Research Network 3: Professionalisation of Adult Teachers and Educators in ASEM countries
Network Coordinator:
Hannes Schröter is head of the research department “Teaching, Learning, Counselling” at the German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE) and full professor for “Adult Cognition and Learning” at the FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany. The cognitive psychologist’s work focuses on the professionalisation and the professional competencies of adult teachers and educators, adult literacy and language education, the development of digital teaching/learning tools, and learning-related cognitive processes of adults.
Network Co-coordinator
Dr. Leslie Cordie is an Associate Professor in Adult Education and an Affiliate Faculty member with the University Writing Center at Auburn University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in Adult Education and Technical Communication from Colorado State University. Her specialties include instructional and curricula design, professional development, and distance learning. Cordie has over 25 years of experience working and consulting in academic, business, and military environments. Dr. Cordie is a Fulbright Scholar with active international collaborations in the West Indies, Ireland, the UK and Asia. For more information see https://aub.ie/LeslieCordie
Asian Network Coordinator
Dr Zan Chen is Principal Researcher and Senior Lecturer in the Institute for Adult Learning at Singapore University of Social Sciences. She has 20 years of research and teaching experiences in universities in both China and Singapore. Her research focuses on adult education and teacher professional learning, blended learning, and training and adult education systems at both national and international levels. Her research seeks to inform both policy and practice so as to enhance understanding of the impact of continuing education and training and enable its future developments. She has led flagship research which have great impact on the training and adult education in Singapore. She has published widely in her field and presented regularly at both international and local conferences. She also serves as a national expert to projects related to adult education and training run by the UK, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture, Korea, and Australia.
Network Member:
Dr. Xiaodong ZENG is a Professor in Economics of Education in Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Shan-Dong Normal University in Physics, a MA and Ph.D from the Beijing Normal University in Economics of Education. Her specialties include teachers’ personnel, salary, professional development and networks. With over 25 years of working experience in university and consulting in education circumstance, Prof. ZENG has a higher enthusiasm in teacher issues. Prof. ZENG has a rich experience in international collaborations as an associate dean and executive director for an institution of UNESCO (INRULED) for 4 years. She was Erasmus senior scholar during 2010-2011 and a short term prof in Kyushu University, Japan in 2015.
Bjarne Wahlgren is professor of adult education and director of The National Centre of Competence Development, Denmark. For many years he has been working with motivation and participation in adult education.
Today his research is focusing on transfer of knowledge and skills from the training situation to the implementation in the workplace. Recently he has published a textbook on adult learning.
Regina Egetenmeyer, Prof. Dr., Professor for Adult and Continuing Education at Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg in Germany.
Her main emphases of research are international and comparative adult educational research, informal learning in the workplace and professionalisation in adult education.
Furthermore she focuses her research on the question of academic professionalisation and on the question of personal mobility and professionalisation.
Dr. Lisa Breitschwerdt is a research associate at the Professorship for Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Würzburg. She holds a Master’s degree in Educational Science and a PhD in Adult Education.Her current research is focusing on digitalisation and professionalisation in adult and higher education from a multilevel perspective. Further she is working on organisational research, didactics and methods of teaching and learning as well as dialogical perspectives in adult education research. She has experience in working with international student groups on comparative perspectives in Adult Learning and Education. Further she has expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods. Within broader project contexts she was in charge of the realisation of larger case studies with adult education institutions in Germany.
Prof. Dr. Ekkehard Nuissl von Rein, director of the German Institute for Adult Education-Leibniz-Center for Lifelong Learning and full professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen/Germany and University of Kaiserslautern.
His main research interests are International adult education, Policy of further education, Research of teaching and learning, Professionalisation in Adult Education.
D. Uma Devi has formerly worked as Research Associate and presently working as Assistant Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, S.K. University, Anantapur – 515003, Andhra Pradesh, India.
She had her Masters degrees in Adult Education, Sociology and Education and Doctoral degree in the discipline of Adult Education. She has published 80 papers and completed 3 research projects and handling another 3 major research projects.
