The Meaning of the Learning Experiences of Older Adults in Hong Kong

This article discusses the themes that emerged from qualitative research exploring the meaning that Chinese older adults find in their learning experiences in Hong Kong. In-depth interviewing was used to solicit information from older learners taking courses in elderly centers or units. Four themes were identified: (a) older adults as learners, (b) restructuring of time, (c) enhanced self-image, and (d) integration into society. The relationship between these themes and the aging process of older adults is further discussed, and it shows that learning has important meaning for older adults.     

Learning Experiences of Senior Travellers

Growing numbers of older adults are choosing to travel each year. Most research on older travellers focuses on how to market travel opportunities to this age segment. The purpose of this investigation was to examine learning experiences of older adults during travel. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample of eight individuals ranging in ages from 56 to 89. Questions were directed at the nature of significant travel experiences and what they learned. Four themes emerged from the data: learning about personal character, learning about trust, learning about the world, and learning about home.     

Third-Age Education in Canada and Japan: Attitudes Toward Aging and Participation in Learning

Lifelong learning is essential to participation in society, and presents important challenges for educational gerontology. This study compares Canadian and Japanese perspectives on (a) attitudes toward aging, (b) the learning needs of older adults, and (c) the role of centers of learning. Surveys were conducted of sample populations in two elder colleges in Japan (N = 419, 753; mean age 66.4,70.5) and two senior centers in Canada (N = 122; mean age 75.0). Results suggest Canadian respondents have more positive attitudes toward aging; Japanese respondents have greater needs for social/communicative learning; and Canadians have a greater need for traditional learning. Future implications for older-adult education and research are discussed.     

Learning about sex in later life: sources of education and older Australian adults

This paper examines the preferred sexuality education sources of older Australian adults in later life. Drawing on findings from qualitative interviews with 30 men and 23 women aged 60 years and older, we consider the sources that participants currently use, or would like to use, in seeking information about sex. Where relevant, we examine participants’ experiences of learning about sex in later life using different sources, and the impact these had on their sexual expression, pleasure and well-being. Preferred sources of information include the Internet, the media, health care providers, books and workshops or discussion groups. A substantial number of participants did not actively seek information on sex. For those who had, these educational endeavours could profoundly shape their sexual practices. As such, learning about sex should be viewed as a lifelong endeavour. Our findings carry important implications for the development and delivery of sexuality education for older adults.     

Participation in Learning and Depressive Symptoms

This paper reports the findings of research on relationships between depression and participation in learning using data from a large sample of older adults. The objective was to establish whether learning can reduce the risk of depression. Data were obtained from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a nationally-representative sample of adults aged 50 and above. The eight-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure depressive symptoms. Participation in learning covered the acquisition of qualifications; taking formal training courses, learning at arts, music or evening classes; and participation in gym/exercise classes. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with the change in the measure of depressive symptoms between two waves of the longitudinal survey as the response variable. There was limited evidence that participation in learning reduced the risk of depression in later life. Only learning leading to qualifications was significantly associated with the outcome after controlling other factors. But learning leading to qualifications was undertaken only by a small minority of the sample, mainly the youngest and most highly educated. Other types of learning were not significantly associated with depression. It appears that learning has, at best, a small role to play in addressing the risk of depression in later life.     

Innovative Experiential Learning Activities in Aging: The Experiences of Four BEL Projects

The BSW Experiential Learning (BEL) Program aims to infuse intergenerational content into the curriculum and recruit students to the field of social work by implementing face-to-face learning opportunities with older adults. This article discusses and compares the experiences of 4 diverse BEL projects that implemented gero-experiential learning activities into 1 or more of the BSW curriculum areas: introduction/social work practice, social welfare policy, human behavior in the social environment, social work research, and field practicum. “Three keys to success” are offered as ways in which gero-experiential activities may be successfully implemented by other programs.     

先前学习评价:一种非正式学习评价方式的实证研究

先前学习评价是当前国际成人高等教育领域普遍采用的、针对非正式学习的一种评价方式。本研究基于体验式学习理论,选取参与远程高等教育且具有一定工作经验的92名成人学生为研究对象,在广播电视大学教学系统开展了先前学习评价的实证研究。研究发现,测评人员对评价标准的理解与应用存在偏差,学生对先前学习评价的认识有待进一步加强,特别是让学生清楚评估中的相关责任、评估方法等,以及整个先前学习评价工作的评价与监督机制尚不健全。基于此,本研究总结了先前学习评价的一般操作流程,并提出建立申请制度,加强审核学生所提供材料、证据等的真实性,向学生提供申请前的自我测试以及为学生提供反馈和审查评估结果的机会等四个方面的改进措施。研究希望促进两个"成果转化",一是通过先前学习评价的实证研究,对在职人员通过非正式学习获得的知识、能力或技能给予合理的"成果转化",进一步推动我国针对成人非正式学习评价的研究;二是希望将研究成果进行"成果转化",变为学历教育、在职人员教育与终身教育融合的一种推进机制。     

