Designing Information Literacy Instruction for Adult Learners

An issue currently facing many academic librarians involves the challenge of designing information literacy instruction for nontraditional students, particularly adult learners. Increasingly, adults are enrolling in college later in life to complete undergraduate degrees. Because information literacy instructional research and instructional methods commonly focus on traditional students, academic librarians struggle to design information literacy instruction that meets the needs of this more mature population. This article examines information literacy instructional design basics, characteristics of adult learners and adult learning theory, as well as presents examples for designing information literacy instruction for adult students

Learning as spirituality and nurture - Pacific indigenous peoples' perspectives of lifelong learning

This paper discusses characteristics of an adult education practice for peoples in the Pacific. There is no one Pacific way as the Pacific population is diverse consisting of many cultures, languages, social structures and differing colonial experiences. For many Pacific peoples learning is holistic, is driven by cultural motivation, which is often for the benefit of their extended families(the collective)rather than personal gains or self-actualisation. Learning is constantly intervened by spiritual matters, the same being true for most aspects of Pacific peoples’ day-to-day lives. Therefore spirituality is integral to learning at all levels formal and informal

Psychological characteristics of adult learning

У статті розкривається організація роботи університету науково-педагогічних знань для вихователів-методистів дошкільних навчальних закладів м. Києва як однієї із форм навчання дорослих. Подано аналіз особливостей спілкування дошкільників із дорослими та дітьми. Врахування цих особливостей дозволить педагогам і батькам налагодити позитивне спілкування з дітьми в дошкільному закладі та родині.В статье раскрывается организация работы университета научно-педагогических знаний для воспитателей-методистов дошкольных учреждений г. Киева как одной из форм обучения взрослых. Подано анализ особенностей общения дошкольников со взрослыми и детьми. Учитывая эти особенности, педагоги и родители смогут легче наладить общение с детьми.The article reveals the organization of the university scientific and pedagogical knowledge for teachers, kindergarten teacher-methodists in Kiev as a form of adult education. Analysis of the characteristics of communication preschoolers to adults and children are posted. With these characteristics, teachers and parents can easily establish contact with children

Adult learners' satisfaction and its relation to characteristics of the individual and the educational institution

This article explores satisfactory learning experiences of adult learners in Flemish formal adult education. Satisfaction is an important issue in motivational psychology. We used the Comprehensive Lifelong Learning Participation Model of Boeren, Nicaise and Baert and explored whether satisfactory experiences relate to characteristics of the individual and/or characteristics of the educational institution. Results revealed that satisfactory learning experiences relate strongly to perceptions of classroom environment.status: publishe

Adult Development Matters In Adult Education

All to often in adult education settings, the learning strategies and methods that we use are tailored as one size fits all. A key component of effective adult learning that can be easily overlooked is the role of adult development with adult learning. This oversight is possible among adult educators because our knowledge base is grounded in education as compared to human development or developmental psychology. The point being made that the developmental characteristics of the adult learners should influence the teaching-learning strategies that are implemented. In other words, developmental differences between a 22 and 77 year-old should be accounted for in a community-learning setting

Towards a dynamic learning perspective of entrepreneurship

This conceptual paper introduces a dynamic learning perspective of entrepreneurship that builds upon existing 'dominant' theoretical approaches to understanding entrepreneurial activity. As many aspects of entrepreneurial learning remain poorly understood, this paper presents key conclusions from in-depth empirical work and synthesises a broad range of contributory adult, management and individual learning literatures to develop a robust and integrated conceptualisation of entrepreneurial learning. Three interrelated elements of entrepreneurial learning are proposed - dynamic temporal phases, interrelated processes and overarching characteristics. The paper concludes by demonstrating how a 'learning lens' can be applied to create further avenues for research in entrepreneurship from a learning perspectiv

Inequality in workers’ lifelong learning across european countries: Evidence from EU-SILC data-set

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for EU-SILC data to deepen our understanding of the determinants of inequality in workers’ formal life-long learning (LLL) in Europe. In particular we investigate the incidence of personal, job-specific and firm-specific characteristics on the workers’ probability to undertake adult learning. To do so, we first estimate LLL incidence in the whole sample for men and women. Then we estimate separate 21 country-specific equations, for both sexes. This method allows to investigate cross-country gender differences and avoid unobserved heteroscedasticity due to sex, which we clearly find in the data. For the whole sample the results show that, for both men and women, formal LLL incidence is significantly higher among young, better educated, part-time and temporary workers, and lower among those who changed current job in the last year, employed in small firms and having low-skilled occupations. Furthermore, some gender differences for the whole sample emerge. When estimating separate equations for each country and for both sexes, a significant cross-country heterogeneity and a weaker significance of the coefficients come to light. In particular, a couple of relevant results emerge for Scandinavian countries with regard to the complementarity between past level of education and current adult learning. Finland is the only country in the sample in which, for both men and women, less educated workers are more likely to undertake formal LLL, thus making adult learning system able to avoid, for both men and women, existing inequality in human capital, as it results from education levels. Denmark is the only country where, for women, being less educated turns out to be the predictor with the greatest significant magnitude of the effect in the variation of the probability.education, training, lifelong learning, human capital, inequality, Europe

Adult learning processes in non-formal education contexts

La compresión de los procesos de aprendizaje durante la adultez requiere considerar tanto el contexto de aprendizaje como las características personales de los aprendices. En este marco, el estudio que se describe en este artículo explora los procesos de aprendizaje adulto en contextos no formales siguiendo el modelo de Kolb (1984), a la vez que se analiza su variabilidad en función de diferentes características personales de los participantes. Los resultados obtenidos confirmaron la existencia de una importante variabilidad en las formas de aprender de los adultos participantes en la investigación, y mostraron que algunas características personales como las condiciones socio-laborales y la trayectoria personal de riesgo guardaban relación con las diferencias observadas. El papel de estas características personales, así como de otras variables relacionadas con los adultos como aprendices, es discutido, a la vez que se destacan importantes implicaciones metodológicas a tener en cuenta cuando se planifican experiencias educativas no formales con personas adultas.It is necessary to evaluate the learning conte xt and individual characteristics of learners to understand the adult learning process. In this study , adult learning processes at non-formal situations according to Kolb ́s model (1984) are described, considering its variability according to individual characteristics. Variability in adult learning processes was found, with socio -laboral conditions and risk trajectories playing a relevant role. These results are discussed, and methodological implications for planning adult learning experiences are highlighted

Adult education for a change: Advocacy, learning festivals, migration, and the pursuit of equity and social justice

This paper explores the characteristics of learning festivals and Adult Learners��� Weeks and their use as tools of advocacy in seeking policy change on behalf of under-represented groups, and it considers their impact on public policy affecting adult learners. In addition, it reflects on the role of the week in celebrating a culture of adult learning. The paper includes analysis of the relationship between the development of festivals and policy change affecting adult learners through Adult Learners��� Weeks in the United Kingdom after 1992, exploring, in particular, the role of the Week in affecting policy, participation, and inter-communal understanding arising from increased migration. The paper explores the spread of learning festivals and the sequence of Presidency conferences in the European Union in the years leading up to the Lisbon Memorandum in 2000; the role of festivals in the aftermath of war in the Balkans; and the role of the World Social Forum as an antidote to neo-liberal orthodoxies in international policy discussions. It also considers the success and failure of learning weeks as a tool of advocacy and policy change