Teaching in secondary education is mostly grounded in the practical wisdom of teachers. In general, teachers have limited knowledge of, access to, and interest in insights from scholarly work. Teacher research might be a way to move beyond practical wisdom as the only basis for good teaching. This study aimed to explore whether teacher research…

The concept of learning ecologies emerged in a context of educational change. While the "learning ecologies" construct has offered a broad semantic space for characterizing innovative ways of learning, it is also true that its potential to promote innovative educational interventions may have been hindered by this same broadness. Based…

This chapter looks into the changing contexts and definitions of clienteles of lifelong learners over the last quarter of a century. The author has been involved in three closely related studies on who lifelong learners are, how they access and participate in higher education (HE), and how and what are they learning in HE and summarises some of…

Adult learners value the flexibility and convenience offered to them as online learners, and many learners are required to absent themselves from their online classes during courses in order to accommodate demanding schedules. What factors and tensions contribute to learners' decision-making at these times? This qualitative study considered the…

This book assembles over 50 papers from the 7th Triennial European Research Conference of the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA), which was held from the 4th to the 7th of September 2013 at Humboldt-University in Berlin. The title of the conference was "Changing Configurations of Adult Education in Transitional…

The volume addresses the ways that the field of adult basic education has already been impacted by changes in technology and what needs to happen for learners and teachers to take full advantage of newly developing resources. The analysis is organized around three main themes: Learning, Teaching, and Organizing. Each section reviews relevant…

This book addresses the "warrior" who rises to the challenge of teaching the adult learner. The discussion is designed as a catalyst for dialogue about the adult learner and to uncover the complexities of teaching this rare and riveting species. This book is organized around three interlocking themes: some things we know about the adult learner;…

The AFOSR research plan calls for fundamental studies in human learning and performance that would provide the foundations for general laws of learning applicable to Air Force problems. The report describes gaps in research that should be eliminated by investigations in specific fields. Studies of individual and group differences in aptitude and…

Only eight recent studies clearly fit the parameters of qualitative research on self-directed learning. Four of the studies appear to fit the more traditional notion of what the qualitative paradigm is all about, in that they are exploratory in nature. The remaining four studies focus more on the expansion of earlier ideas that had been generated…

When one learns complex material, the important thing appears to be the ability to understand the material. Once understanding occurs, learning and remembering follow automatically. The conventional psychological literature says little about the processes involved in the learning of complex material--material that takes weeks, months, and even…

The biographical method derives information from life histories to understand how and why adults transform themselves. Three types of transformation are (1) old-new, transforming new information to a familiar, safe environment; (2) home-abroad, achieving emancipation by exploring unfamiliar environments; and (3) inside-outside, elaborating a…

The research investigated relational and analytic cognitive styles among 11 adult learners. Thirteen hypotheses were formulated and an instrument was developed to collect data on both styles. Predictions about learning environment preference were given reasonable support. (Author/EC)

A series of exploratory studies and three experiments dealing with conceptual rule learning are reported in this paper. Discussants related the results to subject matter fields and to educational research and development. Four groups of subjects, five to twelve years old, solved six rule learning problems. It was concluded that younger children…

The exploratory study focused on the existence, variability, and effectiveness of adult learning styles among participants receiving computer-based instruction in the metric system. A pretest was administered to 75 adults not currently involved in formal educational programs, and 40 participants were selected whose pretest indicated no knowledge…

After opening with a 13-page review of the literature, the document's main emphasis is on the three experiments included in this report. The specific rationale, procedures, and results of the three studies comprise the major portion of the document. The general purpose of Experiment 1 was to ascertain the effects of prior relevant subject matter…