Chapter 3
The development problem‑solving methodology was used in this project because the solution to the problem was a product. Rankin (1990) observes that "In many situations, the solution to a problem will be a product (tool, model, system, curriculum, or procedure)" (p. 7). A curriculum for the preparation of adult basic education teachers was the product developed in this project. The procedures utilized in the development of the final product were the following: (a) a review of the literature in which topics pertaining to teacher education in adult education and curriculum development were reviewed, (b) contact with Stateside universities and colleges which have adult teacher education, (c) interviews with the Chancellor, the Dean of Academic Affairs, the Director of the Education Department, and the Regional Supervisor of the Adult Education Program were conducted, (d) development of a questionnaire, (e) the questionnaire was validated by a formative committee, (f) administration of the questionnaire to the adult basic education teachers, (g) analysis of the data, (h) development of the Adult Teacher Education Curriculum, and (i) the final ATEC document was validated by the summative committee.
A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted
to provide a conceptual framework for the proposed teacher education curriculum
in adult education. The literature review included educational journals on
adult education, ERIC articles, educational indexes, and textbooks. The topics
reviewed included: curriculum evaluation, curriculum elements, contents of a
teacher education curriculum in adult education, questionnaire development,
curriculum planning and development, curriculum implementation, forces that
affect curriculum development, and rationale for a teacher education curriculum
in adult education.
Phone calls were made to the Chairperson of the adult
education department at several Stateside universities which have undergraduate
teacher education programs in adult education. The following criteria for the
selection of Stateside colleges or universities which have undergraduate
teacher education programs or curricula in adult education were presented to
the formative committee for validation: (a) the selected colleges or
universities should have a teacher education curriculum in adult basic
education, (b) the teacher education program in adult education should be an
innovative one, (c) there should be some evidence of the effectiveness of the
teacher education curriculum in preparing adult educators, (d) the teacher
education curriculum should integrate both theory and practice, (e) it should
have a conceptual framework based on the concepts and principles of adult
education, and (f) it should be a teacher education program in adult education
that can be adapted to other settings. These criteria are suggested in the
literature on teacher education in adult education (Brookfield, 1991; Knowles,
1984; Knox, 1986). Four universities and one college were selected from the College
Handbook (1994) which includes Stateside colleges and universities in which
adult teacher education programs are offered. These universities and the college
were selected because they offer adult teacher education programs. Other
universities in the College Handbook do not have adult teacher education
programs. No changes were made in these criteria by the formative committee. In
order to conduct the interviews, visits, or phone calls with the chairpers of
the adult education department at
Stateside colleges or universities, a set of interview questions was developed
(see Appendix A). The purpose of these interviews was to obtain information
that could be used in the development of the adult basic teacher education
curriculum. The interview questions were developed after reviewing the
literature on the topic of curriculum development (McNeil, 1990; Herrscher,
1992; Knowles, 1988). The interview questions were presented to the formative
committee for validation.
Interviews with the
Dean of Academic Affairs, the Director of the Education Department, the
Chancellor at IAU, Ponce Campus, and the Regional Supervisor of the Adult Education
Program from the Department of Education of Puerto Rico were conducted to
present the project and to obtain suggestions and recommendations from them. A
different set of questions for each of these interviews was devised with the
purpose of obtaining diverse points of view about the development and
implementation of the adult teacher education curriculum according to the
position occupied by the persons interviewed (see Appendix B). The literature
on adult teacher education was reviewed to develop the interview questions. The
interview questions were presented to the formative committee for validation.
The questionnaire was designed to collect data from
the adult basic education teachers of the Ponce region that would justify the
development of the adult teacher education curriculum. The questionnaire would
provide data in terms of courses the curriculum should include, demographic
data, number of years working as adult educators, preparation in adult
education, interest in obtaining a minor concentration in adult education,
teachers' needs in adult education, the necessity of an adult teacher education
curriculum, teachers' participation in activities in adult education, and
sources of information about adult education. A number of procedures were used
to develop the draft questionnaire. Interviews were conducted with the Dean of
Academic Affairs, the Chancellor, the Director of the Education Department and
with the Regional Supervisor of the Adult Education Program of the Ponce
region. The literature reviewed was another source that was used in developing
the questionnaire. The data gathered from these sources were used in developing
the questionnaire which also included a cover letter (see Appendix C). The
purpose of this questionnaire was to obtain information from the adult
education teachers that would provide data for the planning and development of
a teacher education curriculum in adult education.
The criteria for the validation of the questionnaire
were presented to the formative committee in a meeting (see Appendix D). These
criteria were obtained from the review of the literature conducted. (Busche,
1991; Fink, 1985; Best and Kahn, 1989, Isaac and Michael, 1990). The formative
committee was composed of the Regional Supervisor of the Adult Education
Program, the Director of the Planning and Evaluation Office, and the Director
for Adult Education Programs (see Appendix E). After reviewing and discussing
the criteria, the committee requested a clarification of criterion four. The
committee needed to know whether this criterion referred to content validity or
face validity. For the purpose of the questionnaire and based on the
distinction between content and face validity, this researcher indicated that
this criterion referred to content validity. Once this clarification was made,
the criterion was accepted as stated. Finally, the committee validated the
criteria. In another meeting, the validated criteria were used by the formative
committee to validate the questionnaire. The validated questionnaire was
accepted by the formative committee as
the data collection instrument.
