Research

The Research Community of Practice was formed to create a network of continuing higher education researchers committed to improving and expanding the body of knowledge within the field and to encourage the use of research to improve the programming offered by UCEA members.

Benefits for professionals include:

Access to a network of colleagues who understand, value, and support the importance of excellent research designed to improve the quality of programs in continuing higher education.
Support from colleagues who believe practices in continuing higher education can be enhanced through research findings.
Analyses of best practices in continuing education research.
Timely information about research projects and publishing opportunities.
Opportunities to mentor and encourage graduate students to enter the field of continuing higher education.

Please visit our public Members’ Forum pages and view the resources available. Additional resources are available in the members-only pages. We encourage you to join the Research COP and participate with us in using research to improve continuing higher education practices and programs.

Looking for research ideas?

The UCEA Research Community of Practice has identified worthy CE dissertation topics to be shared with graduate students in the field. Organized by topic, the Community has outlined specific questions whose answers could benefit the field. UCEA members should feel free to pass this listing along.

Basic Resources

Sometimes we all need to go "back to basics," or point colleagues to a central source on the fundamentals of CHE. The resources collected below are designed to fill that need, and consist both of recommended readings and examples of good practice:

The Pennsylvania State University Adult Education Reading List: recommended readings for doctoral students.

The Pennsylvania State University Adult Education Masters Program: the first of a collection of links to graduate programs in CHE.

Members of this Community are concerned with:

Networking among researchers in continuing higher education
Utilization of research findings by Association members
Recognition of excellence in research within continuing higher education

For further information on this CoP, please contact Sherry Miller Brown, chair of the Research Community of Practice, at sbrown at pitt.edu.

For information concerning membership in UCEA, please contact Cyrus Homayounpour, Director of Membership, at 202.659.3130 or cyrus@ucea.edu.