Adult education as experienced by the learners

This article discusses how central words in education were transformed into a technocratic and economic language during the 1980s, and how the concepts of lifelong learning and knowledge are laden with other content. This means that they lose their humanistic and democratic content, and become wares to buy and sell at the market. The main answer to this international development is some kind of conservative humanism. This paper attempts to redefine concepts of lifelong learning and knowledge with a humanistic and democratic sense, of a new kind in a new situation. The opportunity is to widen our understanding of what we mean by knowledge, education and learning. For this work, the resources brought from history can be used and be transformed to a new form. This has to be done in multiple ways from different perspectives, depending on what aims we have and what values we believe in.     

Exploring the dominant learning styles of adult learners in higher education

International Review of Education - In today’s complex and knowledge-driven world, the quest to pursue and acquire information and skills to enable one to be useful in society is not limited...     

Distance education plans: Course planning for online adult learners

TechTrends - There can be an untethered excitement connected with ever-expanding technologies and the vastness of educational opportunities that online learning generates. Yet, these new and...     

Distance education plans: Course planning for online adult learners

Summary There can be an untethered excitement connected with ever-expanding technologies and the vastness of educational opportunities that online learning generates. Yet, these new and exciting opportunities do not diminish the real-life concerns and issues that online professors face. Lack of planning often sets the stage for disastrous educational experiences. Problems with technology, the lack of professor guidance and the inability to build community, facilitate communication or humanize learning can sabotage educational efforts. Minimal or nonexistent evaluation can lead to a recycling of futile educational efforts in future online courses. Yet, you can circumvent these issues with proper planning-with the use of distance education plans     

Challenging change: transformative education for economically disadvantaged adult learners

This paper focuses on the results of a mixed-methods study of 13 participants in a Radical Humanities programme designed as a transformative learning space for low-income adults who have experienced barriers to learning. Using demographic questionnaires, semi-structured narrative interviews and course evaluations this study examined participants’ experiences in the programme and the impact on their learning, sense of agency and future ambitions. As the first phase of a longitudinal project on the well-being and agency of under-represented and marginalized learners, this preliminary study revealed five predominant themes emerging from learners’ experiences: (1) self-reflective meaning-making processes; (2) interrelated personal and communal growth; (3) appreciation of diversity; (4) emerging sense of self-as-learner; (5) renewed aspirations. This paper argues that transformative learning for low-income adults is a complex and challenging process that entails participants’ ongoing negotiations of self, learning, and purpose. Understanding and evaluating the effectiveness of transformative learning within a social-emancipatory humanities programme requires attention to the programme’s social context and choices faced by participants. Programme participation fosters increased well-being, deeper relationships and hope for the future. However, these tangible benefits are tempered by constraints of individual and structural systems that, for some students, impose limitations on their ability to enact change in themselves and in their lives.     

远程开放教育成人学习心理分析——对南京电大开放教育成人学生学习心理的调查

本文研究根据成人学习理论,采用问卷调查和个案访谈相结合的方式,从认知、情绪与情感、学习行为倾向性三个层面对南京电大开放教育成人学生的学习心理进行调查与描述,指出当前开放教育成人学习心理具有学习动机多样性、学习活动自发性、学习支持网络完整性、学习行为自主性和适度的学习自信心等特点。     

Subgroups of adult basic education learners with different profiles of reading skills

The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of adult basic education (ABE) learners with different profiles of skills in the core reading components of decoding, word recognition, spelling, fluency, and comprehension. The analysis uses factor scores of those 5 reading components from on a prior investigation of the reliability and construct validity of measures of reading component skills (MacArthur, Konold, Glutting, & Alamprese, 2010). In that investigation, confirmatory factor analysis found that a model with those 5 factors fit the data best and fit equally well for native and non-native English speakers. The study included 486 students, 334 born or educated in the United States (native) and 152 not born nor educated in the US (non-native) but who spoke English well enough to participate in English reading classes. The cluster analysis found an 8-cluster solution with good internal cohesion, external isolation, and replicability across subsamples. Of the 8 subgroups, 4 had relatively flat profiles (range of mean scores across factors <0.5 SD), 2 had higher comprehension than decoding, and 2 had higher decoding than comprehension. Profiles were consistent with expectations regarding demographic factors. Non-native speakers were overrepresented in subgroups with relatively higher decoding and underrepresented in subgroups with relatively higher comprehension. Adults with self-reported learning disabilities were overrepresented in the lowest performing subgroup. Older adults and men were overrepresented in subgroups with lower performance. The study adds to the limited research on the reading skills of ABE learners and, from the perspective of practice, supports the importance of assessing component skills to plan instruction.     

