SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
40
Summer Semester 2000 ?
EDUC 351 -
3
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Dr. Sandra Cusack
Teaching the Older Adult
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Office: HC 2612
Phone: 291-5177
E-mail: scusack@sfu.ca
Location:
Tuesdays 15:00-17:50Harbour
Centre
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(HC) 1325
D01.00
PREREQUISITE
60 credit hours
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a basic course in adult education with a focus on the older adult learner -- i.e. people in the third age or
retirement phase of life. Theory is drawn from mainstream adult education, supplemented with principles and
techniques of effective practice in teaching older adults. The goal is to prepare students from a variety of fields
and areas of interest to develop more effective strategies for meeting the needs of an expanding population of
older adults through education.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of the course, students will:
1. Understand the implications of an aging society for third-age education.
2.
Appreciate the various institutional contexts in which programs take place, and the influence of the
institutional context on the delivery of programs, teaching, and learning.
3.
Understand more deeply the needs, desires, capacities of third-age learners, and the implications for effective
learning/ teaching.
4.
Be able to define central concepts: e.g., third-age, empowerment, facilitation, leadership, mental fitness,
critical thinking, self-directed learning.
5.
Have greater awareness of aging as a social construction and how stereotypes and negative attitudes affect
learning and participation.
6. Identify principles of research, program development and evaluation.
7.
Be prepared to identify and discuss current issues in policy and practice.
ASSIGNMENTS
Your final grade will be based on:
(1)
Review of an article (due week 5) - 15%
(2)
Self-directed Learning Contract (due in week 7) - 5%
(3)
Take-home midterm (to be completed during week 8) - 45%
(4)
Final project (to be handed in on the last day of class) - 45%
REQUIRED READINGS
Brookfield, S.D. (1986). Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (1986).
ISBN 0-87589-674X.
Courseware Package. (1997). Simon Fraser University.
RECOMMENDED READINGS
(on reserve)
Cusack, S.A. & Thompson, W.J.A. (1999). Leadership for Older Adults: Aging with Purpose and Passion.
Philadelphia, Brunner Mazel Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-87630-931-7.
Kreisberg, S. (1992). Transforming Power: Domination, Empowerment. and Education. Albany: State
University of New York. ISBN 0-7914-0663-6.
Brookfield, S.D. (1991). Developing Critical Thinkers: Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of
Thinking and Acting. San Francisco - Jossey Bass. ISBN 155542 055-9.
Manheimer, R.J., Snodgrass, D.D., & Moskow-McKenzie, D. (1995). Older Adult Education: A Guide to
Research. Programs. and Policies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0 313 28878 X.