A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014 / The right to education as entrenched in the Bill of Rights is a universally recognised human right and is similarly guaranteed and protected in section 29 of the Constitution. This has necessitated the need for government to enhance the educational capacity of adults through the adult basic and education training programme. The purpose of this study is to explore and examine the impact of Adult Basic Education and Training on the lives of adult learners. Historically disadvantaged communities, now have structures in place to afford adult learners an opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills to improve their educational standard. This programme affords the adult learner an opportunity to interact with fellow community members and educators and engage on a path of constructive learning. This study consists of a brief literature survey as well as empirical research on the impact of education and training on adult learners. A purposive sampling design was used to identify subjects or respondents for inclusion in the sample. As a result four ABET centres were identified in accordance with the defined population. From each centre, learners were selected in order to produce statistically dependable results. A total of 54 ABET learners formed a sample for the study and this was considered adequate to produce reliable results. The results of the study revealed that the ABET learners’ understanding of socioeconomic status of their families, the threat of HIV and AIDS, general behaviour in public as well as respect for self and others had improved. The majority of participants (89%) seemed to agree that after completing the ABET programme they could do their jobs more effectively. There was also general agreement amongst the learners that their confidence in demonstrating work-related skills had improved. A similar sentiment was also shared with regard to improvement in the level of education, trust in own abilities and understanding of HIV and AIDS related issues in their broadest sense.

This dissertation describes the observations of the interaction of adult learners at remote distance education sites. The researcher audited 11 complete courses at four receive sites during two academic terms. The observations were done in the Com-Net, audio-graphic system provided by Utah State University. The courses were provided for university credit to adults around the state. The research was designed to answer three research questions: 1.What interactions do learners at a distance exhibit in their educational setting? 2.What observable events appear to prompt the beginning and ending of the learners' interactions? 3.What observable outcomes result from the learners' interactions? A field study was conducted, using qualitative methodologies. In addition to answering the three research questions, the researcher observed four types of interaction already described in the literature of the field of distance education and identified a fifth type of interaction based on the field observations. The researcher also expanded on Burnham's definition of parallel learning in distance education. Finally, in this document, the researcher offers a definition of adult learner interaction at remote sites. The definition is provided to spark further discussion and research

This thesis explores the notion of teachers as adult learners, the professional development and professional learning available to them, and a space where these ideas can come together. Research participants offer insight into how they currently learn and use many sources of learning to create better learning opportunities for their students. Building on ideas from Lawler (2003) and Kennedy (2005) and using narrative methodology, particularly poetics and collage as a means of capturing participants’ thinking, my findings support the idea that teachers need a transformative professional development model that acknowledges them as adult learners. No single participant spoke of all of the adult learning or teacher learning principles within a single professional development experience, yet each spoke of times when one or more of those keys to their learning was present throughout their transformative experience. Simply put, teachers use many sources of learning to bring about changes to their teaching practice. All of these work together to bring about the transformation they spoke of in their stories of learning. / Graduate / 0530

This study investigates the levels and types of motivation among KOMVUX students at basic and upper secondary levels of English in the county of Stockholm. 95 adult learners of English completed a questionnaire in three municipalities of the county in November 2014, of which 93 were used in the results. The results showed that the instrumental and integrative motivations of adult learners of English are concomitant. They also demonstrate there is no significant correlation between adult students´ level of English and their degree of socially oriented motivation. Differences among adult learners of English appear when extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are examined. The results demonstrate that attitudinal motivation varies according to age range and the number of languages spoken. The results of the present study have been investigated in the light of the particular status that English has in Sweden today. They conform to previous research studies that underline the importance of further investigation in attitudinal motivation in Second Language Acquisition.

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of self-directed learning readiness among undergraduate students at Saudi Electronic University in Saudi Arabia. This study also investigated whether there were relationships between the level of self-directed learning readiness and selected demographic variables such as gender, college, and age in the sample of undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia. This research utilized a quantitative design. The Self-directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS), which was developed by Guglielmino, was utilized to measure the level of self-directed learning readiness among undergraduate students at Saudi Electronic University on the Riyadh campus. A total of 203 undergraduate students completed the SDLRS questionnaire. Results were that the mean score of SDLRS among undergraduate students at Saudi Electronic University in Riyadh campus included 64 (32.52%) were students with below average 58-201 scores; 71 (34.98%) students with average 202-226 scores; and 68 (33.50%) were students with above average 227-290 scores. age. However, there was a significant difference between the colleges. The results of the Tukey post-hoc test indicated that significant differences existed between the Sciences and Theoretical Studies College students and the Administration and Finance College and Computation and Information College students. The Sciences and Theoretical Studies College scored significantly lower than the other two colleges.

