Women are returning to study as mature age students in increasing numbers. Typically, these women have been away from study for a number of years and, in order to gain entrance into a university course most women are required to undertake a bridging program. Bridging programs can provide women with an alternative pathway into university and are designed to develop the academic and study skills required to successfully undertake undergraduate studies. The Women into Science and Technology (WIST) bridging program, offered by Central Queensland University, is a self-paced bridging program which provides a low cost, study at home option specifically designed to accommodate women’s needs. This research focuses on the perceived needs of women who are enrolled in the WIST program. To this end a survey instrument has been developed to identify the needs and challenges of women undertaking the WIST program. This instrument was used to explore the needs and challenges of women enrolled in the WIST program. The survey results revealed that women have a range of needs which include support from the university, development of study and academic skills, personal qualities such as motivation and determination as well as support from their family and personal networks. The results indicate that the university needs to provide a range of support mechanisms and processes. These outcomes were used to develop the Get SET for Study framework that can be used for the planning and design of bridging courses similar to WIST for women who are considering enrolling in university.

The present study attempted to measure library literacy levels of open or flexible learners at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) during the 1995 academic year, and to investigate to what extent the information skills component of TAFE open learning modules influence adult learners' library literacy levels. To address these issues, a quasi-experimental research methodology was used to measure library literacy levels at the beginning and, again, on or near course completion to ascertain whether any change had occurred, through the administration of a questionnaire. A number of participants were then interviewed to further validate the responses fiom the questionnaires. The study attempted to show that though courses claim to address key competencies in a vocational education and training environment, one component of the key competencies, the ability to collect, analyse and organise information, was not being met. That one component was the ability to locate (or collect) information. No strong correlations resulted fiom the library literacy levels measured and the degree to which the key competency was addressed within course modules. No statistical measures were possible due to the small sample population that eventuated, though it was almost half the original targeted population. No real gain was achieved in library literacy levels between the pretest and posttest stages of the research for either the Experimental or Control groups. Though a highly suitable research methodology, the quasi-experimental research design did have some limitations in this piece of research. The CIT flexible learning environment at the time of the study contributed to the limitations of the study. However, a number of recommendations were made on the basis of the research results, advocating some strategies that might be implemented to improve the library literacy levels of learners undertaking open or flexible delivery courses within CIT, and suggestions to change the research environment to avoid many of the problems experienced. The CIT pilot study was the first known formally documented study of library literacy levels in an Australian TAFE environment of its kind. The study reflects the literature published at the time of the study. At that time, the research in this field was minimal. Many publications and research have emerged since 1995 when this study was conducted, indicating this is an area of great interest.

<p>The impact of global migration on local contexts has spawned new issues and a range of social responses. These include the emergence of &lsquo / xenophobia&rsquo / in the terrain of discrimination and&nbsp / the subsequent development of popular educational responses to this. As part of popular educational responses, adult education programmes have assumed an important role in changing&nbsp / people&rsquo / s attitudes. This long research paper presents a critical analysis of how a human rights and counter-xenophobia peer educators&rsquo / programme enables young adults to develop a critical consciousness about human rights and &lsquo / xenophobia&rsquo / . The research focused on learning materials, course content, training methodology and processes of a three-day human rights and counter- xenophobia workshop held by Umoja wa Afrika, a local non-governmental organization, in March/April 2007 at Goedgedacht, just outside Cape Town. The research was based on qualitative&nbsp / methodology which included an exploration of relevant literature, interviews with participants and facilitators, as well as the researcher&rsquo / s critical reflections. The research was located within a&nbsp / critical theory framework in the field of adult&nbsp / learning, and drew from the work of Paulo Freire (1970) and Stephen Brookfield(2005).&nbsp / The key finding of the study is that the experience of the&nbsp / workshop enabled participants to develop a critical awareness - but not necessarily a critical understanding of human rights and &lsquo / xenophobia&rsquo / . The participants identified specific factors that&nbsp / contributed to such awareness. These included the diverse composition of participants, the &lsquo / accompanying&rsquo / facilitation style, and the interactive training methodology. This study makes a&nbsp / contribution to understanding human rights peer education in the South African context and the extent to which such provision could enable participants to develop a critical understanding of&nbsp / human rights and xenophobia. This study is an attempt to make an original contribution in this area. As such it adds to literature in applied critical methodology.&nbsp / </p>

