| The foundation of this thesis is an arts-based method, specifically educational fiction, used to write a short story about the philosophies of adult education, with new and experienced adult educators as the audience. Arts-based research elicits thoughts and ideas from the learner that may remain undiscovered using more mainstream methods of research. In educational fiction, fictional people and events intermingle with real people and events to inform and entertain. A written simulation, educational fiction can whet a learner's appetite for the topic, provide an overview or review of the topic, or be an optional extra to give another point of view of the topic. It is the closest a learner can get to experience the topic, without actually having the experience.; The educational fiction in this thesis takes the form of a short story about an adult learner named Emma. Searching for her own philosophy of adult education, Emma encounters philosophers from the past who give their views. Based on this information she is able to begin to develop her own philosophy of adult education. The thesis fits the development of this fiction into the research process involved in its writing, and presents the implications the process has for adult educators who may be using or aspire to use an arts-based method (educational fiction) in their teaching or research. |