An analysis of theoretical perspectives that define adult learners for effective and inclusive adult education policies

International Review of Education - Adult learning remains an important component of educational systems in countries all over the world, particularly because it seeks to explain how adults obtain...     

Achievement goals and approaches to studying: evidence from adult learners in distance education

Achievement goals predict learning in children and young adults, but it is unclear whether they apply to older adults and how they are related to approaches to studying. An online survey examined achievement goals, approaches to studying and academic attainment in distance learners. The Achievement Goals Questionnaire-Revised and the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory were given to 2000 students, yielding 1211 responses. The findings confirmed the 2?×?2 model of mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals in adult distance learners. Mastery goals were positively associated with deep and strategic approaches to studying but negatively associated with a surface approach. Performance goals showed only weak associations with approaches to studying. Performance-approach goals were positively related to attainment, performance-avoidance goals were negatively related to attainment, but mastery goals were unrelated to attainment. The relationship between achievement goals and attainment was partly but not wholly mediated by approaches to studying.     

Students' perceptions of women and men as learners in higher education

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in women and men's classroom behavior from the perspective of both traditional college-age and adult students in higher education. A sample of 358 students in four institutions responded to a questionnaire with 39 classroom behaviors. Factor analysis of the survey responses yielded seven dimensions of perceived classroom behavior. Perceptions of male and female behavior differed significantly on six of the seven factors. Perceived differences did not conform entirely to the findings of other research. Gender and age of respondent were related to perceptions of behavior.     

Towards understanding adult distance learners

We are all aware that adults who return to study at a distance may approach their studies in very different ways. The reasons for such differences, and their relation to students' personal contexts, are not well understood. In this paper, Mavis Kelly of the School of External Studies and Continuing Education, University of Queensland, and Margaret Shapcott of the Distance Education Unit, Deakin University, present some of their findings from research into this area. Analysing interviews with external students of the University of Queensland, at two distinct levels, has enabled them to identify both attitudes to study common to all those interviewed and two basic kinds of study orientation. These differences are closely related to the students' personal background and experiences.     

开放教育模式下成人外语学习者的自主学习策略研究

开放教育模式下的成人外语学习是基于自主学习为主、多种媒体辅助、面授教师点拨的一种全新的学习模式。因此文章指出,成人学习者的外语自主学习策略的形成必须从增强学生的自主学习意识出发,逐步养成学习者的自主学习习惯,利用教师的面授、合作学习小组和多种媒体资源,创设宽松、民主、平等、和谐的学习环境,激励、启发、引导学生内在的教育需求,使学习者充分发挥自我教育潜能,成为成功的外语学习者。     

Developing a family-centered, hospital-based perinatal education program

The development of a family-centered, comprehensive perinatal education program for a large, urban hospital system is described. This program was developed in conjunction with the building of a new women's center and, although the authors were fortunate that several opportunities for educational program development were linked to this project, many of the steps taken and the lessons learned can be helpful to anyone desiring to develop a similar program. This article relates perinatal education to the principles of family-centered maternity care, outlines the criteria for a quality educational program, gives rationale for this type of program development, and offers practical suggestions for starting or enhancing a perinatal education program within a hospital system.     

A documentary analysis of the support services offered to adult learners with dyslexia in higher education

ABSTRACT

The National Student Survey (NSS) seeks to measure how ‘satisfied’ students are with their programmes of study and educational experience. Ongoing NSS data demonstrates that global satisfaction scores are increasing; however, when this is separated into disabled and non-disabled students, downward satisfaction trends for disabled students are apparent. Around half of these students will have dyslexia. This ‘snapshot’ documentary analysis evaluates the currently publicly available information outlining the support services that are available for students with dyslexia. The survey focuses upon a sample of higher education institutions (HEIs) in England. Findings indicate that there are notable differences in the types and consistency of support offered across the sample institutions. The most frequently used model is that of additional learning support (ALS), where support is provided outside of the usual class contact time. Mentoring provides benefits for students with dyslexia but fewer than half of the institutions surveyed offered this. Subject specialist mentoring is particularly beneficial but there is little evidence of this taking place. There is a level of support in all the institutions that appears to meet the requirements of the Equality Act (2010) but this does not necessarily indicate that dyslexic students are supported in the most effective way.     

Students as learners through the eyes of their teachers in Rwandan higher education

In this study, we aim to explore and thematically analyze higher education teachers’ notions about the most important problems related to students’ learning, including the teachers’ notions about the approaches to learning adopted by students. The study was carried out in Rwanda with 25 university teachers engaged in group interviews. Inspired by the concepts of metaphors for learning and approaches to learning, five main categories of students’ learning problems were identified: dependence, physical and economic resources, experience of a deep approach to learning, reading culture, and previous preparation for higher education. These problems are interrelated and point to the need to understand study levels in education systems as interdependent.     