Organizations can incur extensive costs to fund training typically available to employees free of charge. However, some employees do not participate. The body of research reviewed in adult education focused on relevant studies and models of contributing factors for participation in academia, the workplace, and the community. No studies were found that investigated the motivation of adults who participate and do not participate in the Intelligence Community (IC). This study empirically examined the factors that influence adult participation in IC workplace training. The survey instrument was an adapted version of the Education Participation Scale-Alternate (EPS-A) and the Deterrents to Participation Scale-General (DPS-G) with seven open-ended questions to identify factors of adult participation and non-participation in the IC. Respondents (111) were participants and non-participants of leadership development training and consisted of African-American 75 (68%), Caucasian 21 (19%), Multi-Cultural 9 (8%), other 3 (3%), and 81 (75%) women and 27 (25%) men between the age of 21 and 80. Most respondents possessed a bachelor's degree or higher 78 (72%), worked in the IC for more than 10 years 36 (33%), and earned an annual family income of more than $130,000 63 (60%). Statistically significant results showed that lack of course relevance and time constraints were perceived deterrents to participation. Communication improvement was identified as a perceived enabler for non-participants. Additional findings of this study revealed four factors"to meet new people, to achieve an occupational goal, to increase my job competence, and to expand my mind-that influenced participation in leadership development training in the IC. Major themes such as leader or supervisor support, association, encouragement, selection, career advancement, personal growth, and availability of time were highlighted as enablers and deterrents of adult participation in workplace training. These findings enhance the current body of research in adult participation by providing information on participation in the IC that was previously not available in the literature and increase practitioners' knowledge of contributing factors that might affect the development of future leaders / Ph. D.

Adults are constituting an ever increasing, often integral part, of todays’ learners, from elementary level to higher education. Their life situations are different from the traditional learners’ in many ways. The aim of this literature study was to identify, describe and categorise factors related to learning and teaching that supports or impede learning and that may be important for teachers of adults to know. The study resulted in four main themes into which found categories were subordinated. These themes were social learning environment, the supporting and motivating role of the teacher, teaching mode and method and motivation.

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Over the past 2 decades, the number of adult learners seeking an online education has dramatically increased, but student retention and degree completion rates for adult students are lower than those of other student populations. Research has shown that adult learners working full time achieve at higher levels than adult learners who are not working full time and that intrinsic motivation is positively correlated with academic achievement. However, whether the relationship between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement is moderated by level of work commitment has not been previously investigated. For this study, in which the composite persistence model served as the foundation, 137 online adult learners were recruited. A sequential multiple regression was used to investigate whether the relationship between intrinsic motivation, as measured by the Motivation Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), and academic achievement, as measured by self-reported grade point average, was moderated by level of work commitment, as measured by self-reported hours of work per week, while statistically controlling for academic competencies, as measured by 4 subscales of the MSLQ. Intrinsic motivation and level of work commitment did not display a statistically significant correlation with academic achievement, and results showed that level of work commitment did not moderate the relationship between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement. The findings indicated the possibility that education is synergistically related to work commitment. Online programs may use the findings from the study to better support online adult learners and create positive social change by offering internships and mentorships locally that help to connect education to work commitment.

The older generation is growing at a rate surpassed only by the speed at which mobile technology is advancing. Technology has become so ubiquitous in daily life, that most older people have done their best to adopt it. The purpose of this study was to explore the older adult (>50 yrs.) learner's everyday approach to and regard for mobile technology. Paper surveys were distributed by hand to four geographically diverse audiences. Each audience was composed of a minimum of 20 adult learners of each gender across three age groups, accounting for 160 individual older adults in all. Returned survey data (N = 107) were examined using either an ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis H test for statistical significance, and appropriate post hoc analyses—Tukey's or pairwise comparisons—were applied to determine which age differed significantly. A targeted thematic analysis of open-ended survey answers uncovered supporting or refuting empirical information to elaborate on the quantitative findings. Results reveal that mobile device ownership declined with age. However, usage tasks were found to significantly differ across age groups. The most revealing result is one of non-significance: no learning strategies were found to be significant for any age. Qualitative elements illuminated the desire for ideal, personalized learning situations across all age groups. Implications are discussed in regard to designing ideal learning environments for older adults in learning newer technology.