Lifelong learning and the low‐skilled

This article is a combined result of a three years research project on low‐skilled learners’ experiences as participants of various kinds of adult training and education in Denmark, and the findings of a three years research consortium on workplace learning, summing up and generalizing our various findings as to how low‐skilled adults function in relation to participation in training and education activities, how they feel about it, what is important to them, and consequently what works in practice in relation to this very important but often neglected group of adult learners.     

Interaction between the learners’ initial grasp of the object of learning and the learning resource afforded

Two studies are reported in this paper. The object of learning in both is the economic principle of changes in price as a function of changes in the relative magnitude of changes in demand and supply. The patterns of variation and invariance, defining the conditions compared were built into pedagogical tools (text, graphs, and worksheets). The first study is the latest in a series of studies aiming to test the fundamental conjecture of the Variation Theory of Learning that new meanings are acquired from experiencing differences against a background of sameness, rather than experiencing sameness against a background of differences. The study compares the learning outcomes under conditions consistent with the basic conjecture with the learning outcomes under conditions not consistent with the theory. The results support the conjecture. The second study shows, however, that the conditions that are consistent with the theory cannot be decided unless the learners’ pre-requisites for the task in question are taken into consideration. One set of the pedagogical tools was found to be highly effective for learners with a better initial grasp of the object of learning, while another set was found to be equally effective for learners with a weaker initial grasp of the object of learning. The two sets were equally ineffective when used for the “wrong” group of learners.     

Students’ conceptions and the learning of science

This introductory article to the Special Issue of the International Journal of Science Education attempts to review the theoretical contexts for research into children's conceptions in science and to identify future directions for research programmes in this field.     

Lifelong learning and the Internet: Who benefits most from learning online?

This paper uses nationally representative survey data of adults Internet use in Britain to examine current patterns in the uptake of lifelong learning via the Internet. We develop and test a model that accounts for structure, agency and outcomes using structural equation modelling to address two questions: (1) how structure (as measured by age, gender, SES, Education and ACORN) is related to personal and capital enhancing outcomes of learning online; and (2) how agency (as measured by digital skills and engagement with online learning) mediates this relationship. We demonstrate that social structure remains an important factor in understanding patterns of uptake and outcomes of online learning, alongside an individual’s agentic behaviours. We suggest that countries such as the UK, which have become overly focused on individual interventions to increase the uptake of lifelong learning via the Internet, are going in the wrong direction. Such interventions have failed in the past, and we suggest that they will continue to do so unless policy makers reconceptualise lifelong learning and the Internet in ways that take social structures into account.     

Exploring the link between experienced teachers’ learning outcomes and individual and professional learning community characteristics

The continuous professional development of teachers is crucial in our current knowledge-based society, yet empirical research on experienced teachers’ learning outcomes is scarce. In this study, we examine perceived changes in classroom practices and in competence as outcomes. By making these outcomes measurable, we can relate them to several individual teacher characteristics and professional learning community characteristics. A questionnaire was administered to 490 experienced teachers from 48 Flemish (Belgian) primary schools. Multilevel analyses show that of the professional learning community characteristics, only reflective dialogue is significant for perceived changes in practices. As for individual characteristics, self-efficacy relates positively to both perceived changes in practices and in competence. The relationship between teaching experience and both learning outcomes, however, is negative.     

Undergraduates’ learning experience and learning process: quantitative evidence from the East

This article examines the construct validity of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) in Hong Kong and investigates the similarities and differences in the process of learning among students in different disciplinary studies. It is based on a survey of 1,563 undergraduate students in two disciplines, humanities and sciences, and of principally Chinese ethnicity. Findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support the scale structure of the four subscales of a modified version of the CEQ (good teaching, clear goals and standards, appropriate work, and appropriate assessment) in a non-Western context and could provide a basis for cross cultural research and international benchmarking. While there was variation across subgroups, there was a genuine pattern of relationships between the perceptions of learning environment and learning strategies shown by structural modeling. This information could be used to inform the design of discipline-specific programs in the new curriculum.     

Exploring the effects of web-mediated socially-shared regulation of learning and experience-based learning on improving students’ learning

The application of online learning and educational technologies in higher education has changed teaching methods, the channels of delivering learning materials, and modes of communication between teachers and students. This study is aimed to improve learning effects and investigate, via quasi-experiments, the effects of web-mediated socially-shared regulation of learning (SSRL) and experience-based learning (ExBL) on improving students’ learning results. The experimental design in this study was a 2 (SSRL vs. non-SSRL)?×?2 (ExBL vs. non-ExBL) factorial pretest/post-test design. Four classes in a one-semester course titled “Applied Information Technology: Data Processing” at university level were chosen for this study. Based on the analysis carried out in this study, students who received the treatments of web-mediated SSRL and/or ExBL did not have significantly better computing skills in using Excel. The reasons for these insignificances and implications thereof are discussed in this paper. Nevertheless, students in the SSRL and non-ExBL class had significant increases in scores for their learning motivation at the end of semester compared with the beginning.     