Presently she is working on the constraints and compatibilities of education among primitive tribal girls: A Comparative study in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala states and education of the marginalized girls in Andhra Pradesh.
Dae-Bong Kwon is a professor of LLL and HRD at Korea University where he worked as Director of Educational Research Institute, Director of Continuing Education Institute, and Dean of College of Education & Graduate School of Education. He served as the 5th president of the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training (KRIVET), and a consultant for the World Bank.
He also served as the founding president of the Korean Association of Human Resource Development, and the 23rd president of Korean Society for the Study of Lifelong Education. His research interests lie in the areas of international and comparative education in LLL and HRD.
He earned Ph.D. in Adult & Continuing Education from Michigan State University, USA.
Svetlana Surikova is Doctor of Pedagogy (Dr.paed.), a senior researcher at the Scientific Institute of Pedagogy of the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art of the University of Latvia. Her scientific interests are related to the research of professionalization of adult educators, effectiveness and quality assurance in adult and continuing education as well as interaction between social innovation and education, challenges faced to the promotion of social innovation from the perspective of education.
She has experience of participation and management of international and local research projects. The findings of the research were presented in various Latvian and international conferences and published in more than 50 papers.
Since 2008 Svetlana is a member of the research network 3 “Professionalisation of Adult Teachers and Educators in ASEM countries” of the ASEM Education and Research Hub for LLL. Since 2010 she is a member of the global, multi-disciplinary scholarly research community ResearcherID.
Vaiva Zuzevičiūtė is a professor of the Department of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences. She defended master’s degree in education (1995), and also a master’s degree in public management (1998), defended doctoral thesis in 2005 in the field of higher education didactics, and in 2008 completed a habilitation procedure in the field of lifelong learning culture.
Vaiva’s scientific interests are on tendencies and theory of adult education, didactics of higher education. Vaiva Zuzevičiūtė has classes in all three cycles of higher education, among the courses; Management of Profects in Education, Dimensions of Intercultural Learning, Researching Adults’ Learning Needs, Lifelong Learning strategies and other.
Also, professor develops and implements distance education courses and consults on curriculum development methodology, and actively participates in research and educational activities (she is a member of the Board of National Association of Distance Education, of Baltic Association for Research in Adult Education, acts as an institutional coordinators for Asia Europe Meeting, Adult Education HUB).
Professor Beena Giridharan is a Professor and registered higher degree by research supervisor in Education and Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Humanities and Health Sciences at Curtin University, Malaysia.
Professor Beena was the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University, Malaysia for two terms ( 2016-2019;2019-2022). Professor Beena was also the
Dean for Learning and Teaching for two terms at Curtin University Malaysia (2010-2016; 2021-2022). She attained a doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics and Education from Curtin University, Western Australia. She is a recognized global leader in higher education and is appointed as Country Director (Malaysia) for International Higher Education Teaching and Learning (HETL- USA).
Her research and academic interests include: vocabulary acquisition in ESL, educational administration and leadership; higher education practices, transnational education (TNE), and ethno-linguistic studies in indigenous communities. As a member of an OLT (Office of Learning and Teaching, Australia) funded project entitled ‘Learning without Borders’ she has investigated leadership roles in Trans-National Education (TNE) and internationalization of the curriculum. Beena Giridharan is a Fellow of the Curtin Academy, a prestigious active, honorary network of exceptional leaders committed to, and passionate about the collaboration and dissemination of teaching excellence at Curtin University, Australia.
Beena Giridharan is also a fellow of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) since 2006. She mentors
aspiring HERDSA fellows, and is a panel assessor for HERDSA fellowship portfolios. Beena Giridharan won the 2006 Carrick Australian Award for University Teaching, and the 2006 Curtin University, Australia, Excellence in Teaching and Innovation award, and was a visiting professor at the
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA between 2007- 2008. Professor Giridharan is an associate editor for the IAFOR Journal of Education, USA, and Journal of Literature and Librarianship, USA, and a reviewer for a number of international journals in higher education. Her publications include a book on Vocabulary Acquisition Patterns in Adult Tertiary (ESL) Learners (2013), an international handbook on Transnational Education: Leadership in transnational education and internationalization of curriculum (2012), several book chapters, publications in tier one journals, and more than 50 refereed conference papers. She is often invited as keynote speaker and plenary speaker at a number of higher education conferences regionally, and internationally.
