Important Adult Education Organization

631 Important Adult Education Organizations

Introduction: Nina (ASTD) and Carrie (IAACE)

Roles and Responsibilities: Jen

Discussions: Sarah Smurr  Commented on Group 1 & 3

Table: Nina

Introduction

American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)

            In 1943 the American Society of Training Directors (ASTD) began as a mentoring program whose goal was to help professionals develop training organizations.  Over time, this program grew and adapted with the changing and growing needs of education and skills development.  As ASTD continued to grow and change so did their name.  They eventually changed from American Society of Training Directors to the American Society for Training and Development.  The last significant change occurred this year when the organization announced their new name as “The Association of Talent Development (ATD)”.

The Indiana Association for Adult and Continuing Education (IAACE)

The Indiana Association for Adult and Continuing Education (IAACE) was founded in 1983 when two organizations with the same goals merged together.  The IAACE was founded to be a spokesperson to increase the awareness of the importance of adult education in Indiana.  In organizing the association in 1942, the IAACE has grown to include over 400 individuals and institutions in promoting their goal to increase the adult education and training in Indiana communities.  The IAACE has four primary values: “collaborates with Indiana adult education stakeholders, communicates and promotes adult education, facilitates professional development, and provides support to members.” (IAACE, 2014).

Roles and Responsibilities

For over 70 years, the IAACE has been promoting the education and training of adults.  The 400 plus members of the organization work throughout the state to fulfill the IAACE’s mission to “advocate for adult education in Indiana.”  The organization uses a variety of activities and strategies to assist both members and nonmembers to achieve the IAACE’s mission and its vision of cultivating leaders “who advance adult education for stronger communities in Indiana” (IAACE, 2014).  Each month, the organization distributes an online newsletter that shares best practices, social media posts, and articles about the IAACE and adult education.  In addition to the newsletters, the IAACE has a well-developed website as well as an active blog, online forums, and Twitter account. All of these tools share current information, articles, and resources about adult education. Additional features for adult educators on the IAACE website are advocacy tools and links to local, regional, and national adult education resources.  In addition to the numerous online resources, each year, the organization hosts a conference. Another initiative for IAACE members is The Experience Exchange, a mentor program for adult education professionals.  This initiative “provides guidance on many aspects of adult education plus provides individual solutions to the common challenges in the classroom” (IAACE, 2014). The mentors also offer insight into understanding adult learners and developing lessons and assessments.  The IAACE believes that all adults should be able to participate in opportunities that promote lifelong learning.  The organization’s website, online resources, and conference help connect people to lifelong learning opportunities.  By helping to connect adults to lifelong learning opportunities, all of these strategies and activities help the IAACE to achieve its mission and goals.    

With over 41,000 members in more than 100 countries, ATD utilizes a variety of strategies to promote adult education.  Each year, ATD hosts conferences and trainings regionally, nationally, and internationally in both face to face and online formats.  Training is available for individuals and teams. According to the ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) annual report, in 2013, over 500 educational programs were offered, and nearly 9,500 people participated in these programs (ASTD, 2013).  By offering sessions in multiple formats, professionals from a wide range of industries and locations can participate in these trainings and benefit from the material.

In addition to conferences and trainings, ATD promotes adult education through books, newsletters, magazines and blogs.  These publications focus on topics including training and development, instructional design, business and management, career development, e-learning, leadership, evaluation, organization development, and workplace issues.  Some of these publications are free, even for non ATD members.  All professionals can gain new knowledge and insights from these free resources, including four ATD newsletters and ten blogs. In 2013, ATD newsletter subscriptions grew to more than 165,000 (ASTD, 2013).  ATD also offers free resources via social media including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.  In 2013, over 100,000 professionals connected with the organization on social media, and over 53,800 watched videos on its YouTube channel (ASTD, 2013).  All of these resources help ATD to achieve their mission and goals. The mission of ATD is to “empower professionals to develop knowledge and skills successfully,” and the ATD vision is to “create a world that works better” (ATD, 2014).  All of the learning opportunities and resources that are offered by ATD definitely help to increase the knowledge base of professionals.  By increasing the knowledge of professionals, a world that works better would be created, which fulfills the vision of ATD.  