Strategy instruction in writing for adult literacy learners

This study investigated the effectiveness of cognitive strategy instruction in writing with adult literacy learners. Three middle-aged African-American adults participating in adult education with the goal of passing the GED received tutoring in a strategy for planning, writing, and revising persuasive essays along with self-regulation strategies. The study used a multiple-baseline design across participants with multiple probes. All the adults made consistent gains from baseline to posttest in the quality and organization of their essays. Mean gains in overall quality from baseline to posttest for the three students were 2.7, 1.9, and 1.7 on a 7-point scale. Percentage of non-overlapping data (PND) was 100% for text structure organization and 89% for quality. The results demonstrate that strategy instruction, which has had positive effects with school-age students, has potential for adult literacy learners as well.     

Course design elements most valued by adult learners in blended online education environments: an American perspective

This research describes course design elements most valued by adult learners in blended learning environments that combine face‐to‐face contact with Web‐based learning. It identifies the online course features and the instructional design goals selected as most important by a sample of 67 adults and compares the group rankings with those of various sub‐groups based on gender, pre‐course technology and self‐direction skills and experiences, and preferred learning strategies as measured by Assessing the Learning Strategies of Adults (ATLAS). The results of the study support the principles of adult learning, indicating that adults value course designs containing options, personalization, self‐direction, variety, and a learning community. Findings also identify some differences in learning emphasis by gender, preferred learning strategies, and previous experience with technology and self‐directed learning. Implications of these findings for higher education in serving adult learners are discussed.

Die von Erwachsenen in gemixten Online Lernumgebungen am meisten geschätzten Kursgestaltungselemente: Eine amerikanische Perspektive

Dieser Forschungsbericht beschreibt die Kursentwicklungselemente, die von in gemixten (Web‐based/Face‐to‐Face‐Kontakt) Veranstaltungen lernenden Erwachsenen am höchsten bewertet wurden. Sie stellt die Merkmale des Online Teils und die Lehrziele fest, wie sie von einer Probe von 67 Erwachsenen für am Wichtigsten eingeschätzt wurden und vergleicht das Ranking dieser Gruppe mit den Ergebnissen verschiedener anderer Gruppen, die auf der Basis von Geschlechtszugehörigkeit, technischem Vorwissen und Selbstbestimmungsfertigkeiten und ‐erfahrungen und bevorzugten Lernstrategien ausgesucht waren, gemessen durch die Assessing the Learning Strategies of Adults (ATLAS) – Methode. Das Ergebnis der Studie stützt die Grundsätze der Erwachsenenbildung, indem gezeigt wird, dass Kursentwicklungselemente, die offene Möglichkeiten bieten, Personalisierung, Selbstbestimmung, Variationsmöglichkeiten zulassen, die dadurch eine Lerngemeinschaft ermöglichen, am höchsten geschätzt werden. Es wurden auch einige geschlechtsspezifische Differenzierungen in der Lernbewertung, den bevorzugten Lernstrategien, sowie von Vorerfahrungen in der Technologie und im selbst bestimmten Lernen gefunden.

Eléments dans la conception des cours que les apprenants adultes apprécient le plus lorsqu’ils travaillent dans des environnements d’étude mixtes, en ligne et hors ligne: une perspective américaine

Ce travail décrit les éléments dans la conception des cours que les apprenants adultes apprécient le plus dans les environnements d’apprentissage mixte qui associent les contacts présenciels et l’apprentissage fondé sur le Web. II identifie les caractéristiques des cours en ligne et les objectifs de conception éducative qu’un échantillon de 67 adultes a choisis comme étant les plus importants. Il procède à une comparaison des classements attribués par le groupe avec ceux de divers sous‐groupes basés sur le genre, les compétences et l’expérience antérieures en matière de technologie et d’autonomie ainsi que sur les préférences en matière de technologie d’apprentissage telles qu’on peut les mesurer au moyen de l’Evaluateur des Stratégies d’Apprentissage des Adultes (ATLAS). Les résultats de cette étude confortent les principes de l’apprentissage chez les adultes qui font valoir que les adultes apprécient les schémas de cours offrant plusieurs options, une personnalisation, un champ d’autonomie, de la variété ainsi qu’ une communauté d’apprentissage. Les résultats obtenus font aussi apparaître certaines différences dans la façon dont l’apprentissage est orienté en fonction du genre,des préférences en matière de stratégie d’apprentissage, du vécu antérieur en matière de technologie et de l ’autonomie de l’apprenant. Suit une discussion sur les implications de ces découvertes pour l’enseignement supérieur destiné aux étudiants adultes.