A pilot study was administered to a group of adult
basic education teachers randomly selected from the adult basic education
teachers' lists. It was administered personally by this researcher to 20 of the
92 adult basic education teachers from the Ponce region. The administration
process took approximately two weeks and the analysis of the results took three
days.
The questionnaire was then administered to the other
72 adult basic education teachers. The questionnaires were sent to the teachers
through the Regional Supervisor of the Adult Education Program of the Ponce
region which took approximately one week. The school directors administered the
questionnaires to the teachers. Follow‑up phone calls to the school
directors were made by this researcher to answer questions and clarify doubts.
The questionnaires and the answer sheets were sent back to the regional
supervisor's office by the school directors. The process of administering the
questionnaire to the teachers and sending them back to the Supervisor's office
took approximately two weeks.
An answer sheet was provided to the teachers to
answer the questions. A Scantron machine was utilized to read the answers to
the questions. The statistical program that was utilized for the analysis of
the data was SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) / PC + Version
4.0.
Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the
data collected. These included frequencies and percentages. The data collected
were presented in tables.
Development
of the Adult Teacher Education Curriculum
A draft of the adult teacher education
curriculum was developed. The curriculum draft was developed from input
obtained from the literature, the interviews conducted, the questionnaire
administered to the adult education teachers, and data from the Stateside
colleges and universities contacted. The draft of the adult teacher education
curriculum was presented to the formative committee for validation. Criteria
for the formative validation of the curriculum draft were developed (see
Appendix F). These criteria were obtained from the literature on curriculum
evaluation (McNeil, 1990; Herrscher, 1992). The criteria developed were
presented to the formative committee for validation. After discussing the validation
criteria, these were validated by the committee. The validated criteria were
then used to validate the curriculum draft.
The ATEC Implementation Plan was developed from the
input obtained in the interviews with the Dean of Academic Affairs, the
Director of the Education Department, and the Regional Supervisor of the Adult
Education Program (see appendix I). It was suggested that the implementation
plan should indicate the names of the courses to be offered, the credit hours
for each course, the days and hours to offer the courses and a course schedule.
The ATEC Implementation Plan was presented to the
formative committee for validation. The criteria to validate the plan were
taken from the institution's manual for the presentation of new academic
programs and curricula. The criteria were the following: (a) the implementation
plan indicated the courses in the curriculum; (b) the plan indicated the
semesters, days and hours to offer the courses; (c) the credit hours for each
course were indicated; (d) the total number of credits were included; and (e) a
course schedule was included.
The
criteria were presented to the formative committee for validation in a meeting.
The committee discussed the criteria and validated them. The validated criteria
were used later by the committee to validate the implementation plan.
The preliminary curriculum evaluation plan suggested
to the formative committee was based on Pratt's tridimensional curriculum
evaluation model (Pratt, 1980). This curriculum evaluation model evaluates the
effectiveness, the efficiency, and the acceptability of a curriculum. Criteria
to validate the curriculum evaluation plan were developed (see Appendix G).
These criteria were obtained from the literature on curriculum evaluation and
were presented to the formative committee for validation (see Appendix G). The
formative committee discussed the criteria and modified the structure of the
questions to include a subsection 1.1 in question one and subsections 2.1 to
2.8 in question two rather than having individual questions. After this
modification was made, the committee validated the criteria. The evaluation plan
to determine the effectiveness of the teacher education curriculum in adult
education consisted of the following steps. These were (a) formulation of the
questions to be answered, (b) collection of data to answer the questions, (c)
analysis and interpretation of the data collected, and (d) modification of the
plan, curriculum, or program in the light of the findings. The evaluation plan
was enriched by adding specific questions to each dimension (G. Torres,
personal communication, May 13, 1994). The curriculum evaluation plan was
presented to the summative committee for validation. The committee validated
the evaluation plan using the validated criteria.
The final product was an adult teacher education
curriculum (see Appendix N). This curriculum was validated by the summative
committee (see Appendix O). Criteria for the validation of the curriculum were
presented to the summative committee for their validation. These criteria were
obtained from IAU's manual "Guía para la redacción de propuestas para el
establecimiento de programas‑académicos nuevos" (19911992). The
criteria were the following: (a) The teacher education curriculum in adult
education contains a statement that presents a philosophical position for the
curriculum and relates it to the institutional mission; (b) a rationale for the
teacher education curriculum in adult education is provided; (c) the goals and
objectives of the teacher education curriculum in adult education are related to
the goals and objectives of the institution; (d) the objectives of the teacher
education curriculum in adult education describe measurable outcomes; (e) the
curriculum establishes the competencies the learners are expected to attain;
(f) the curriculum provides a list of the required courses and a description of
each course; (g) the instructional materials and the media available for
instruction are clearly indicated in the curriculum document; (h) the use of
instructional facilities (e.g. classrooms, library, and the laboratories) is
addressed in the curriculum document; (i) a time distribution framework for
completion of the courses in the curriculum is provided in the curriculum
document; (j) there is adequate and sufficient administrative support for the
development and implementation of the curriculum; (k) the faculty necessary for
the implementation of this curriculum, as well as their qualifications, are
clearly stated in the curriculum document; (1) suggestions of assessment
techniques that faculty can use to evaluate students' attainment of
competencies are included as part of the curriculum document. These criteria
were validated by the summative committee as stated. The validated criteria
were used by the committee to validate the adult teacher education curriculum.