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1 TEACHING GERONTOLOGY Apr. 15, 2008 AARP Office of Academic Affairs H.R. Moody, Editor In this issue: - What Does It All Add Up To? - Careers in Aging - Helping Students Understand Research - Older Adult Education - Health Policy Fellowships - Will People Work Longer? - Facts about Aging - Web Sites to See - Books of Interest xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx GERONTOLOGY: What Does It All Add Up To? Is gerontology a specialty? Is it an interdisciplinary field that transcends specialized disciplines? Can we ever escape the gravitational pull that William James long ago identified as the "Ph.D. Octopus" which converts knowledge into a commodity so that we lose sight of the whole? Such questions are unavoidable as we contemplate the wider landscape of higher education: "[In higher education today]...whatever pattern of courses is taken by an individual, it is unlikely to be more than a collection of bits and pieces, a specialist s grasp of this, a semispecialist s partial understanding of that, an introductory survey of something else. The question of how these bits and pieces might be related to one another, of whether they are or are not parts that contribute to some whole, of what, if anything, it all adds up to, not merely commonly goes unanswered, it almost always goes unasked..."

2 From "The End of Education: The Fragmentation of the American University" By Alasdair MacIntyre, at: CAREERS IN AGING This week is official "Careers in Aging" week on college campuses across the country. It's obviously an area your students should be thinking about. For more details, visit: HELPING STUDENTS UNDERSTAND RESEARCH One of the most important skills students need is the ability to read original research. But, let s face it, we academics don t always write in a way that s accessible to non-specialists. But help is on the way. Summaries of aging research published in peer-reviewed academic journals are now available for non-specialists at the ART (Aging Research Translator) website. The site has been created with community-based practitioners in mind. The ART website was developed by Cornell University researchers and helps make available the latest findings from the academic world. Visit them at: OLDER ADULT EDUCATION The American Council on Education, with support from the MetLife Foundation, has issued some outstanding reports on older adult education and lifelong learning. Among them are these: "Reinvesting in the Third Age: Older Adults and Higher Education" at: einvestingfinal.pdf

3 "How Adults Aged 55+ Are Changing our Ideas about Work, Learning, and Retirement" at: y.cfm&contentid=20109 HEALTH POLICY FELLOWSHIPS The "Health and Aging Policy Fellows" is a new program supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and administered by Columbia University. The program aims to advance the knowledge and experience of professionals in policy-making by providing experience and skills needed to contribute to health care policies that affect older Americans. The program is open to physicians, nurses and social workers with a demonstrated commitment to health and aging issues and a desire to be involved in health policy at the federal, state or local level. Other professionals with clinical backgrounds (e.g., pharmacists, dentists, clinical psychologists) working in the field of health and aging are also eligible to apply. For more information, visit the program website at: WILL PEOPLE WORK LONGER? Two excellent fact sheets, along with wonderful graphics, are available for class presentations on this question: "Should People Work Longer, and Will They?" "Are Employers Willing to Hire and Retain Older Workers?" For a debate on the subject, "Productive Aging: Boon or Burden?" visit:

4 The best book on the subject is still PRODUCTIVE AGING: Concepts and Challenges, edited by Nancy Morrow-Howell, James Hinterlong, and Michael Sherraden (Johns Hopkins University Press). Details are available at: FACTS ABOUT AGING -In 2000, there were 600 million people aged 60 and over; there will be 1.2 billion by 2025 and 2 billion by Today, about two thirds of all older people are living in the developing world; by 2025, it will be 75%. -In the developed world, the very old (age 80+) is the fastest growing population group. -Women outlive men in virtually all societies; consequently in very old age, the ratio of women/men is 2:1. (From the World Health Organization) WEB SITES TO SEE POPULATION AGING. The Population Council provides an overview of population aging viewed through the tools of social science. Very accessible for students. Visit them at: LIFE REVIEW. For the syllabus for a course on "Aging and Life Review" see: BIBLIOGRAPHY ON AGING. AgeLine is the World s largest social gerontology bibliographic database with abstracts. It offers basic and advanced search options or browsing by topic, with links to full text of

5 reports, articles, and other publications on the Web: BOOKS OF INTEREST 101 CAREERS IN GERONTOLOGY, by Joanne Grabinski (Springer, 2007). For details, see: FOSTERING SOCIAL WORK GERONTOLOGY COMPETENCE: A Collection of Papers from the First National Gerontological Social Work Conference, edited by Catherine J. Tompkins and Anita L. Rosen (Haworth, 2007). COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR OLDER ADULTS: Programs and Services in an Era of Change (3rd edition), by Robbyn R. Wacker and Karen A. Roberto (Sage Publications, 2008). This electronic newsletter is edited by Harry R. Moody at the AARP Office of Academic Affairs. TEACHING GERONTOLOGY contains items of interest to improve the teaching of aging in higher education. To submit items or request subscription changes, contact hrmoody@aarp.org