had higher mean philosophical 1791 orientation scores than entrepreneur educators, although the scores were not statisticaly 1792 significance at the .05 alpha level. The results of this study also indicated that the entrepreneur 1793 educators had higher mean teaching style scores than workforce educators, although the mean 1794 diferences did not reach statistical significance at the .05 alpha level. 1795 With regard to the relationship betwen philosophical orientation and teaching style, 1796 smal to moderate and negative correlations were found in the majority of the relationships tested 1797 indicating that the higher the philosophical orientation score, the lower the teaching style score. 1798 Furthermore, the teaching style most strongly correlated (overal) with philosophical orientation 1799 was flexibility for personal development. 1800 In summary, this study did not find empirical support for the first two research 1801 hypotheses, although the third research hypothesis was supported. Chapter 5 provides a 1802 discussion of these findings based on the practical implications of the findings and their 1803 97 relationship to the literature. In addition, Chapter 5 discusses the limitations of this particular 1804 research study and provides recommendations for future research. 1805 1806 1807 98 CHAPTER V. SUMARY, RECOMENDATIONS, AND CONCLUSIONS 1807 Introduction 1808 The contents of this chapter consist of a summary of procedures, findings, conclusions, 1809 and implications of the study?s results. Recommendations for further study are also presented. 1810 The purpose of this study was to identify individual education philosophies and teaching 1811 styles among entrepreneurship instructors and incubator faculty using the Philosophy of Adult 1812 Education Inventory (PAEI) and Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) instruments. This 1813 study also examined the relationship betwen the philosophies and styles and identified 1814 similarities and diferences among the participants acording to a comparison of means. The 1815 following research questions were addresed: 1816 1. What diferences exist in philosophical orientations of workforce educators and 1817 entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 1818 2. What diferences exist in teaching styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship 1819 instructors within the State of Georgia? 1820 3. What relationship exists betwen the philosophical orientations and teaching styles of 1821 workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 1822 Summary 1823 Independent samples t-test were conducted to se if the two groups of instructors difered 1824 significantly on the philosophical dimensions and the teaching styles. The independent samples 1825 t-test were based on the statistical asumption that the two groups being compared, based on their 1826 means, had equal variances. Levene?s test indicated if the statistical asumption of the t-test was 1827 99 met, while the independent samples t-test indicated whether or not the two groups had equivalent 1828 means (versus significantly diferent means). Pearson r was used to test the strength and the 1829 direction of the relationship betwen the philosophical dimensions and the teaching style 1830 dimensions. 1831 The reliability coeficients of the PAEI five scales range from .75 to .86 (Zinn, 1983). 1832 And the PALS yielded a reliability coeficient of .92 (Conti, 1982). This study yielded a 1833 reliability coeficient of .985 for the PAEI, and .987 for the PALS, which indicates a high 1834 internal reliability for both surveys. 1835 Sixty-two online surveys, which contained both the Philosophy of Adult Education 1836 Inventory (PAEI) and Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS), were returned from the 1837 entrepreneurship instructors and workforce educators. The responding participants were an equal 1838 number of males and females. The majority of the respondents held a master?s degre (64.5%). 1839 And have been employed at their current job for 9 years. The respondents also indicated they had 1840 work with adults for an average of 13 years, and have trained others for an average of 16 years. 1841 Completed survey instruments were received from nineten of the 30 entrepreneurship 1842 instructors (63%). Forty-thre survey responses were received from the 276 workforce educators 1843 (15.6%). 1844 Discussion of the PALS Summary Statistics 1845 Acording to Conti (1990), the average total teaching style score on the Principles of 1846 Adult Learning Scale is 146, and scores above 146 indicate a tendency towards a learner- 1847 centered style while scores below 146 indicate a teacher-centered style. The sample in this study 1848 had an average score of 132.17, which indicated a tendency to be teacher-centered. Elias and 1849 Meriam (1995) suggested that educators select one particular theory as a framework in order to 1850 100 build a personal teaching philosophy. Apps (1985) found when instructors identified with one 1851 philosophy; they can fit their beliefs into a comfortable intelectual home. Because the total 1852 PALS score reflects the overal teaching style of an individual instructor. Theories on teaching 1853 and educational philosophy may be used to generalize about this population. 