Self-directed learning (SDL) has become increasingly important in today's fast-paced and ever-changing society. This paper explores SDL's historical evolution, theoretical foundations, and practical applications, particularly in online environments. SDL is defined as a personal attribute and a process that empowers learners to take the initiative…

The Adult Participation in Learning Survey provides unique insights into adult learning across the UK. It adopts a deliberately broad definition of learning, reflecting the fact that learning is about much more than formal courses and qualifications. The 2024 survey shows just over one half (52%) of adults have taken part in learning in the last…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration in andragogical education offers significant enhancements to the learning experience for adult learners. By utilizing AI-powered platforms, instructors can provide personalized learning paths that adapt to the unique needs, interests, and goals of each individual. These systems can analyze performance data…

History tells the Civil Rights struggle through the lens of Selma, Alabama. Bloody Sunday, an event that galvanized a generation, provided the background for an interdisciplinary team of scholars, educators, local historians, and community members to focus on place-based learning experiences and explore civil rights education. The Selma event is…

In the current adult education environment, self-directed learning (SDL) is becoming a necessary learning characteristic and an academic process of learning to allow adult learners to complete programs and further enhance lifelong learning. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between self-efficacy and SDL in…

This article introduces Kominkan and its practice on Japanese social education and how it facilitates Japanese adult education and lifelong learning in local communities. Historically, social education was understood as all education that promotes social development and societal progress. Kominkan, as Japanese social education institutions for…

This chapter focuses on the process of learning in health professions education (HPE) in terms of key issues that shape HPE learning and essential strategies for promoting and facilitating learning among professionals.

This article reports on the research findings from a qualitative study of adult learners in Scotland taking part in a u.lab MOOC. As a new phenomenon in adult learning, u.lab has been extremely popular yet, at present, there exists little empirical data about either the process or outcomes of the learning experience. This study aims to provide a…

This short paper will describe the details of a SSHRC/IDG-funded research program currently underway (2015-2016) that will investigate how older adults (65+) use Web 2.0 tools and Internet-based resources to establish and expand their virtual personal learning networks (PLNs) for the purposes of enriching their expertise and knowledge within the…

Over the past four decades lifelong learning has been an important concept in educational policy, so much so that it has become one of the essential guiding principles in almost all of the educational reforms. Accompanying its popularity amongst policy makers, however, has been a perennial debate among academics concerning the viability of the…

This 2015 updated capsule on a History and Philosophy of Andragogy includes nine new items and is mainly limited [with a few exceptions] to a chronological history and the accompanying philosophy of andragogy, in line with when the English language documents were published and personal descriptions of events were recorded. Some of these documents,…

The learning needs for adults that result from the constant increase in technology are rooted in the adult learning concepts of (a) andragogy, (b) self-directed learning, (c) learning-how-to-learn, (d) real-life learning, and (e) learning strategies. This study described the learning strategies that adults use in learning to engage in an online…

This paper, employing a qualitative approach, is based on an interview of an indigenous community leader's life-long learning encounter with a view to garner information that would shed more light to both practice and theory of adult learning. A variety of themes were drawn from the information derived and these were related to theories of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of learning style characteristics to self-directed learning propensity among adult learners. The learning style characteristics investigated were learning style balance as measured by a scoring method developed by Mainemelis, Boyatzis, and Kolb (2002) and learning style dimensions as…

The integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in course offerings in institutions of higher learning (IHLs) is the catalyst towards empowering learners to become autonomous lifelong learners. In an effort to produce quality and independent learners, Learning Management Systems (LMS) are seen as a means to assist educators in…