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between statistics self-efficacy, statistics anxiety, and performance in introductory graduate statistics courses. The study design compared two statistics self-efficacy measures developed by Finney and Schraw (2003), a statistics anxiety measure developed by Cruise and Wilkins (1980), and a course performance measure. To view self-efficacy from two perspectives, the Current Statistics Self-Efficacy (CSSE) assessed student confidence in their ability to complete specific statistics tasks in the present, whereas Self-Efficacy to Learn Statistics (SELS) assessed student confidence in their ability to learn statistics in the future. The performance measure was the combined average of the midterm and final exam scores only, excluding grades from other course activities. The instruments were distributed to four sections of an introductory graduate statistics course (N=88) in a College of Education at a large metropolitan university during the first week of the semester during Fall 2009 and Spring 2010. Both of the statistics self-efficacy measures revealed a low to moderate inverse relationship with statistics anxiety and a low to moderate direct relationship with each other. In this study there was no correlation between statistics anxiety (CSCS), statistics self-efficacy (CSSE and SELS), and course performance. There was high internal reliability for each instrument's items making the instruments suitable for use with graduate students. However, none of the instruments' results were significant in relation to course performance with graduate students in this sample. Unlike prior research involving undergraduate-level statistic students that has reported a relationship between the CSSE and SELS, the present study, involving graduate students, did not find any significant correlation with performance. Additional research is suggested to investigate the reasons for the differences between the studies.

This dissertation reports on the narrated experiences of nine adult ESL learners enrolled in an Intensive English Program (IEP) as they negotiated a sense of belonging to new linguistic communities of practice outside of their home countries. In this qualitative multiple-case study, I analyzed first-person accounts of the language socialization process by which the learners’ participation in new social communities resulted in shifts in their social positionings and changes in their self-concept. In my analysis, I drew upon theoretical frameworks that view learning as a situated social practice in which individuals form new identities as a result of their (non)participation in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). In order to investigate the research problem, I conducted ethnographic forms of data collection over a six-month period. I became a participant observer in an advanced level Listening and Speaking course during one semester and conducted regular formal classroom observations. In addition to observations, I conducted individual in-depth interviews with the learners, and they participated in a photo-narrative assignment in which they documented their experiences through photography. This camera project culminated in a formal, narrative presentation to the class, which was recorded and used for analysis. The five women and four men who became the focal participants of the study were diverse in age, academic and professional ambitions, and cultural and linguistic background. The findings of the study presented in this dissertation represent my interpretive analysis of the participants’ narratives of departing their home countries and negotiating a meaningful sense of self vis-à-vis the host community as well as the various transmigrant communities that were important to them. The findings show that, through the process of L2 learning and transmigration, the participants constructed migrant identities (Block, 2007), and these identities could be both expansive and restrictive. Additionally, the findings show the ways in which these language learners were agentic in accessing L2 communities and forging attachments within them, and how these moves were designed as “answers” to how they were discursively positioned within the worlds that were important to them. / text

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the beliefs of 5 experienced instructors about the ways adults learn in online professional development (OPD) courses, beliefs about creating online learning environments, and beliefs about instructional strategies for facilitating adult learning. The following questions guided this study: 1. What are the instructor’s beliefs about the ways that adults learn in online professional development courses? 2. What are the instructor’s beliefs about creating an online learning environment for adult learners? 3. What are the instructor’s beliefs about the use of instructional strategies to facilitate online learning with adults? The setting for the study was the professional development program of a large metropolitan school district in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through interviews, discussion board postings, and instructor journals and analyzed using a constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The following themes emerged from the data: • Adult learning in OPD courses is an active process of making connections and applying knowledge and skills. • Learning for adults in OPD courses must be useful, meaningful, relevant, practical, adaptable, and applicable to the work setting. • Learning for adults in an OPD course requires more effort and commitment than learning in face-to-face professional development settings. • Adult learners in OPD courses need a comfort zone where they can feel “safe” communicating and interacting with learners and the instructor. • Adult learners need varying amounts of encouragement, support, guidance, and nurturing within a positive online learning environment(OLE)that supports and sustains them. • Instructors believe that collaboration is an effective strategy for facilitating learning with adults in OPD courses, yet existing barriers limit collaboration. • The OPD instructor is a flexible facilitator of learning who uses different types of feedback to confirm, correct, and inform learning with adults.