1854 The items within the PALS can be divided into seven categories that reflect seven 1855 specific aspects (factors) teaching styles. The learning-centered mean was 44.50 out of a possible 1856 score range of zero to 60. This factor is identifiable with Knowles (1990) description of learner- 1857 centered andragogical approach to education. In which the educator empowers and guides 1858 students in their learning proces. The personalizing instruction mean was 24.29 out of a possible 1859 score range of zero to 45. This factor is identifiable to the instructor using a self-pacing guide 1860 that is dictated by students (Conti, 1990). Respondents scored a mean of 15.85 on relating to 1861 experience factor with a mean out of a possible score range of zero to 30. This factor is 1862 identifiable with the ability of instructors to relate to student?s prior experiences in the clasroom 1863 environment (Conti, 1990). 1864 Additionaly, the climate building mean was 11.46 out of a possible score range of zero 1865 to 20. This factor is identifiable with educators being regularly focused on climate building as the 1866 first step in planning learning activities (Conti, 1990). The mean for participating in the learning 1867 proces factor was 9.97 out of a possible score range of zero to 20. This factor is identifiable with 1868 instructors alowing students to select some materials and topics to be used and covered in the 1869 learning environment (Cont, 1990). Finaly, the mean for flexibility for personal development 1870 factor was 15.23 out of a possible score range of zero to 65. This factor is identifiable with 1871 instructors viewing themselves as knowledge providers or facilitators (Conti, 1990). 1872 101 Discussion of the PAEI Summary Statistics 1873 Collectively, on the Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory, respondents scored highest 1874 on the progresive orientation with a mean score of 67.68 followed by the behaviorist orientation 1875 with a mean score of 67.19. Because both scores fel above 66 and below 95, the study indicated 1876 that respondents have an agrement with both progresive and behaviorist orientations (Zinn, 1877 1983). The progresive philosophy has influence the creation of practical programs in adult 1878 education such as basic busines literacy instruction. In adult education, the behaviorist 1879 philosophy is commonly asociated with vocational training, job skil acquisition and 1880 certification (Elias & Meriam, 1995; Zinn, 1990). A teacher practicing the progresive 1881 philosophy would constantly adjust the program to suit the adult?s specific needs, while a teacher 1882 practicing the behaviorist philosophy would emphasize acquiring job skils and design learning 1883 environments to met predetermined goals. 1884 Scoring in the middle was the liberal orientation; respondents reported a mean score of 1885 63.39. Since, the mean score was betwen 55 and 65, the respondents in this study tended to be 1886 neutral towards the presumption that teachers are the singular knowledge holders and know what 1887 can best be taught directly by the them (Elias & Meriam, 1995). Finaly, respondents scored in 1888 the low end on the radical orientation with a reported mean score of 60.45, and the humanistic 1889 orientation with a mean score of 59.47. 1890 The PAEI mean scores, in this study, correlate with the literature. Acording to 1891 descriptions of the philosophies writen by Elias and Meriman (1995), the humanistic and 1892 radical philosophies incorporated learner-centered styles. This study indicated that respondents 1893 tended to be teacher-centered. Furthermore, this study indicated that respondents scored higher in 1894 the progresive, behaviorist and liberal orientations. And acording to the descriptions of Elias & 1895 102 Meriman (1995), behavioral, progresive, and liberal orientations are the dominant educational 1896 philosophies, which tend to be more teacher-centered. 1897 Discussion of Statistical Findings 1898 The first research question asked if there was a significant diference in philosophical 1899 orientations of workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia? 1900 Responses to the PAEI identified that workforce educators had higher mean scores than did the 1901 entrepreneurship instructors, across al five philosophical orientations. When diferences in mean 1902 scores were compared, the largest diference was identified in the behaviorist orientation (63.53 1903 vs 68.61). And the smalest diference was identified in the liberal orientation (61.58 vs 64.19). 