Lifelong Learning at Its Best : Innovative Practices in Adult Credit Programs

"A must-read for anyone in higher education, human resourcedevelopment, or adult education. This impeccably researched bookreflects an encyclopedic and intimate knowledge of innovative adulthigher education programs and provides an impressive historicalcontext for such programs. It will be a classic sourcebook foranyone in the field."

--Howard Y. Williams, professor emeritus, Human ResourceDevelopment and Adult Education, University of Minnesota

"A comprehensive, careful, and compelling study of adult learnersand learning today. Lifelong Learning at Its Best demonstrates whyeducation--from cradle to grave--is so important to our society incoping with the demands of burgeoning technology, addressing globalcompetition, and recognizing the need for ongoing job retraining.It should be required reading for leaders in education, businessand industry, and policymaking."

--C. Wayne Williams, president, Regents College

It is widely accepted that lifelong competency in today's worldrequires lifelong learning. Schools, colleges, and workplaces haveresponded to this new reality by implementing educational andtraining programs. But which programs really work?

Drawing from data gathered by the Commission for a Nation ofLifelong Learners--in a study directed by prestigious educationaland business leaders--William Maehl offers strategies that havebeen most successful with adult learners across the nation. FromGeorgetown University to Toyota, he describes winning programmodels and all their components. Organized under such key learningobjectives as competence, collaboration, and self-directedness,these success stories reveal the specific instructional,organizational, financial, and other program components that makethe greatest difference in learning outcomes. For staff attemptingto improve existing programs or for teams building new ones, thisresource has all the practical ideas you need to design effectivesolutions.

WILLIAM H. MAEHL is principal investigator of the Commission for a Nation of Lifelong Learners and president emeritus of the Fielding Institute.