Adult learners bring different experiences and perspectives to their education. It is important they get opportunities to learn at their own speed, through different situations and activities. Consequently, the teaching methods and learning environment are very important to the learner. Therefore the school and it´s teachers play a big role in making the learner feel comfortable and gain new experiences which could help them develop themselves as adult learners and find the right learning path. This thesis explores how the individuals needs and life experience is utilised through the learning process in the learning environment of the Preliminary studies program at Keilir. The focus is on student’s experiences of the learning environment at Keilir in order to see if they meet the needs of adult students. That being said, interviews with former and current participants in the program will show what the students experienced during their time in the program and how they felt their needs were met. Furthermore Lave and Wenger´s (1991) concept of a community of practice will be used to explore the education at Keilir and how learning in collaboration with other students and others that impact the learner’s journey can affect the learner’s education and their learning experience.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 436-484).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-209).

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training outlines access, participation and barriers as critical issues in post-school education (DHET, 2013). The main aim of this research paper was to investigate the relationships between access, barriers to participation and success among adult students registered for the National Accredited Technical Diploma (NATED) specialisation in Early Childhood Development (ECD) at a TVET College in the Western Cape. Although I concentrated on the interplay between the adult students’ experiences related to access, participation and barriers, my primary interest relates to how and why adult students succeed despite the barriers that they encounter.

The focus of this qualitative research was to investigate the motivations, experiences, and constructs of non-traditional adult students who elected to enroll in community college baccalaureate programs. The participants in this investigation were a homogeneous sample of adult students who had priorities other than school, such as employment and families. The research questions which guided the study sought to explore the narratives adult students shared of their reasons for choosing to enroll in a community college baccalaureate degree program, how they described meaning to having access to these new degrees, and what impact the community college baccalaureate had on the decision to return for the bachelor degree. The voices of the students were captured during semi-structured individual interviews. Six central themes emerged from the data gathered: Resiliency vs. Obstacles: Managing Life, Finding Self Through Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Factors, The Community College Degree as Key to Economic Stability, Limited Alternatives to Baccalaureate Degree Attainment, Importance of Communality to Adult Students Feelings of Belonging, and Neither Difference nor Disadvantage to Obtaining a Community College Baccalaureate Degree. The study’s results led to recommendations and implications for legislators, higher education faculty and administrators, and admissions and marketing specialists.

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Traditionally vocational rehabilitation has as its goal providing services to support individuals with disabilities to achieve outcomes that relate to employment and independent functioning so that they may live self-sufficient and empowered lives. The current research discusses models of empowerment among varied marginalized groups identifying its components and dimensions, but little is known about how learners perceive and experience empowerment. This qualitative case study brought the voices of 18 adult learners who are deaf-blind into the conversation and examined the instructional practices and experiences that were reportedly empowering among learners while participating in vocational rehabilitation. The study revealed learners’ interpretations of their experiences, motivations, insights, and challenges during their vocational rehabilitation journey. The study illuminated how learners perceived empowerment and identified six elements of the experience. In addition, learners shed light on six elements of the learning context that were worthy of consideration among learners and practitioners for optimizing the learning experience. Emergent themes surfaced regarding the relationship between empowerment-based practice and transformative learning. The change reportedly undergone by learners encompassed the whole person: affective, cultural, social, practical, political, and spiritual domains. Preliminary investigation into the distinctive pathways to empowerment among deaf-blind adult learners provided a unique perspective by learners on how they made meaning and navigated their new reality of combined vision and hearing loss. Recommendations to practitioners and learners are derived from the 18 voices of learners who participated in the study. The study also revealed a need to further investigate the link between transformative learning and empowerment-based practice and how these two theoretical frameworks might inform one another with implications for practice.

Are you seeing a decline in your population of adult students? Are you wondering how to reach, enroll, engage, and retain these students? This interactive session will present a framework for recruiting adult students and will give participants an opportunity to develop their own adult student recruitment and retention plans.

This study is mainly concerned with the common errors Vietnamese adult students make in learning English as a second/foreign language. Using the tools of contrastive analysis and error analysis, the researcher decribes and examines certain areas of similarity and difference between English and Vietnamese on some grammatical aspects, and then analyses the errors made by the Vietnamese students in two different learning contexts and at different levels of proficiency. This studies consists of six chapters : Chapter 1 introduces the position of English in Vietnam at present, raises the problems encountered in the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam, and states why this study is necessary. Chapter 2 is the summary of the main theories of second language acquisition and some of the principal studies of Vietnamese grammar. Chapter 3 discusses the techniques of contrastive analysis and error analysis, which provide bases for the comparative study in Chapter 4 and the error analysis in Chapter 5. In Chapter 4, a contrastive study is undertaken of eleven aspects of English and Vietnamese grammar, which serves as the basis for the discussion in Chapter 5. Chapter 5 presents an analysis of the common errors Vietnamese students make in two different learning contexts in Vietnam and in Australia. It also discusses the various strategies the students use in order to achieve language proficiency. Finally, some conclusions concerning the attitude towards, and the treatment of, errors are mentioned in Chapter 6. It also provides suggestions for further study in the subject area.

The objectives of the study were to examine the Life Experience curriculum, level 3-4, in terms of the teachers, students and problems encountered in the course presentation at the adult school of the North Eastern Regional Non-formal Education Centre: Tools used in the study are :- (1) questionnaires seeking the expectations of the twenty-seven centre staff (2) questionnaires seeking attitudes and desires of eighty-two students in the classes studied (3) observation of four Life-Experience classes (4) interviews with five teachers of Life-Experience classes and thirty-one students. Important findings include the following :- Both student attendance and staff enthusiasm were high, The syllabus was seen as suitable in length and level of difficulty by both staff and students, even though the level of performance (as measured by examination) varied widely across courses and between students. Students asked for a flexible component to meet localised needs as well as the core curriculum. The objectives of the classes were for students who had had no chance to continue their formal studies to gain knowledge, attitudes, skills and culture needed for their daily occupation. Students requested more information on foreign geography, biographies on important Thai figures, and the economic and political situation in Thailand. Skills which were learnt and applied included food preservation, house maintenance, hygiene, use of legal procedures such as traffic controls and loans, family planning and Buddhist moral codes. Attitudes which it was considered appropriate to develop were symbolised by the 'Knit-pen man' who is a good citizen, rational problem solver, diligent, patient and a supporter of national goals. Changes requested by students for the courses included more time for class discussion, a wide range of textbooks to be available, and field trips to broaden their experience. Changes indicated by staff and student responses were a greater emphasis on changes in behaviour with regard to food preparation and hygiene, more thorough and reflexive evaluation to develop adequate levels of knowledge, allowance for the considerable personal difficulties of the adult students attending classes, and supply of a greater range of teaching resources.