Associate Professor Dr. Kamisah Osman is currently the Head of Quality Management at the Faculty of Education, The National University of Malaysia. She obtained her Masters in Science Education and Phd in Science Education from the Centre for Science and Technology Education, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Currently she is actively involved in maintaining the Quality Assurance processes at the university as well as national level. Besides, she is also actively conducting research and hence publication in her area of interest; science education and thinking skills. She is an Editorial Board member of the Eurasian Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Science Education Review as well as Review of Journal of Research in Science Teaching.
She is also an active member of European eLearning Think Thank (eLTT) Group and play a major role as evaluator of students’ learning and retention. This project is fully funded by under the auspices of EDUCAUSE project funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Adelaida C. Gines is currently the Vice President for Academics of the Philippine Normal University. She was also the former Dean of the College of Arts and Social Sciences and Department Head of the same University in both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
She is a Registered Guidance Counselor, a CHED Technical Committee member for Guidance and Counseling, an educator, a research mentor in the undergraduate and graduate levels, a writer of elementary and tertiary textbooks, an executive assessor of MERALCO middle managers, a project/program manager, initiator, designer and resource speaker of training programs for senior and middle school managers, helping professionals and student leaders.
She is also the only Filipino trainor of International Deans’ Course for South East Asia based in Germany since 2007. Moreso, she is the founding president and president for five years (1998 – 2003) of the Philippine Association of Psycho-Social Helping Professionals (PAPSHP). Currently, she is the National Executive Vice President for State Universities and Colleges for Teacher Education Association (SUCTEA). Additionally, she was the treasurer, P.R.O. and presently the auditor of the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association (PGCA).
Finally, she finished her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Santo Tomas, M.A. at the University of the Philippines (UP Diliman) and BSEd at PNU. She has also post doctoral trainings/fellowships at the Kassel University, Humboldt University Zu Berlin and Osnabrüeck University, Germany, specifically, modules on Organizational Management and Development, Leadership, Teaching and Learning, Research Management and, Prevention and Management of Conflict.
Priscilla is senior lecturer and head of the Master in Boundary-Crossing Learning and Leadership programme.
Her research interests lie in the fields of linguistics, workplace learning and research methods. She has studied interactions in workplaces, the experience of trainee cooks on work placement in professional kitchens, and the transition between student and professional identities in curriculum-mandated work placements. In the course of her teaching career, she has taught a range of students at different educational levels and life/career stages, including high school students, pre-tertiary students, full-time undergraduates, graduate students and working adults. She has conducted training in pedagogy and curriculum design, and supervised the development of courses to support graduate employability and job readiness. She is endlessly fascinated by the human instinct to learn, the ways in which that happens and how we as adult educators can facilitate those learning moments and journeys.
Dr. Simone C. O. Conceição, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita in the Department of Administrative Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She received her doctorate in Adult and Distance Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Master’s in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Dr. Conceição has over 25 years of professional experience in distance teaching and learning and training. Online education, adult learning, impact of technology on teaching and learning, learning design, program evaluation, and staff development and training have been part of the core areas of her experiences in the United States, Chile, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Turkey, and China. She is the author of numerous books and publications. She is the recipient of several awards and was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame in 2018.
Dr. Conceição is a learning design consultant and developed the Adult Learning Exchange Virtual Community, an interactive site for educators, administrators, scholars, and students interested in adult learning. The purpose of the site is to share resources and bring together individuals and organizations through podcasts and virtual discussions.
Thu Quang Dinh is the Chief of International Relations Office, Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE). He is also Director of the Center for International Education & Training. He has been teaching for Hanoi National University of Education as a Senior Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages, HNUE since 1978.
His career includes involvement in the continuing education sector as HNUE coordinator of the distance-learning project funded by the Belgium Government (1998-2008).
In recent years he has been working as local consultant for a number of national education projects, including the development of programs towards life-long learning in Vietnam.