Discussions

In common across these organizations

Similar to concepts discussed in class, Lin (2002), a professor of Sociology at Duke University, talks about the importance of social capital and how "it is who you know, as well as what you know that makes a difference in life and society.”  Both of these organizations recognize and capitalize on this theory.  ATD connects state directors and their staffs with each other, and IAACE works within one state (Indiana) to communicate between and connect various “stakeholders” in adult education.  Organizations are aptly named because they organize.  There is a sense of function that organizations perform within the framework of adult education as a whole.  While practitioners and institutions practice the function, organizations order these functions into interrelated roles that act as a unit rather than many separate pieces.

Impact on the field of adult education

There is a raging debate about the benefits of professionalization for adult education.  In the Harvard Educational Review, Labaree (2010) that teacher educators are the true beneficiaries since there can be more standardization of, well, standards supported by research of best practices (p.130-131).  Both of these organizations see a demand from both practitioners and administrators for credibility and institutionalization in some form.  Perhaps the best way to do that for this field is not to proscribe so much as facilitate.  It seems in keeping with the ideology of adult education to have organizations that offer possibilities for conversations and an exchange of ideas and tools rather than dictates of content or curriculum.  The field has grown into an enormous force for social change, benefit and assistance as well as financial gain.  Adult Education has been impacted by these organizations and given more shape and solidity, which seems necessary so that governance and decision making hopefully manages to stay in the right hands as intended.

What people can learn from these two adult education organizations

The most striking take-away seems to be that strong organizations have a clear mission.  Because of the vast array of adult societal interests and needs, there are innumerable ways to approach the field.  Therefore, choosing a specific need or interest is crucial to having effective organizations.  Moore (2000) from Harvard University claims that it is important to focus “attention on social purpose and on the ways in which society as a whole might be mobilized to contribute to social purposes rather than on the financial objectives that can be achieved by selling products and services to markets” (p. 205).  Organizations in adult education are not a business and need to remember to serve the common good.  These two organizations clearly have a strong focus in the right direction.

References

About ATD. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2014 from

http://www.astd.org/About

ASTD. (2013). ASTD 2013 annual report.  Retrieved from

http://d2p9xuzeb0m4p4.cloudfront.net/~/media/Files/About%20ASTD/2013_Annual_Report_web.pdf?la=en

ATD the world’s largest talent development association. (2014). Retrieved from

http://www.astd.org/

Indiana Association for Adult & Continuing Education. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2014 from

http://www.iaace.com/

Labaree, D. F. (2010, Nov. 24).  Power, knowledge, and the rationalization of teaching: A genealogy of the movement to professionalize teaching. Harvard Educational Review, 62(2), 123-155. Retrieved from http://hepg.metapress.com/content/H73X7422V3166102

Lin, N. (2002). Social capital: A theory of social structure and action (Structural analysis in the social sciences). Cambridge University Press, 0 edition.

Mission History. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2014, from

            http://www.iaace.com/mission--history.html

Moore, M. H. (2000, March 1).  Managing for value: Organizational strategy in for-profit, nonprofit, and governmental organizations.  Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 29, 183-208. doi: 10.1177/089976400773746391

Table 1. Summary of Important Adult Education Organizations

	The Association for Talent Development (ATD)	The Indiana Association for Adult and Continuing Education (IAACE)
Year it was founded	1943	1983
Mission and goals	Vision: Create a World that Works Better. Mission: Empower professionals to develop knowledge and skills successfully.	Mission: advocate for adult education in Indiana.
Roles and responsibilities	Hosts conferences and trainings regionally, nationally, and internationally (online and in- person), free resources through online social media tools, and YouTube channel videos. Through these tools ATD works to fulfill their mission and vision goal of empowering professionals and creating a world that works better.	Provides numerous online resources, newsletters, a yearly conference, a mentor program for adult education professionals.  These tools are used to help IAACE reach its mission goal as an advocate for adult education in Indiana.
Other important information	Both organizations benefit from utilizing a strong mission statement which helps develop and guide a strong sense of direction.	Both organizations benefit from utilizing a strong mission statement which helps develop and guide a strong sense of direction.
Impact	ATD membership has grown to include members from 120 countries and supports the work of professionals locally in more than 125 chapters, international strategic partners, and global member networks.  (ATD, 2014)	Adult Education has been impacted by these organizations by creating a network of professionals who have given more shape and solidity to Adult Education organizations.
Implications	As the scope and the impact of the training and development field has grown, the profession’s focus has broadened to link the development of people, learning, and performance to individual and organizational results. (ATD, 2014)	For every dollar spent on Adult Basic Education  our state saves seven dollars in other services it would have to provide; such as unemployment, welfare, and  incarceration. (IAACE, 2014)