Present trends in the mainstream adoption of educational technology coupled to the increased acceptance and adoption of openness in terms of sharing resources and open access force higher education into a radical rethink of its structures and educational strategies. This article examines the current shift in focus from the simple production and sharing of open educational resources (OER) towards wider concepts such as open educational practices (OEP) and cultures (OEC). OER involves mostly educators whereas OEP and OEC demand the commitment of management, administrators and politicians.  This openness is already spawning alternative types of peer-based collaborative learning both inside and outside the formal education system. In particular the increased awareness of the importance of informal learning has raised a clear need for some kind of certification model and the current open badges initiative lead by Mozilla and several US authorities is examined and discussed. In 2011 the OER university partnership announced an innovative approach to combining formal and informal learning by planning to offer credible credentials for students who have acquired the necessary skills through their own learning paths. The road to future higher education may not be entirely behind the campus walls.

Vaginismus is defined as a persistent difficulty with vaginal entry, despite a woman’s expressed wish, due to muscle tension, avoidance, and/or pain (Basson et al., 2003). The disorder is classified as a sexual dysfunction; however, there is a paucity of literature on the sexual response, sexual function, and sexual behaviour of women with vaginismus. This thesis research was designed to investigate the differential aspects of sexual health in women with lifelong vaginismus, compared to women with lifelong dyspareunia (pain with intercourse) and women with pain-free intercourse. In the first study, 45 women viewed erotic films, of which one set depicted penetration and the other did not. Physiological sexual arousal was assessed via thermography. Subjective responses to films were assessed with questionnaires. Despite significantly greater negative emotions and lower mental sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli, women with vaginismus showed genital arousal comparable to the comparison groups. In the second study, 174 women completed an online survey. Women with vaginismus reported more sexual difficulties than the no-pain group and a restricted range of lifetime sexual behaviours and lower frequency of intercourse attempts/experiences than the comparison groups. Women with vaginismus and dyspareunia reported more anxiety during sexual activity and a restricted sexual behaviour repertoire in the previous year and month compared to the no-pain group. Women with vaginismus endorsed more negative cognitions related to penetration, specifically concerns about losing control of their body and the situation. The findings suggest that sexual function difficulties and restricted behavioural repertoire may be associated with negative emotions and maladaptive cognitions. Women with vaginismus may avoid encounters that could lead to intercourse. Alternatively, the negative response to sexual stimuli may be indicative of a more global negative response to sexuality beyond intercourse. The negative penetration-related cognitions, negative responses to sexual stimuli, anxiety during sexual activity, and reduced range and frequency of sexual behaviours of women with vaginismus provide support for the Fear-Avoidance Model of Vaginismus. The impairment in sexual functioning supports the need to move beyond the singular treatment focus of making intercourse possible to an approach that addresses overall sexual rehabilitation.

Aim of this work was to determine teachers' ideas about how to encourage lifelong learning in primary school in year 3, so that students can continue learning throughout life. To get answers to my purpose, I used the following questions: What are the teachers' perceptions of the concept of lifelong learning? What are the main aspects teachers emerged as important in education, to encourage students to lifelong learning? Is there potential barriers to teachers for the promotion by the term of lifelong learning? The method used, is qualitative interviews and as a starting point I used the hermeneutic approach. Theoretical part included Ziehes modernity theory of learning and Vygotsky socio-cultural perspective. The results revealed that lifelong learning is interpreted on the basis of active teachers in many varied ways. Teachers' perceptions of the concept of lifelong learning have been very varied. The most of the teachers pointed out is that the term is about as a student has an understanding of what you do, that learning should be seen as something that goes on all the time throughout life and that desire and curiosity is close to the concept. The similarity between the teachers’ responses suggests that it is important that the student has confidence in his own abilities, and develop strategies for their future learning will live on. The key skills teachers highlights, concerns that the student be able to discuss, analyze, search various sources and be critical. Teachers have also shown that there are some obstacles in the promotion of lifelong learning. The biggest challenge is the lack of time, extensive knowledge requirement, and large groups of students. According to the teachers, the weak students who are the biggest losers, because there is not enough time to support the students.