1904 The findings was not statisticaly significant at the .05 alpha level with regard to the behaviorist 1905 orientation (p = .25) and the liberal orientation (p = .46), therefore, the null hypothesis was not 1906 rejected. 1907 The second research question asked if there was a significant diference teaching styles of 1908 workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of Georgia. Responses to 1909 the PALS identified that entrepreneurship instructors had higher mean scores than did the 1910 workforce educators across the board. When diferences in mean scores were compared, the 1911 largest diference was identified in the total teaching style (144.69 vs. 126.64). And the smalest 1912 diference was identified in the flexibility for personal development dimension (15.68 vs. 15.02). 1913 The findings was not significant at the .05 alpha level with regard to total teaching style (p = .30) 1914 and flexibility for personal development (p = .74), therefore, the null hypothesis was not rejected. 1915 When educators interact with students, they should consider the implications of what they 1916 are doing in their clasroom (de Chambeau, 1977). Unfortunately, many instructors fail to 1917 consider what impact their methods or activities have on the clasroom environment (Elias & 1918 103 Meriam, 1995; Zinn, 1990). It is critical for educators and instructors to engage in a proces of 1919 examining what they believe because educational philosophies and teaching styles afect 1920 teachers, curriculum, and the learning environment (Galbraith, 1999). 1921 Since the null was not rejected for research questions one and two, respondents may have 1922 felt presure to abide by teaching styles and institutional philosophies rather than to report their 1923 own personal beliefs. This tendency towards adherence is highly likely considering the survey 1924 instruments for the workforce educators were distributed by e-mail using of the Technical 1925 College System of Georgia?s list serve. In which their institutions? Vice President of Instruction 1926 forwarded the survey instruments to them. And for the entrepreneurship instructors, their e-mail 1927 solicitation came directly from their facility director. The online information leter informed 1928 potential respondents that their philosophy and teaching styles were being examined. And further 1929 stated that any information obtained in connection with this study would remain anonymous. As 1930 a result, many respondents may have felt intimidated and may have answered acording to what 1931 they perceived as the right answer, despite instructions that there were no right or wrong 1932 answers. Lastly, institutional factors such as, budget cuts due to the slowing economy, may have 1933 affected how respondents reported their own personal beliefs. Many state and federaly funded 1934 workforce education and entrepreneurship programs are now focused on the survival of the 1935 program rather than the needs of the adult learner (de Chambeau, 1977). 1936 The third research question asked if there was a relationship betwen philosophical 1937 orientations and teaching styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within 1938 the State of Georgia. Linearity was demonstrated betwen total teaching style scores and each 1939 philosophical orientation. The findings were found to be statisticaly significant at the .05 alpha 1940 level. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. 1941 104 The literature provides evidence indicating a relationship betwen ?an individual?s 1942 beliefs, values, or atitudes and the decisions and actions? (Zinn, 1990, p. 40). However, it can be 1943 implied, from the results of this research question, that traditional views on educational 1944 philosophy and teaching styles are unknowingly upheld. Atitudes, beliefs, and values provide 1945 the basis for philosophical orientation; therefore an educator?s individual and prior experiences 1946 can influence the development of their philosophy and teaching style. On the other hand, 1947 traditional views may be knowingly upheld because adults perform roles acepted and expected 1948 by society (Knowles, 1978). 1949 It is interesting to note, that the radical orientation was not significantly asociated with 1950 total teaching styles scores. This is in line with the literature because radical orientation tends to 1951 be learner-centered. Radical orientation is often refered in the literature as the resistance to 1952 mainstream educational philosophies, because it encourages the oppresed to rise up and use 1953 education as a vehicle to combat oppresion. It is also commonly asociated with job training. 1954 Job training is a second chance system for the unemployed, outsourced, poor and disadvantaged, 1955 and others who have not been served wel by the mainstream education system (Guttman, 1992). 