老人社會大學高齡學習者學習型態及其相關因素之研究

[[abstract]]A Study on Learning Styles and Relative Factors Thereof of Old Adult Learners in Senior Citizen Social College Abstract This study takes old adult learners in senior citizen social colleges as target samples to conduct research on learning styles and theirs relative factors. The purpose of this research is to explore tendency in learning styles of old adult learners, and further to explore the relation between learning styles and relative factors as a reference for senior citizen social college course design and instructional activities. To achieve the afore-mentioned goals, firstly the learning characteristics of older adult learners is understood through literature review, exploring theories and relative researches on adult learning styles, and exploring the practice circumstances, and all these serve as references for this research design. Secondly, the adequate tool of this research, “learning style questionnaire for old adult learners,” is developed with research tools from domestic and foreign scholars taken as reference. And the empirical study on course activities of old adult learner in different campuses is then conducted. A total of 252 valid questionnaires are collected for results study, and the discussion is proceeded after performing analysis of sampling distribution, percentage, dependent single-factor anova analysis, independent sample t-test, independent single-factor anova analysis, and Pearson product-moment correlation in statistic software; the following conclusions are presented: I. There are more female participants than males in senior citizen college old adult learners, with the age group centered around 60 to 64; they have mostly been through middle and higher education and were public servants and teachers. II. Old adult learners in senior citizen college prefer “participant learning” and “collaborative learning” most, followed by “independent learning,” and dislike “competitive learning,” “dependent learning,” and “avoidant learning;” particularly “avoidant learning” is disinclined. III. The learning styles for old adult learners in senior citizen college vary significantly with learners’ gender, age, occupation before retirement, and education background. IV. The learning styles of old adult learners in senior citizen college are correlated to learners’ locus of control. According to the above-mentioned results, this research proposes several referential suggestions: I. Suggested Course Designs 1. Acquiring basic information of old adult learners to understand learning needs for course design reference. 2. Designing complete and well-arranged course content as a whole to maintain the learning motives and interests of old adult learners. 3. Encouraging participation of old adult learners in course designing, playing the roles of being both a learner and a course designer. II. Suggested Instructional Activities 1. Understanding the learning characteristics of ole adult learners; encouraging them to actively participate learning activities. 2. Creating a supportive / cooperative / non-comparative learning circumstances, and encouraging old adult learners to explore potentials for learning independently. 3. Instructors should examine variations in learning styles for each old adult learner to arrange suitable teaching strategies and examine teaching methods in time. 4. Assisting old adult learners to understand learning style of oneself to improve learning efficacy. III. Suggestions of Senior Citizen Colleges 1. Applying multiple promotion channels and marketing strategies to increase participation of the elder and to expand to different elder groups. 2. Prescribing hiring criteria for senior-education teachers, and enhance their perceptions of teaching competency.