设计有效的数字化学习和移动学习:模型和原则(英文)

通过探索当前数字化学习和移动学习设计的原则和模型,本文试图找出设计云学习的有效方法。同时,文中还介绍了好的网络和移动电子学习产品的图像和设计特征。然而,如何更好地设计移动学习和云学习,仍然需要更多系统的研究。     

Design Education Online: Learning Delivery and Evaluation

Online learning has been recognised as an effective pedagogical method and tool, and is broadly integrated into various types of teaching and learning strategies in higher education. In practice, the use of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in higher education has become an integral strategy for quality education. The field of design education, however, has not been researched extensively in regard to online learning, delivery and evaluation. This article discusses design education from an online learning perspective. It proposes an integrated framework with three key components for online learning via VLE including an interactive delivery structure, communication channels and learning evaluation. Additionally, the article describes and evaluates how VLE sites for two design units were built based on an integrated framework and student learning experiences. The results indicate that online design education should be integrated with various educational values and functional features in a systematic manner, and requires designing learning evaluation protocols as part of learning activities and communicative forms within online‐based learning sites.     

Daily activities and psychological need satisfaction of elderly adults: the experience sampling method

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate older adults’ daily activities (e.g., learning activities and companionship) and the relations of these activities with the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). We propose a multilevel model to delineate the effects of daily experiences on the satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. The current research was conducted by sending reminder messages and collecting daily responses via the Line@ application on mobile phones. A total of 838 valid records were collected (the average number of records per person was 24.65). In total, 838 daily experiences nested 34 older adults’ completed diary records for the study. The average age was 63.44 years (SD _age = 5.90, range from 52 to 75), and 82.4% were female (i.e., 28 women and 6 men). Each participant needed to complete their record each day throughout the 10-day period. The results of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed that learning for the elderly, as compared with doing all other activities, is positively related with the satisfaction of the autonomy need but negatively associated with the satisfaction of the competence need. Furthermore, eating as compared with learning for older adults is more likely to satisfy the competence and relatedness needs; however, learning as compared with watching TV may foster satisfaction of the autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. In addition, as long as they are accompanied, regardless of who their companions are, compared with being alone, the older adults perceived greater satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs.     

Learning a second language in late adulthood: benefits and challenges

ABSTRACT

As human longevity increases, the proportion of older people worldwide increases as well. Statistics show that, while the population of older adults (ages 65+) was 5% in the 1960s, in 2018 it increased to 9%, and it is projected to rise to 16% by 2050. According to the World Health Organization, the proportion of the population aged 80 and over is growing fast. However, older learners have been neglected as a cohort by researchers. Although there have been more studies on older adults’ language acquisition recently, there is still a lack of research about the benefits and challenges of learning a second language in late adulthood. For these reasons, this paper will begin with a summary of background studies on the age factor in second-language learning, and then discuss its benefits and challenges for both older learners and language teachers.     

Promoting intergenerational learning in higher education: older adult perspectives on course auditing

ABSTRACT

As the population ages, colleges and universities have opportunities to promote intergenerational learning by inviting lifelong learners to engage with students in the classroom. This article outlines an initiative to enroll older adults as auditors and to describe their experiences. Thirty of 40 older adult auditors completed a hard-copy survey administered in 2017 (75% response rate). Results indicate that auditors were motivated to enroll in a college course due to the self-satisfaction of learning, subject of the course, and time of course offering. Over half described completing course assignments and a majority accessed content on Blackboard at least once per week. Older adults reported engaging with students in and out of the classroom and described the benefits of intergenerational engagement as learning about younger adults’ perspectives and the reciprocity of learning and mutual respect between generations. Suggestions for improvement relate to offering more courses for auditing and greater assistance with course technology. Implications for promoting this type of lifelong learning initiative are discussed.     

Learning Choices,Older Australians and Active Ageing

This paper reports on the findings of qualitative, semistructured interviews conducted with 40 older Australian participants who either did or did not engage in organized learning. Phenomenology was used to guide the interviews and analysis to explore the lived learning experiences and perspectives of these older people. Their experiences of learning can be described in two main categories of pleasure and leisure or purpose and relevance. Almost all the activities described in these categories have the potential to support health and wellbeing. Organizers of activities should take these reasons into account.     

