The latent structure of educational offerings—tracing topics from folk high school catalogues through large-scale content analyses.

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Title: The latent structure of educational offerings—tracing topics from folk high school catalogues through large-scale content analyses.
Alternate Title: Die latente Struktur von Bildungsangeboten – Aufspüren von Themen aus Volkshochschulprogrammen durch großangelegte Textanalysen. (German)
Authors: Nylander, Erik, Holmer, Daniel
Source: Report: Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung; Aug2022, Vol. 45 Issue 2, p295-319, 25p
Subject Terms: HIGH schools, SCHOOL catalogs, ADULT education, HEURISTIC
Geographic Terms: SWEDEN
Abstract (English): Program analysis has been developing into a prolific research tradition illustrating the utility of adult education providers and program descriptions as heuristic objects for addressing larger questions of social scientific and humanistic inquiry. In this research tradition, attention has been directed to the way programs and educational offers of adult education providers reflect the changing labour market, educational systems and cultural zeitgeist. In this article, we interrogate the opportunities to deploy large-scale text analysis on the content of the national catalogues of Swedish folk high schools (1954–2007) to further enlarge the analytical depth and precision of how program analysis can address changing educational offerings. Based on an analysis of a comprehensive digital repository we identify the latent thematic structures of educational offers in Swedish folk high schools over time and discuss how these changing course descriptions reflect broader structural changes in its educational system as well as regarding the purpose of adult education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Abstract (German): Zusammenfassung: Die Programmanalyse hat sich zu einer produktiven Forschungstradition entwickelt, die den Nutzen von Anbietern von Erwachsenenbildung und Programmbeschreibungen als heuristische Objekte zur Behandlung größerer Fragen sozialwissenschaftlicher und humanistischer Forschung veranschaulicht. In dieser Forschungstradition wurde die Aufmerksamkeit darauf gerichtet, wie Programme und Bildungsangebote von Erwachsenenbildungsanbietern den Wandel von Arbeitsmarkt, Bildungssystemen und kulturellem Zeitgeist widerspiegeln. In diesem Artikel untersuchen wir die Möglichkeiten, großangelegte Textanalysen des Inhalts der Programme der schwedischen Volkshochschulen (1954–2007) einzusetzen, um die analytische Tiefe und Genauigkeit der Programmanalyse für sich ändernde Bildungsangebote weiter zu erhöhen. Basierend auf einer Analyse eines umfassenden digitalen Repositoriums identifizieren wir die latenten thematischen Strukturen von Bildungsangeboten an schwedischen Volkshochschulen im Laufe der Zeit und diskutieren, wie diese sich ändernden Kursbeschreibungen breitere strukturelle Veränderungen im Bildungssystem sowie im Hinblick auf den Zweck der Erwachsenenbildung widerspiegeln. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Complementary Index
Description
Abstract:Program analysis has been developing into a prolific research tradition illustrating the utility of adult education providers and program descriptions as heuristic objects for addressing larger questions of social scientific and humanistic inquiry. In this research tradition, attention has been directed to the way programs and educational offers of adult education providers reflect the changing labour market, educational systems and cultural zeitgeist. In this article, we interrogate the opportunities to deploy large-scale text analysis on the content of the national catalogues of Swedish folk high schools (1954–2007) to further enlarge the analytical depth and precision of how program analysis can address changing educational offerings. Based on an analysis of a comprehensive digital repository we identify the latent thematic structures of educational offers in Swedish folk high schools over time and discuss how these changing course descriptions reflect broader structural changes in its educational system as well as regarding the purpose of adult education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:23640014
DOI:10.1007/s40955-022-00222-w