Four ESU Professors from the Psychology Department Slated to have Published Paper in Studies in Continuing Education

Posted by: admin on November 4, 2013, No Comments

Four East Stroudsburg University Psychology Department faculty members recently published a paper which will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal, Studies in Continuing Education. 

Reneé R. Boburka, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, Richard K. Wesp, Ph.D., professor of psychology, Sussie Eshun, Ph.D., professor of psychology, and Anthony L. Drago, Ed.D., professor of psychology, assessed a procedure they developed to strengthen students’ beliefs in the value of lifelong learning. This learning outcome has become increasingly important as a national trend in the discipline, and the psychology department emphasizes the importance of career planning and development, including a commitment to learning through one’s lifetime.

However, little research has considered how to develop and measure a commitment to lifelong learning. Drs. Boburka, Wesp, Eshun and Drago developed and tested a classroom activity designed specifically for this purpose.

During their work, they discovered that by presenting students with faculty members’ career biographies describing the lifelong learning necessary in their own personal career paths, that they significantly strengthened students’ beliefs regarding the value of lifelong learning.

This research was initially conceptualized by an observation that students appeared more cognizant of the importance of lifelong learning following a talk given by a local entrepreneur funded by a 2010 ESU Research and Economic Development “Entrepreneurship Across the Colleges” grant.

The findings presented in this paper will make a valuable contribution to the pedagogical literature, as well as to the lives of those students who may develop a new appreciation of a lifetime of learning as a result of this technique.