Adult learning remains an important component of educational systems in countries all over the world, particularly because it seeks to explain how adults obtain education through formal, non-formal and informal modes. While many education providers and researchers focus on increasing resource support and the development of the knowledge and skills…

This report is the third in a series published by the IDEAL (Impact of Distance Education on Adult Learning) project. The IDEAL project ran from October 2013 to September 2015 with financial support from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. The project aims to: (1) offer insights on the needs of adult learners to both policymakers and distance…

This report is the second in a series published by the IDEAL (Impact of Distance Education on Adult Learning) project. The IDEAL project ran from October 2013 to September 2015 with financial support from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. The project aims to: (1) offer insights on the needs of adult learners to both policymakers and distance…

Universities across the country are steadily increasing their use of online courses. Society's demand for lifelong learning will encourage the advancement of distance learning. Research tells us that today the average person changes careers every ten years. In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that about 10% of workers change jobs…

As we move towards distributed, self-organised learning networks for lifelong learning to which multiple providers contribute content, there is a need to develop new techniques to determine where learners can be positioned in these networks. Positioning requires us to map characteristics of the learner onto characteristics of learning materials…

This article describes and analyses the background and goals of students at the Finnish open university in the beginning of the twenty-first century. The material consists of statistics based on the student records of the Finnish open university in 2000 (n = 9080) and of the stories, educational autobiographies written by the adult learners (n =…

This book is the second edition of a work drawn from a series of lectures given by a distinguished scholar and teacher in the field of adult learning at the University of Wisconsin in 1960. The subject of the lectures was adult continuing education--who continues to learn and why. Research was conducted through a series of 2-hour interviews with…

The expansion of the higher education system and widening access to undergraduate study has led to growing diversity within the graduate labour supply, including increasing numbers who studied for their degrees as mature students. Analysis of graduates entering the labour market prior to the major expansion in the early 1990s indicated that those…

A mature woman recounts her experiences at a community college. (DC)

A probability sample survey of 1,541 residents of Ontario, Canada investigated: (1) the scope of involvement of adults in deliberate part-time learning activities, and (2) the possible role that educational communications media could play in extending educational opportunities to adults. Involvement in education varied according to age,…

This retrospective picture of college students over the past 30 years reflects what has been written about students in "Change" magazine between 1969 and 1999. Using the analogy of a museum gallery, the student portraits are grouped into five eras; each of which dominated the literature for approximately 10 years. The Gallery of Student Protest,…

Although there are some estimates of the incidence of late learning and the economic rewards achieved by those in possession of formally recognised qualifications, little is known about the personal or family characteristics associated with those engaged in late learning, the associated costs and benefits, or even whether the type of qualification…

The article presents a comparative analysis of educational policy and provision in Sweden and Australia, with particular emphasis on the relative investment in continuing and further education in both countries. The authors investigate the extent to which further education opportunities provide a "second chance" at learning for adults…

This synthesis of selected manuscripts, submitted to the Bureau of Occupational and Adult Education to aid in developing position statements that reflected the Bureau's view of chief issues surrounding the concept of lifelong learning, presents an overview of adult education in the United States. The first section is a brief listing of the public…

This article defines the cultural nature and scale of change in learning consciousness that has to take place when the organizationally-based adult learner makes the transition from formal prescriptive learning practice to self-owned, self-directed learning. It articulates some of the learning-to-learn process models that introduce, accelerate,…