Teaching and Doing Justice Globally
This paper assesses the importance of adult education methods for teaching cross cultural
groups internationally. Promoted for effectively creating learning communities and bringing
students to degree completion, andragogy is expected to develop practical skills in context and
make education accessible to non-traditional populations. The preponderance of research about
the andragogical approach is based on adult-learners in the north. Yet, distance education
programs, especially, often employee andragogical techniques in educating adult learners abroad
in the developing world. Thus, as programs employing such methods proliferate, it is necessary
to assess whether adult education techniques are effective in international settings and whether
they are effective in meeting normative goals of cross-cultural education.
The method of study is to focus on Eastern University’s delivery of international
programs as a case study. Thus, an explanation of Eastern University’s historical development
and model of international education is provided as a basis for explaining the practical and
theoretical significance of this study. Next, a survey of students in four sections of the course,
Advocacy and Human Rights (two taught in South Africa and two in the US), provides the basis
for assessing the significance of popular adult education techniques intended to encourage faith,
political awareness and social justice activism among students from various cultures, as well as
to deepen associated values. This research will help explain effective means of not only teaching
across cultures but also imbricating global values.
Introduction: Eastern University’s International Programs
Eastern University is committed to helping students to grow in Christian faith, to learn to
reason and to assist in bringing justice. This paper explores the effectiveness of graduate courses
in Advocacy and Human Rights in advancing these goals globally using adult education
techniques. Specifically, this is a comparison of multiple instances of teaching the graduate
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Convention