Predictors of Adult Education Program Satisfaction in Urban Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Lifelong learning is receiving greater attention due to population aging in modern societies. Lifelong learning benefits individuals by supporting their physical, psychological, social, and economic well-being. However, older adults generally have lower motivation for learning than younger adults, and facilitating long-term participation in learning activities is still challenging. Previous studies mainly identified negative factors such as barriers and obstacles to individuals’ initial participation in lifelong learning programs. As such, less is known about positive factors that promote long-term participation. To address this gap, data were collected from 330 older adults who participated in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program in an urban community in the United States. Results from proportional odds ordinal logistic regression analysis demonstrated that gender, number of household members, income, religious affiliation, self-rated health, and number of courses taken were associated with satisfaction with the program. In hopes to promote true lifelong learning, possible explanations about the findings are explored and several recommendations for existing lifelong learning programs are derived in this study.     

Information Technology Education for Older Adults as a Continuing Peer-Learning Process: A Chinese Case Study

This article examines older Chinese's learning and use of computers and the Internet, focusing on the major barriers encountered and strategies employed to overcome those barriers. A total of 33 interviews were conducted in 2004 in Shanghai. Data analysis was guided by grounded theory. The following are the major findings : (a) lack of technical support is a major barrier to information technology (IT) learning, yet it is difficult to get support from younger people; (b) learning from age peers is an effective way to learn about IT; and (c) short-term computer classes are only the beginning, while computer clubs that may last for years can provide much-needed continuing training.     

An Innovative Continuing Nursing Education Program Targeting Key Geriatric Conditions for Hospitalized Older People in China

A lack of knowledge in registered nurses about geriatric conditions is one of the major factors that contribute to these conditions being overlooked in hospitalized older people. In China, an innovative geriatric continuing nursing education program aimed at developing registered nurses' understanding of the complex care needs of hospitalized older people with common geriatric conditions was conducted and evaluated. The program consisted of didactic sessions focused on evidence-based practice and unfolding case studies designed to simulate the care trajectory of an older person with a hip fracture and key geriatric conditions. Findings from the program evaluations revealed a significant increase in favorable attitudes towards older people and increased knowledge concerning common geriatric conditions. The satisfaction rate ranked by program participants was 90%. The study, therefore, drew the conclusion that effective geriatric continuing nursing education should target participants' learning needs, support evidence-based practice, and engage participants in active learning.     

Predictors of Self-Reported Likelihood of Working with Older Adults

This study examined the self-reported likelihood of working with older adults in a future career among 237 college undergraduates at a midsized Midwestern university. Although aging anxiety was not significantly related to likelihood of working with older adults, those students who had a greater level of death anxiety were less likely than other students to report a future likelihood of working with older adults. In addition, quality relationships with unrelated older adults were positively correlated with likelihood of working with older adults. Recommendations for future research and ideas for attracting college students to gerontology as a career are discussed.     

Motivations and Perceived Benefits of Older Learners in a Public Continuing Education Program: Influence of Gender,Income, and Health

The demographic shift towards an older population combined with the increasing demand for self-reliance and community-based care for the elderly calls for a thorough examination of continuing education programs in local communities as a viable means of promoting successful and active aging. This study examined patterns of older adults’ motivations for, and perceived benefits from, participating in a publicly funded local continuing education program in relationship with their gender, income, and self-perceived general health. Six hundred ninety-nine learners over 60 years old were surveyed. The study found both commonalities as well as distinct patterns of difference due to the influence of gender, income, and health. The results of the study provide validation and additional knowledge to buttress previous studies, while underscoring the necessity for further research on older adults’ participation, motivations, and benefits in the intersection with sociodemographic and health factors. The findings of this study also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and developing an affordable, accessible, and inclusive continuing education program in local communities for achieving successful and active aging for all.     

Technology: Education and Training Needs of Older Adults

The impact of the global aging of the population on social, economic, political, and health care institutions is unequaled. Parallel to this, evolving developments in technology promise opportunities for sales and product development to support positive aging. Older adults are excited to utilize technologies that they perceive as practical. However, age, education, technical knowledge, and technological anxiety affect interest in new technologies, creating a technology divide. Providing more accessible and relevant technologies for today's older adults may make the technology more universally accessible. This article reports the results of a survey on technology and education among a sample of 77 adults between the ages of 52 and 92 who attended a week-long lifelong-learning event at Indiana University. Familiarity with technology, age, education, and gender were found to be correlated with familiarity with new technologies as well as operating and shopping for new electronic devices.     