Canadian and US adult learning (1945–1970) and the cultural politics and place of lifelong learning

This essay examines adult learning in Canada and the USA (1945–1970). It explores this emergence in relation to moves to establish academic adult education as a cultural force that could help citizen learners to negotiate a way forward amid the collision of instrumental, social, and cultural change forces altering life, learning, and work in the emerging postindustrial society. In this regard, it focuses centrally on lifelong learning as an idea designed to have broad appeal in rapid-change postindustrial culture. In particular, it attempts to explicate a cultural politics of lifelong learning, which academic adult educators hoped would give the field a higher profile within what they perceived to be an emerging change culture of crisis and challenge. Two key factors are considered in these deliberations. First, this essay explores the relationship between public education (understood as schooling for children) and adult education. It takes up how this problematic relationship interfered with a post-war turn to lifelong learning. Second, it examines the shift in the meaning of the social in understanding adult education as social education in postindustrial society. It argues that the post-war discourse of democracy delimited this meaning, locating the social predominantly within a concern with preserving the dominant culture and society.     

Lifelong learning and the Labour governments 1997–2004

Lifelong learning has been a key theme of New Labour’s education policy agenda since 1997, but is a broad and often amorphous concept. This article analyses New Labour’s ideological perspective in this context, outlines the main developments and difficulties, and evaluates the record over the seven years in office.

New Labour’s policy on lifelong learning can be divorced neither from its general education policy nor from its broader human capital approach to education, within an ideology of ‘marketised welfarism’. The article discusses these characteristics and notes both the continuities and differences between New Labour and traditional Labourism.     

Child-initiated learning,the outdoor environment and the ‘underachieving’ child

The Foundation Phase for Wales advocates an experiential, play-based approach to learning for children aged three to seven years that includes child-initiated activity within the outdoor environment. In previous research, Foundation Phase practitioners maintained that children perceived to be ‘underachieving’ within the classroom came into their own when engaged in child-initiated learning outdoors. This study, which involved eight Foundation Phase teachers, aimed to explore these perceived differences as well as teachers’ perceptions of ‘underachievement’. It is concluded that the more natural outdoor spaces in which child-initiated activity took place appeared to amplify the effects of child-initiated learning and diminish the perception of underachievement; that engagement in this project enabled some teachers to see ‘underachievement’ as being distributed across people, place and activity; and that through constructing the outdoor ‘space’ as a ‘place’ embedded with positive meanings, children may have had the opportunity to reconstruct themselves as strong, competent children rather than as ‘underachieving’ pupils.     

Classroom learning and achievement: how the complexity of classroom interaction impacts students’ learning

Background: Complexity models have provided a suitable framework in various domains to assess students’ educational achievement. Complexity is often used as the analytical focus when regarding learning outcomes, i.e. when analyzing written tests or problem-centered interviews. Numerous studies reveal negative correlations between the complexity of a task and the probability of a student solving it.

Purpose: Thus far, few detailed investigations explore the importance of complexity in actual classroom lessons. Moreover, the few efforts made so far revealed inconsistencies. Hence, the present study sheds light on the influence the complexity of students’ and teachers’ class contributions have on students’ learning outcomes.

Sample: Videos of 10 German 8th grade physics courses covering three consecutive lessons on two topics each (electricity, mechanics) have been analyzed. The sample includes 10 teachers and 290 students.

Design and methods: Students’ and teachers’ verbal contributions were coded manual-based according to the level of complexity. Additionally, pre-post testing of knowledge in electricity and mechanics was applied to assess the students’ learning gain. ANOVA analysis was used to characterize the influence of the complexity on the learning gain.

Results: Results indicate that the mean level of complexity in classroom contributions explains a large portion of variance in post-test results on class level. Despite this overarching trend, taking classroom activities into account as well reveals even more fine-grained patterns, leading to more specific relations between the complexity in the classroom and students’ achievement.

Conclusions: In conclusion, we argue for more reflected teaching approaches intended to gradually increase class complexity to foster students’ level of competency.     

How the learning context affects adolescents’ goal orientation,effort, and learning strategies

Abstract

Research has shown that there are positive associations between students' goals and learning behavior. However, less is known about these associations for adolescent students in competency-based learning compared to adolescent students in teacher-directed learning. The current study was conceptualized with the aim of getting more in-depth information about competency-based learning with a competency matrix based on trait-based scales for students' self-assessment vs. teacher-directed learning. The sample consists of 846 (M_age?=?14.06; SD?=?0.94) middle adolescent students (8^th-9^th grades) from secondary schools in Germany. By using latent mean comparison and multigroup structural equation modelling in Mplus, it could be shown that the association between mastery goals and learning behavior is stronger in competency-based learning and performance-approach goals have a positive effect to effort investment. Furthermore, students of competency-based learning report higher values in mastery goals, effort investment and elaboration.     