<p>The impact of global migration on local contexts has spawned new issues and a range of social responses. These include the emergence of &lsquo / xenophobia&rsquo / in the terrain of discrimination and&nbsp / the subsequent development of popular educational responses to this. As part of popular educational responses, adult education programmes have assumed an important role in changing&nbsp / people&rsquo / s attitudes. This long research paper presents a critical analysis of how a human rights and counter-xenophobia peer educators&rsquo / programme enables young adults to develop a critical consciousness about human rights and &lsquo / xenophobia&rsquo / . The research focused on learning materials, course content, training methodology and processes of a three-day human rights and counter- xenophobia workshop held by Umoja wa Afrika, a local non-governmental organization, in March/April 2007 at Goedgedacht, just outside Cape Town. The research was based on qualitative&nbsp / methodology which included an exploration of relevant literature, interviews with participants and facilitators, as well as the researcher&rsquo / s critical reflections. The research was located within a&nbsp / critical theory framework in the field of adult&nbsp / learning, and drew from the work of Paulo Freire (1970) and Stephen Brookfield(2005).&nbsp / The key finding of the study is that the experience of the&nbsp / workshop enabled participants to develop a critical awareness - but not necessarily a critical understanding of human rights and &lsquo / xenophobia&rsquo / . The participants identified specific factors that&nbsp / contributed to such awareness. These included the diverse composition of participants, the &lsquo / accompanying&rsquo / facilitation style, and the interactive training methodology. This study makes a&nbsp / contribution to understanding human rights peer education in the South African context and the extent to which such provision could enable participants to develop a critical understanding of&nbsp / human rights and xenophobia. This study is an attempt to make an original contribution in this area. As such it adds to literature in applied critical methodology.&nbsp / </p>

abstract: ABSTRACT This study focuses on second language acquisition process amongst East Asian adult learners at an English and Culture Acquisition Program (ECAP) classroom. To understand their English learning experience, this study employs classroom observation, participant interview and document collection as research methods. The findings of this work suggest that ECAP does intend to help learners acquire English language proficiency in ways that were responsive to both the sociocultural backgrounds and individual needs of participants. ECAP also respects and promotes the learners' autonomy in the learning process. However, the program administrators and teachers still need to deepen their understanding of East Asian learners' sociocultural heritage and individual needs and improve facilitation accordingly. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

The purposes of this study were to identify the problems and issues encountered in the development of an educational information and counseling brokering service for adults and to determine their relative significance to the success of an educational brokering service. To accomplish this, the relevant developmental issues were identified by a search of the literature. These were sent to a consultant of the National Center for Educational Brokering who selected forty issues and problems as salient. These statements were formulated into a questionnaire to determine their significance in each stage of development. The initial questionnaire was submitted to four additional consultants for recommendations. The questionnaires were then mailed to the directors of 135 educational brokering centers listed in the Directory of the National Center for Educational Brokering. Based on the findings of the study, eleven issues were considered very significant by the total population of respondents. The three most significant issues were: flexibility and responsiveness in service, maintaining clarity of purpose while attempting to meet diverse needs, and insuring continuing financial viability.

This study examined the extramural activities, that is, what a language learner does with the target language outside of class time, in Japanese of adult beginner level foreign language learners of Japanese studying at Stockholm University, Sweden, and how these activities relate to Japanese language proficiency. The study looked at both extramural activities and foreign language proficiency from a holistic and quantitative perspective. The participants' extramural activities were measured through self-reported data in a questionnaire, and several measures; a cloze test, earlier grades, and self-evaluations; were triangulated and used to provide an adequate measure of general Japanese language proficiency.    The results indicate that extramural activities which provide a foreign language learner with enough time for thorough processing of input and support through the usage of several cooperating modalities seem to have a positive effect on general foreign language acquisition.