My thesis explores older adult lifelong learners’ experiences in transitioning their continued education participation to an online model. This research acknowledges and situates itself in the geragogy contexts of older adult learners, drawing on their experiences of the pandemic and lifelong learning, in addition to their opinions on education for older adults. As such, a case study methodology was employed so that this case could be studied within boundaries created by the pandemic. In my study, 25 older adult learners participated in individual interviews and provided their opinions and perceptions about their experiences with the pandemic and its effect on their learning ambitions. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted these individuals differently based on their motivations and previous experiences with technology. Four distinct dialogue groups emerged based on the motivations that older adults have to participate in lifelong learning, which are social or instrumental, and also the opinions they have about technology, which are either positive or negative. The four dialogues are distinct in that they each hold alternate opinions about the two issues raised (motivators and opinions on technology) but there were no major identifiers within the groups that could characteristically distinguish one from another. The results indicate that not all discourses of lifelong learners are reducible to identities or recent experiences. My findings suggest that potential refinement in program delivery based on specific user needs could improve the experiences that older adults have in the virtual classroom, and that it is crucial to the administration of lifelong learning that older adults' unique needs are addressed in a collaborative manner. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This study investigated how older adults, who pursue lifelong learning in-person, have interpreted their transition to online learning because of COVID-19 pandemic meeting restrictions. Lifelong learners have had to transition from in-person learning to virtual formats, which has encouraged new older adults to become lifelong learners, and also for some lifelong learners to drop out of the practice entirely. The key goal of the study was to describe the Transitioners, New learners, and Dropout learners' experience with lifelong learning with respect to COVID-19’s impacts on their participation. Interviews were conducted with individuals who fell into these three categories and, through their responses, distinct dialogues emerged to describe their motivation to participate in lifelong learning, and their opinions on using technology as a means to access it. Confirming the motives to participate and how technology is appreciated by lifelong learners enables us to better develop and implement lifelong learning.

At the intersection of adult education and social gerontology, and propelled by the ageing phenomenon, educational gerontology has a critical place in the study of older adult education. To contend with older learners' needs, professional adult educators require an enhanced preparation, and concomitance to a reinvigoration of current adult learning programs to include the constructs of educational gerontology and the geragogical imperative. Through survey and interviews, this research investigated evidence of, and the capacity for, Australian Adult Education programs and Ageing Research centres to meet this requirement. Results of this case study indicate a paucity of evidence of educational gerontology in adult education programs, coupled with significant potential for capacity development in this field through collaboration with Ageing Research initiatives. The findings suggest an expansion of current curriculum in adult education programs to include aspects of educational gerontology, professional development of Adult Education academics in the specialized area of educational gerontology, and broader adult education engagement with external stakeholders and the ageing research community as a contribution to social betterment.

The diploma thesis analyses education needs of senior citizens in one chosen geographical region, with emphasis on their motivation for further education. The theoretical part explains the basic concepts of geragogy and related areas. The empirical part of this thesis analyses educational needs of senior citizens by means of questionnaires and a controlled interview with a further education provider. KEYWORDS old age, education of senior citizens, motivation, senior citizens, needs, geragogy

The currenly growing preference for "active aging" aims to promote the longest possible physical and mental vitality. Caring for the spiritual development and spiritual needs of older people is usually thought to be a private matter, or an area within the competence of churches, and related to traditionally religious older people. With regard to the bio-psycho-socio-spiritual unity of the person, it is evident that spirituality ? and spiritual needs as its expression ? belong in the life of every individual, though it is primarily an individual experience linked to a particular personality and life history. Through spirituality they seek to answer questions relating to the purpose and pursuit of life, to higher values, to the processing of suffering and evil, and to some questions having eschatological character. This dissertation defines spirituality's everyday place on the path to a good life in old age. The empirical part of the dissertation is a qualitative study called Spiritual Needs in the Daily Life of the Elderly in Southern Bohemia. The first part shows the development of religiosity or spirituality of two dozen South Bohemians over seventy-five years, focusing on the period of early religious socialization, stages of working life under the rule of Communism, and the present form of religiosity or spirituality. The second part presents a possible typology of their fundamental spiritual needs: dignity, sense of continuity in ones life story, hope, faith and love. On the basis of these findings, recommendations are then put forward for pastoral, social, and geragogical practices.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal