Five Minutes with ACHE

Of note at the conference was the induction ceremony of adult leaders and educators to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame: Hal Beder, Lalage Bown, Stephen Brookfield, Rosemary Caffarella, Brian Groombridge, Arnole Hely, Susan Imel, Juanita Johnson-Bailey, Sandra Morrison, Gunder Myran, Michael Newman and Cora W. Stewart. These inductees epitomize professionals in our career field and serve as reminders of just how important our work is globally. Well done to Rick Osborn and the Program Committee!

Speaking of Rick Osborn, I would like to congratulate and thank him for his leadership over the last year. Rick has been a true role model as an ACHE leader, and I suspect he will continue to contribute much to the organization, as have all of the past presidents. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the wonderful work the ACHE home office is conducting. The ACHE home office at the University of Oklahoma has guided some wonderful organizational and institutional changes that will serve the ACHE membership in new and innovative ways. Jim Pappas, Ynez Walske and their team are doing outstanding work!

Time to discuss business. As I stated in my address and in the 2009 Proceedings, my goals for ACHE over the next year are threefold: Review and update our strategic plan, which expires in 2010; ensure fiscal health through conservative spending and exploring new opportunities for ACHE; and address membership and value added to our members. As an update on these goals, the ACHE Executive team has established ad hoc committees to review and update the strategic plan and to review the membership strategy given the by-laws changes in Philadelphia. In terms of the fiscal operations, ACHE is operating on a very conservative budget for 2010 and will continue to review opportunities with sponsors and fund raising. As an example, a new option for resources will be a webinar sponsored by ACHE as part of the ACE/Walmart grant! More to come as we progress on these goals.

Over the last year, I have attended several conferences and professional meetings and have taught several adult education classes. One concept emerged as I pondered the theme for the 2010 conference: adult education and training and the national agenda. It occurred to me that our world, continuing higher education, has always been at the forefront of meeting the needs of adult learners and society. Given today’s economic environment, there is an urgency for continuing educators to refocus on the national agenda in a manner that touches literacy, education, training, economic development programs, programming in new and creative models, partnerships, and new ways of doing business within our institutions. As professionals in continuing higher education, we are more than ready to take up the call in meeting the national agenda. We work in fast-paced environments and continually develop programs on the cutting edge. Given all of this, our theme for the 2010 is "Continuing Education - Reflecting upon and Responding to the National Agenda." Please consider your institution’s solutions in meeting the national agenda for adult continuing higher education by submitting a proposal for the 2010 conference. The Call for Proposals is now open, so please visit the 2010 conference page for details.

Our 2010 Annual Conference and Meeting will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. It is a wonderful venue for ACHE to conduct its work as New Mexico has unique richness that inspires

• creativity, with artists and authors such as Georgia O’Keefe, Ansel Adams, Rudolfo Anaya, Tony Hillerman, and R.C. Gorman;
• beauty through nature and the mountains, deserts and canyons;
• technology through advancements in atomic energy;
• spirituality as inspired by ancient ruins such as Chaco Canyon;
• unity of diverse cultures: Native American, Hispanic, and cowboy

Beginning in January, the 2010 conference Web site will have information on New Mexico related to history, geography, and fun facts about the state.

I close out my first Five Minutes with warm wishes from ACHE to all of you and to your families for a safe and wonderful holiday season!

Roxanne Gonzales
ACHE President, 2010

As now President Roxanne - or any other resident of New Mexico - will tell you, the cuisine of their home state is key to their identity and way of life.

So in the spirit of New Mexico and the holiday season, here are links to some additional recipes that are enjoyed around New Mexico during the holiday season, courtesy of the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau:

• Biscochitos, the Official State Cookie as declared by the New Mexico Legislature in 1989
• Posole, a spicy corn stew traditionally made with pork
• Empanadas, pastries filled with meat, seafood, vegetable or fruits and either baked or fried
• Tamales - Nothing says holidays to many New Mexicans like a warm tamale

Visit the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site at www.itsatrip.org to see more about New Mexico.

Requests for renewal have already gone out to all ACHE Professional members. We've also contacted all of our 2009 Provisional members - those who attended a regional conference or the national conference for the first time and had never held ACHE membership before - and asked them to choose membership in 2010. If you haven't renewed or joined yet, now's the time to do so!

For Institutional and Organizational (formerly Affiliate) members, representatives for these institutions and organizations will receive e-mails just after the new year asking them to rejoin ACHE in the coming year.

We feel that at times like these, it’s more important than ever to have the support of the larger adult continuing higher education community behind you.   We hope you will stick around for the great things to come in 2010!

President Roxanne Gonzales is very interested to hear about success stories in continuing education, things that your units are doing to change the lives of adult students. In addition, we are always looking for articles on the following topics:

• Experiences in marketing a continuing education program
• A profile of a unique continuing education program at your institution
• Experiences as a professor in adult continuing education
• Article or book reviews

LEADERSHIP	Patricia Brown
SPECIAL RECOGNITION	Barbara Hanniford
MERITORIOUS SERVICE	Ronald Sundberg
CREDIT PROGRAM	Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Reach Higher: Oklahoma's Adult Degree Completion Program
NON-CREDIT PROGRAM	Austin Peay State University Spanish in the Workplace for Tennessee Department of Rehabilitation Services
CRYSTAL MARKETING AWARD	Western Kentucky University Independent Learning 2008 Rebranding Initiative
MARLOWE FROKE AWARD	William D. Oberman and Elizabeth T. Hill Discovering the Paths to Building Social Capital: Complex Campus and Community Linkages in Continuing Higher Education
CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY	Kansas State University Distance Learning Video Gallery
OLDER ADULT MODEL PROGRAM AWARD	Ardmore Higher Education Center Senior University
OUTSTANDING SERVICES TO UNDERSERVED POPULATION	Southern New Hampshire University SNHU Advantage Program

Committee	Chair	Liaison
Awards	Mary Bonhomme	Brian Van Horn
Budget and Finance	Dan Lavit	Rick Osborn/Jim Pappas
Committee on Inclusiveness	Jeffrey Alejandro	Sandra Gladney
Constitution and Bylaws	Regis Gilman	Jeffery Alejandro/Jim Pappas
Local Arrangements	MSP
Membership Recruitment/Retention	Sallie Dunphy	Jim Pappas/Tish Szymurski
Nominations/Elections	Rick Osborn	David Grebel
Past Presidents	Rick Osborn
Program	Marthann Schulte/Roger Maclean	Roxanne Gonzales/Jim Pappas
Publications and Communications	Robert DeRoche	Clare Roby
Regional Chairs	Charles Hickox
Research	Amber Dailey-Hebert
Resolutions	Scott Evenbeck	Charles Hickox/Jim Pappas

Friedman (2005) examined the historical evolution of technology. He suggested that the use of technology has allowed individuals to compete at a global level by removing some of the former challenges or barriers to resources. The use of technology as a method to deliver educational programs has opened new possibilities for traditional and non-traditional students seeking to achieve their academic goals. However, faculty resistance to distance education programs is a major issue for some higher education institutions seeking to present programs in a variety of formats.

Misunderstandings related to the facilitation of distance online education programs have contributed to some faculty resistance (Robinson & Latchem, 2003). I recently facilitated distance education sessions as a part of a new initiative for my institution’s continuing studies program. The sessions focused on identifying strategies for facilitating online courses. I introduced four basic considerations for facilitating online courses during those sessions. The considerations consisted of the following:

1.) The analysis consideration focused on audience characteristics, learner characteristics, personal teaching, and learning styles.
2.) The design considerations focused on individual learning modules and learning interactions.
3.) The development considerations focused on instructional materials, criteria, and strategies.
4.) The evaluation consideration focused on formative and summative evaluation processes.

At the beginning of the sessions, participant’s focus seemed to be on the learning and use of technology to facilitate their distance online courses. By the end of the sessions, it was evident that technology was not the main focus for facilitating online courses. It is essential to realize the fact that technology will continue to evolve. Barone and Hagner (2001) suggested that changes in the student population and differences in the technologies used to deliver distance education courses will be part of the process that will force the rethinking of instructional approaches. It is the instructor’s ability to teach by identifying and employing facilitation strategies and student interactions that are essential to the learning process. Teaching online courses will also require a shift from a didactic, teacher-centered paradigm, to a learner-center paradigm that incorporates a community and collaborative model of instruction (Bullen & James, 2007).

Emily Lewis, Ed.D.

References
Barone, C. A., & Hagner, P. R. (2001). Technology-enhanced teaching and learning: Leading
supporting the transformation on your campus. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bullen, M., & Janes, D. P. (2007). Making the transition to e-learning. PA: Information Science
Publishing.

Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York:
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.

Howard, C., Schenk, K., & Discenza, R. (2004). Distance learning and university effectiveness:
Changing educational paradigms for online learning. PA: Information Science Publishing.

Reisman, S., Flores, J., & Edge, D. (2003). Electronic learning communities: Current issues and
best practices. CT: Information Age Publishing.

Robinson, B., & Latchem, C. (2003). Teacher education through open and distance learning.
New York: RoutledgeFalmer.