1956 Since the 90?s every sector of America?s economy has been hit by rising unemployment, 1957 population growth, cheap foreign labor, and corporate downsizing (U.S. Department of Labor, 1958 2008). Many people experience major life changes or transitions and use entrepreneurship 1959 training as a means to survive. Therefore, it is absolutely necesary that our government systems 1960 and structures evolve to stimulate economic growth and job creation. 1961 1962 105 Recommendations 1962 The following recommendations for future research are offered in an atempt to explore 1963 further the educational philosophies and teachings styles of workforce educators and 1964 entrepreneurship instructors. 1965 1. This study should be replicated in diferent states. By using one state in a particular 1966 region of the United States, the results may be dificult to generalize to other states. It 1967 would be beneficial to compare results of the PALS and PAEI in diferent economic 1968 regions. 1969 2. One weaknes of this study is that only the educational philosophies and teaching 1970 styles of workforce educators and entrepreneurship instructors within the State of 1971 Georgia were examined. It could be beneficial to expand the population of the study 1972 to include participation from community leaders, administrators, economic 1973 developers and policy makers in the state of Georgia. 1974 3. This study could be repeated using the same population. Researchers could examine, 1975 whether the respondent?s scores had changed on teaching styles and educational 1976 philosophies. Acording to the literature, teachers as a whole lack the ability to 1977 clearly identify their teaching beliefs (Conti, 1990). 1978 4. Additional research could be conducted to investigate whether if there is a significant 1979 diference betwen teaching style and student achievement. The literature indicates 1980 that the undereducated learner may dislike structured training programs, and are more 1981 likely to drop out of training programs than other populations (Smith, 1982). 1982 5. A study could be conducted to investigate the quality of adult education services 1983 provided through Georgia?s incubator and post secondary education system. And 1984 106 compare the results to student achievement, teaching style, or educational philosophy. 1985 Acording to the literature, a lot of training facilities place more importance on the 1986 survival of the institution rather than the needs of adult learners (de Chambeau, 1987 1977). 1988 6. Future research should include a national study to determine if there is a relationship 1989 betwen philosophical orientation and teaching styles of workforce educators and 1990 entrepreneurship instructors. By conducting a national study, the sample size would 1991 increase, thus creating more opportunity for significant p-values. 1992 Conclusions 1993 A lack of documented research regarding entrepreneurship training spurred this research 1994 project. Survey data, gathered via the PALS and PAEI, were used to gain insight to thre 1995 research questions. The descriptive results, in this study, indicate that the respondents in this 1996 sample were diverse with regard to their teaching styles measured by the Principals of Adult 1997 Learning Scale. Overal, these scores are related to theoretical asumptions in the literature. In 1998 this study the desire to individualize the learning experience, with the goal of developing the 1999 learner?s own skils and competencies in the planning and execution as an individual and as a 2000 member of a co-operative learning group was not apparent (Skager, 1978, p. 14). The ?proces 2001 in which individuals take the initiative in designing learning experiences and diagnosing needs? 2002 (Brookfield, 1986, p. 40) was circumvented in this study. Langenbach (1993) ascertained that 2003 ?negotiation betwen facilitator and learner is paramount in the learning contract proces? (p. 2004 175). Teachers are in a position to determine whether they desire to do something diferently in 2005 their clasrooms. But the data, in this study, indicated that respondents alienated their students 2006 from the proces of determining what resources would be used and how they were to be used 2007 107 (Seaman & Felenz, 1989). 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Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) 2214 2215 2216 2217 2218 119 2218 2219 2220 2221 120 2221 2222 2223 2224 121 2224 2225 2226 2227 2228 2229 122 2229 2230 2231 2232 123 2232 2233 2234 2235 2236 124 2236 2237 2238 2239 2240 125 2240 2241 2242 2243 126 2243 2244 2245 2246 127 2246 2247 2248 2249 128 2249 2250 2251 2252 129 2252 2253 2254 2255 130 2255 2256 2257 131 2257 2258 2259 2260 132 2260 2261 2262 2263 133 2263 2264 2265 2266 134 2266 2267 2268 2269 135 2269 2270 2271 2272 136 Appendix 3 ? Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) 2272 2273 137 2274 138 2275 139 2276 2277 2278 140 2278 141 Appendix 4 ? Auburn University Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval Leter 2279 2280 2281 2282 142 Appendix 5 ? Participant Information Leter 2282 2283 2284 2285 2286