What Older Adults Know about HIV/AIDS: Lessons from an HIV/AIDS Education Program

Despite being one of the fastest growing segments of the HIV/AIDS caseload, persons age 50 and older have been largely neglected in terms of HIV/AIDS education. This study describes a project involving HIV-related health education for persons ≥50 in an urban area of Ohio. Data from 50 persons age ≥50 were collected. Pre-and postsurveys were used in the completion of repeated measures ANOVA, and focus groups provided qualitative data. Despite a paucity of available educational materials addressing HIV/AIDS, older adults are willing to participate in sessions about HIV/AIDS. Findings suggest the need for alternative approaches to providing HIV/AIDS education.     

全面建设小康社会与农村成人继续教育探讨

全面小康社会的奋斗目标对农村成人继续教育提出了新的更高要求。观念上存在短视行为、没有配套制度作保证、物质条件普遍不足是农村成人继续教育面临的主要问题。做好农村成人继续教育工作，首先必须转变各级党政领导及农民们的思想观念，同时加强农村成人继续教育制度和网络服务体系建设，加大对农村成人继续教育的投入，并创新农村成人继续教育模式。     

信息类专业成人教育教改方案的探索与研究

分析了现阶段信息类专业成人教育学生知识水平和课程体系结构等特点,明确信息类专业的人才培养目标,对信息类专业成人教育教改方案和具体实践措施进行了探索和研究。     

Involving Older Adults as Co-researchers in Social Work Education

This article examines the contribution of older adults as co-researchers to the evaluation of a gerontological social work course. The evaluation was conducted at an Israeli college as part of a collaborative project with a United Kingdom university. Here, we follow the older adults who are service users through their transition to the role of co-researchers and reflect on their experiences in the process. Insights gained by the different stakeholders from the co-researching experience are discussed, and the growing interest in service-user contributions to social work education in various fields such as aging and disabilities is recognized.     

Cultural Diversity Among Older Adults: Addressing Health Education

ABSTRACT

The diversity of the older adult population is increasing, and health professionals need to learn new knowledge and skills to improve the adherence of older ethnic clients to their health recommendations. Much of the existing research literature on diversity in gerontology concludes that ethnic older adults are at a health disadvantage. Few if any of these studies, however, offer practical applications for health promoters. This article reports on a paradox: there is a surprising amount of diversity within each group of ethnic elders, but it may be the similarities across these groups that lead to practical applications of use to health-promoters. The article ends with health-promotion questions of relevance to older adults, regardless of ethnicity.     

Education and Older Adults at the University of the Third Age

This article reports a critical analysis of older adult education in Malta. In educational gerontology, a critical perspective demands the exposure of how relations of power and inequality, in their myriad forms, combinations, and complexities, are manifest in late-life learning initiatives. Fieldwork conducted at the University of the Third Age (UTA) in Malta uncovered the political nature of elder-learning, especially with respect to three intersecting lines of unequality—namely, positive aging, elitism, and gender. A cautionary note is, therefore, warranted at the dominant positive interpretations of UTAs since late-life learning, as any other education activity, is not politically neutral.     

The International Network for Older Adults

Conclusion Although funds were not available to bring members of the Older Adults Network to the World Assembly of Adult Education in January 1990, there was, among the delegates, considerable interest in the subject and several meetings were arranged. The thing that struck me most was not how different were our situations, coming as we did from every corner of the earth, but how many problems and concerns we had in common.With the second Network Newsletter, sent out in the spring of 1991, questionnaires asked for brief details of schemes which involved older people in projects that were, in some way, conservational. They could be involved in conserving language, mythology or history. They might be working to improve and save their environment. The aim is to establish a small but useful register of such projects in sufficient detail to encourage contact and replication by others. For this purpose, small grants are being made available from the money given by CIDA. Slowly but surely, the Older Adults Network is gathering information about positive actions being taken to ensure that older people, in all countries, have the skills and opportunities they need to continue as fully participating citizens. With the rapidly increasing number of older people in all our countries, this small beginning will, hopefully, be a foundation on which much important work will be done in the years to come.     

Preparing for the Silver Tsunami: The Demand for Higher Education Among Older Adults

Over the next decade, Baby Boomers will be reaching retirement age in large numbers and the U.S. will be undergoing one of the most significant demographic shifts in its history. This demographic shift has important implications for the role of higher education as a provider of lifelong learning and for the changing composition of postsecondary institutions. Using data from the 2005 National Household Education Survey, the results of this study informs the higher education community about this emerging student market segment as a way to help us better respond to older adults?? demand for formal learning in postsecondary institutions.     

职教教师继续教育课程建构问题探究

除了学位课程以外,继续教育的课程很难统一规划,可以说,课程问题已成为制约职教教师继续教育深入发展、质量提高的“瓶颈”。而要解决这一问题,必须了解其实用性、经验性、生成性特点;通过系统进行课程规划、精心选择课程内容、实施灵活多样的课程模式来完成职教教师继续教育课程建构。     

研究范例:关于老人对远程教育需求的研究

一项能受到社会广泛关注的远程教育研究课题应该切合社会和人们的需要.本文介绍由作者主持的<香港老人的学习活动、年龄和专长、元认知知识的研究>这一课题的过程和经验教训,包括研究课题的选择、文献的收集和综合、研究的设计和方法、研究的过程、论文的撰写和交流、以及经验和教训.根据这一研究的主要成果所撰写的论文,于2002年在印度新德里召开的十五届亚洲开放大学协会年会上荣获了"最佳论文奖".本研究的主要经验是,成功的远程教育研究离不开严谨的研究设计、方法和过程,有效的研究工具也应基于本地的实情专门开发,同时,研究的结果能对远程教育的发展和实践具有指导作用.本研究的教训是,如果照搬西方的某些能力测量量表,不仅浪费研究经费,而且浪费大量的人力.本研究也同时说明,开发适合我国成人和老人的学习能力的测量量表成为急需.最后,本文附录了这项研究采用的问卷表,供同行们参考或修改使用.     

Development and validation of the Attitudes toward Education for Older Adults (AEOA) scale

The purpose of this study is to validate a multidimensional measure assessing attitudes toward education for older adults. As the elderly population and the demands of education among older adults have increased, the engagement of social workers in educational settings for older adults has also increased. Therefore, assessing social workers’ attitudes toward education for older adults is critical to better understand the appropriate circumstances for successfully providing and expanding educational programs for older adults. Using a sample of 227 social work students, a multidimensional scale consisting of 38 items was developed by focusing on the three subconstructs of attitudes: cognition, emotion, and behavior. Across various statistical analyses such as the examination of coefficient α and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this scale consistently demonstrated strong reliability and validity. This new reliable and valid scale may contribute to the quality of educational programs for older adults by providing for social workers and other helping professionals with an opportunity to examine their attitudes toward educational services for older adults.     

Lifelong Education,Quality of Life and Self-Efficacy of Chinese Older Adults

This study aimed to identify the relationships between lifelong learning, quality of life, and self-efficacy of older adults. One thousand and three participants of a lifelong educational program participated; the mean age was 50.6 (SD = 7.8, range: 18–78). Findings revealed that the patterns of study established a positive association with quality of life, but a negative correlation with their psychosomatic complaints. It also found that the more respondents enrolled in courses, the more somatic complaints they suffered. Multiple regression analysis models indicate that the determinants of good quality of life in older adult learners aged 60 and over were good self-efficacy and the continuation of study after graduation.     

继续教育语境下现代远程教育专业及课程建设

近期,我们就继续教育语境下现代远程教育专业及课程建设话题,采访了北京师范大学远程教育研究中心主任、首都学习型社会研究院执行院长陈丽教授。陈教授认为:继续教育领域是远程教育机构的主战场。面向成人继续教育的现代远程教育系统应该显著区别于传统远程教育系统;专业和课程中应采用创新的方法,满足学生的特殊需要;现代远程教育应努力给学生带来全新的学习体验,这应该是现代远程教育专业及课程建设的基本思路。教学设计是远程教育课程建设最关键的环节,教学设计的重点在学习者分析、课程资源分析、学习目标设计、学习内容设计、学习活动设计、媒体组合方案设计、学习评价方案设计、学习支持服务设计等八个方面,其中,学习活动是支持远程教育自主学习的支架,尤为重要。经陈教授同意,现将访谈内容整理如下。     

Motivational and Cognitive Predictors of Text Comprehension and Reading Amount

Motivational variables contribute to reading achievement and text comprehension through several paths. We report the results of 2 studies further examining these relations. Study 1 included 3rd and 5th graders. We measured their motivation and reading amount with questionnaires and their text comprehension with 2 performance tests. Results revealed that reading amount significantly predicted text comprehension on 2 different indicators, even when the contributions of past reading achievement, prior topic knowledge, self-efficacy for reading, and reading motivation were controlled statistically. Study 1 also showed that reading motivation significantly predicted reading amount when past reading achievement, prior topic knowledge, and self-efficacy were controlled. In Study 2, we investigated the same variables among students in Grades 8 and 10 from a nationally representative data set. Similar to Study 1, the results showed that reading amount significantly predicted text comprehension with other variables controlled. Further, motivation predicted reading amount with other variables controlled and directly predicted text comprehension. Findings were interpreted as supporting a process of attunement of motivational and cognitive goals as a function of time.