Teacher professional learning as a social practice: an Australian case

Abstract

Framing professional learning as a social practice underscores the interplay between subjective meaning systems and objective conditions of the social space where learning occurs. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social practice, and methodologically guided by critical realism, the paper identifies what constitutes effective teacher professional learning through mentoring. The empirical focus of the paper is an Early Childhood teacher mentoring programme in the state of Victoria, Australia. The findings show that: (a) relevant circumstances that make teacher professional learning a necessity are associated with individual aspirations and systemic requirements; (b) collegial relationships and critical deliberation constitute meaningful learning experiences; and (c) teacher learning takes place in the domains of professional dispositions, pedagogical knowledge and social capital. The implication is that in designing professional development programmes such as mentoring, it is important to take teachers’ contexts of practice into account; conceptualise learning as a socially situated practice; and recognise the value of teachers’ lived experiences as a locus of deliberation and learning.     

Assessment of Intergenerational Communication and Relationships

The revolution in communication technology has resulted in more age-segregated conversation among adolescents. In a similar way, older adults have increased online conversations with their peers. This article explores some obstacles that prevent the intergenerational connections needed for mutual understanding and care. Several research emphases are described that together define the complexity of intergenerational dialogue. The concerns provided for consideration include (a) age-segregated communication practices of adolescents and older adults, (b) willingness of older people to disclose personal opinions and feelings to younger people, (c) need for general adoption of the reciprocal learning concept to support harmony, (d) amount of time spent with adolescents as a predictor of parent and grandparent success, (e) learning expectations for later life that contribute to productive aging, and (f) recognition of the leadership role that adolescents should assume to reconnect the generations. Attitude and behavior change are recommended for older adults, adolescents, parents, educators, and school stakeholders.     

From learners to volunteers: A qualitative study of retirees’ transformative learning in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

In Taiwan, older adults over the age of 65 made up 12.51% of the population in 2015, causing the government to promote older adult education to help achieve active aging. As a result, more elderly people have attended learning activities and applied new skills to volunteering. The researcher conducted focus group interviews with 93 older adults from 13 service learning groups to illuminate this process of transforming from learner to volunteer. The findings are as follows. (a) The retirees and empty-nesters undergo discovery during the learning process in order to become learners. (b) These learners then become volunteers through the support from teachers and key persons, through the desire to share learning outcomes, and through answering the call to serve others. (c) The transformative learning rewarded the older adults with improved physical, spiritual, and mental health, as well as gratitude and a new sense of meaning in life.     

Teachers' Self-Regulated Learning Lesson Design: Integrating Learning from Problems and Successes

Teachers' design of a lesson is critical for helping their students develop academically effective forms of self-regulating learning (SRL) in classrooms. Using a quasi-experimental design, the researchers integrated systematic collaborative learning from problematic and successful experiences into teachers' preparatory programs and examined how such learning was associated with preservice physics teachers' SRL-based lesson design. The participants in this study were 132 preservice physics teachers during the practicum phase of their teacher education at four major research universities. Results indicated that preservice teachers who contemplated both problematic and successful experiences developed better SRL lesson-designing skills compared to preservice teachers who contemplated only problematic experiences. This study provides a new outlook for linking collaborative learning from problematic and successful experiences as a means of nurturing teachers' SRL, as well as suggesting implications and further research avenues.     

Reviewing and Critiquing Computer Learning and Usage Among Older Adults

By searching the keywords of “older adult” and “computer” in ERIC, Academic Search Premier, and PsycINFO, this study reviewed 70 studies published after 1990 that address older adults' computer learning and usage. This study revealed 5 prominent themes among reviewed literature: (a) motivations and barriers of older adults' usage of computers, (b) age-related differences in computer learning and usage, (c) instructional tips and design, (d) changes in attitudes and benefits, and (e) Internet usage. The limitations of the studies are reviewed and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Older adults’ learning motivations in massive open online courses

With the popularization of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in the e-learning landscape, more and more older adults are participating in MOOC learning activities. Understanding older adults’ learning motivations in MOOCs will help MOOC developers design suitable learning systems and appropriate course content for older learners. Using a content analysis method, this study identifies six types of learning motivations of older adults in MOOCs: solving problems, acquiring knowledge, improving cognition, seeking fun, benefiting others, and social contact, among which improving cognition is unique to older adults. Based on the above classification, we found that the learning motivations among older adults vary with age and gender. The findings enrich the theories of education for older adults and of learning motivation, and can be used to improve the design of MOOCs for older adults.