Factors in the Continuing Education of College Alumni
Abstract
Factors in the Continuing Education of College Alumni SAGE Publications, Inc.1961DOI: 10.1177/074171366101100203 M. Alan Brown Bureau of Continuing Education, University of Colorado IN THIS INVESTIGATION, an effort was made to establish a relationship between the continuing education of college alumni and the quality of their undergraduate collegiate education. This particular relationship was studied because it gave promise of shedding a new light on the important and complex question of what forces and influences motivate learning experiences with adults. The hypothesis of this study arose from the belief that the educational experience possesses certain qualities and potentialities that will result in a desire for the learner to continue this experience. The principal hypothesis tested in this study postulated that the extent and quality of continuing education of the college alumnus has a significant, positive relationship to the quality of his undergraduate collegiate experience. This hypothesis arose from certain theoretical notions advanced by John Dewey in his book Experience and Education.' In that book, he cited "interaction" and "continuity" as the two criteria by which any educational experience can be judged. In discussing the continuity criterion, he suggests that the educational experience should provide the individual with attitudes and desires