Exploring the relationship between students’ learning styles and learning outcome in engineering laboratory education

Abstract

It is a commonly accepted notion that people take different approaches in learning. Although attention has been given to learning styles as one of the determinants of learning performance, there is are limitations to the inferential approach to understanding the impact of learning styles on learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of learning preference on student learning outcome in engineering labs. The findings of this paper contribute to the existing literature in two ways. This study describes the typology of participants’ learning styles, confirming some results from similar research. Additionally, it examines the impact of learning styles, using the Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinesthetic (VARK) inventory as indicators of students’ learning outcomes, and how the findings confirm or contradict prior research results in important ways. Further, this study includes demographic information to investigate the influence on learning outcome. Discussions of the results from both analyses will contribute to an academic understanding of the critical success factors of the learning process and their practical application in laboratory learning.     

Individual assignments and academic dishonesty — Exploring the learning Conundrum

A survey of university business professors¹ focused on their use of individual assignments in courses and their views on cheating and its impact on student learning. Based on responses from 456 professors (37% response rate) from Ontario, Canada. it was concluded that most facult² believe that individual assignments are effective learning tools and that cheating on these assignments is a serious offence. They believe that cheating occurs widely, but continue to use these assessments, with some alterations, to ensure that students obtain learning benefits. The survey findings varied across disciplines and tenure status. A framework is proposed to explain the faculty perspective and the outcomes that professors experience. The adjustments they make to individual assignments are influenced by multiple factors that are internal (university policies and regulations) and external (internet usage) to the university. The discussion centres on the three stakeholders — faculty, students and administration — the need for culture change, and the role of honor codes in controlling cheating and supporting a learning environment.     

Adult learning and action learning — A real workplace learning approach

Abstract

The Rural Extension Centre (REC) has developed an approach to accredited training that is based on adult learning principles and is driven by an action learning approach. One of the central features of this approach is the use of real workplace based learning projects to allow participants to immediately apply the theory of the subject being studied in a practical and useful way.

The emphasis is on learning in these projects, however, they are directly based in the workplace with immediate benefits for the individual, their organisation and their clients.

Action learning is applied in the courses offered by the REC at three levels. The levels are micro-, macro- and mega- that is; on a daily basis in the residential sessions, on a weekly basis as developing learning projects and on a subject basis over the three to four months that the subject takes. The learning project is a key vehicle for learning between the residential sessions.

During residential sessions time is taken to ensure that the theory is delivered in a practical and useful way, to the extent that in some subjects there is real case study activity which allows the application of theory as the week goes on.     

Reflective and integrative learning and the role of instructors and institutions—evidence from Malaysia

Higher Education - The shift in contemporary workplaces has caused higher education institutions to place importance on developing non-academic attributes along with academic success to help...     

How an orientation to learning influences the expansive–restrictive nature of teacher learning and change

This study examined teachers’ learning situated in a school to reveal factors that support and hinder learning in the workplace. The investigation analyzed teachers’ orientation to learning, examining beliefs, practices, and experiences about teachers’ learning in relation to change in the workplace. A hypothesis is that teacher learning and change is complex and unable to be fully understood outside of practice. Evidence is provided on the factors and forms of learning activities that appear to strengthen an expansive learning environment and those which contribute to a more restrictive learning environment. A distinctive finding was that teachers’ orientation to learning is related to self-reported change. Another promising finding with the potential of better understanding the interrelated combination of how teachers’ beliefs, practices, and workplace factors influence change was related to dissonance for learning. The implications for practice involved determining how to continue to support and strengthen an expansive workplace learning environment.     

Family learning and the socio-spatial practice of ‘supportive’ power

Family learning has been an important mode of education deployed by governments in the United Kingdom over the past 20 years, and is positioned at the nexus of various social policy areas whose focus stretch beyond education. Drawing on qualitative research exploring mothers’ participation in seven different family learning programmes across West London, this paper looks at how this type of education is mobilised; that is, how mothers are ‘encouraged’ to participate and benefit from this type of programme. Framed by a neo-liberal policy climate and Foucauldian writings on governmentality and surveillance, we explore how participating mothers are carefully ‘targeted’ for this type of learning through their children and through school/ nursery spaces, and how programmes themselves then operate as a supportive social space aimed at facilitating social networks, friendship and personal development linked to positions of gender, ethnicity, class and migrant status. It is the socio-spatial workings of ‘supportive’ power and power relations that enable family learning to be mobilised that ensures its popularity as a social policy initiative.