Summary It is inspiring to see museum visitors evolve and develop through art exhibitions. Great potential lay in facilitating the learning experience by art exhibitions, and the possibility of designing exhibitions that make visitors attracted to learn. The purpose of the present work is to study the means of creating favorable conditions for lifelong and enjoyable learning in art exhibitions.   The concept of learning has multiple definitions, and several have been used effectively in various ways in preceding works. The underlying principle of this work is that visitors learn by actively processing information in their own minds and through experiences. The term lifelong learning is often associated with employability and adaptability. In this work, the view of lifelong learning is from a museum perspective, and that it is a form of learning that involves enjoying learning and actively seeking opportunities to learn, irrespective of the level of education and employment status. We define enjoyable learning at art exhibitions as a state of mind when visitors enjoy themselves because they are learning.   Art education has, since the first museums were founded, strived for becoming more available on many levels. Art educators have pursued and attempted to construct more pleasant forms of learning involving more dialogue and participation of visitors. Given that the field of art education is constantly evolving, critical examination of current practices remain useful tools.   A series of questionnaires were handed out to museum visitors during four exhibitions. The visitors were asked to define the reason for coming to the art exhibition in question and to formulate their perceptions of their learning experience. A total of 200 questionnaire replies were collected, examined and analyzed. The primary attraction to the art exhibitions was to have an art experience. 72 of 200 people came just to see and experience art, and 124 people responded that they came to see and experience art along with any of the other options. There were only 6 people who came just to learn, and just as many said they do not like to learn and discover new things in art exhibitions. Based on these results, we find that providing motivation for learning appears important and an underexplored area. To create favorable conditions for lifelong learning in art education is to get a clearer link to personal development and employability. One can facilitate, and attract, visitors to enjoyable learning in exhibitions by letting them know more about the museum, the staff and the thoughts that are behind the exhibits. Partnerships can attract more and new visitors. It is important that the exhibition has an art education that is well established which can enhance the experience of art. The pedagogy should not interfere with the experience of art, considering that some visitors were disinterested or even negative towards learning. Many of the respondents were satisfied but wanted more information through interaction with staff and/or artist. The greatest art educational challenge appears to be providing the visitors motivation for learning by giving them what they did not know they wanted.     Key words: Art education, Museum, Exhibition, Lifelong learning, Enjoyable learning. Sökord: Konstpedagogik, Museum, Utställning, Livslångt lärande, Lustfyllt lärande.

The aim of this thesis is to point out the critical position of University Continuing Education Units in the context of knowledge economy for their contribution to local development, and to analyse to what extent these units in the case of Turkey serve for this function. For this purpose, first, the nature of knowledge economy and transformations initiated in this process in labour markets and in nature of education are analysed. Next, new understanding of lifelong learning and restructuring process in universities, which are connected with transformation in these two fields, are discussed. Later, position of cities and importance of urban policy for local development within the context of knowledge economy is examined. Consequently, as a product of these intertwined transformations, it is revealed that University Continuing Education Units appear to be key actors for cities for their contribution to local development. Then, based on the facts developed in the theoretical arguments / data of University Continuing Education Units of Turkey and Middle East Technical University Continuing Education Center (METU CEC) scrutinised in order to reveal how far these units in Turkey serve for local development. Finally, findings and conclusions are summarised, and policy proposals are developed for University Continuing Education Units should follow in order to serve local development effectively.

This study sets out the policy frameworks concerning older workers in Sweden and the Netherlands. This will be done by setting out both European and national contextual backgrounds. Further this study will examine whether or not there are specific initiatives taken by trade unions, and if so, what their features are. The results are gathered through a qualitative document analysis, complemented with the results of a self-completion questionnaire that has been sent to trade union confederations. The results of this study show that in both Sweden and the Netherlands policies are in place that strengthen the position of older workers. Sweden has developed multiple policies that aim to motivate people to work longer than the age of 61, and is focused on increasing the employability of workers. Even though in the Netherlands early retirement opportunities were widespread, currently policies and pension reforms discourage people from retiring early. Further, the debate about participation in and access to lifelong learning has regained importance, which shows that there is an increased attention for the development of employability of (older) workers. When it comes to trade unions, in Sweden there are no specific initiatives aiming at older workers. In the Netherlands, on the contrary, all trade unions participate in the development of i.e. the Policy Agenda 2020.

Σκοπός της εργασίας ήταν η διερεύνηση των απόψεων παιδιών Γ΄ και Δ΄ τάξης δημοτικού σχολείου για της έννοιες της εκπαίδευσης ενηλίκων και της δια βίου μάθησης. Στο μέρος που αφορούσε την εκπαίδευση ενηλίκων συμμετείχαν 96 μαθητές από 6 τμήματα σχολείων της ευρύτερης περιοχής των Πατρών, ενώ στο μέρος που αφορούσε τη δια βίου μάθηση συμμετείχαν 74 μαθητές από 5 τμήματα σχολείων της ίδιας περιοχής. Η έρευνα βασίστηκε σε ποιοτική προσέγγιση στην οποία χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ως ερευνητικά εργαλεία η τεχνική της συζήτησης, η οποία είχε σαν αποτέλεσμα ένα μικρό κείμενο των μαθητών, και η ανάλυση του ιχνογραφήματος. Τα αποτελέσματα για την εκπαίδευση ενηλίκων έδειξαν πως η πλειοψηφία των κειμένων ταυτίζεται με τα ιχνογραφήματα, υπάρχουν διαφορές ως προς το φύλο των μαθητών, την περιοχή που βρίσκεται το σχολείο και το φύλο που ιχνογραφούν οι μαθητές. Αναφορικά με τη δια βίου μάθηση τα αποτελέσματα δείχνουν πως τα κείμενα δεν ταυτίζονται απόλυτα με τα ιχνογραφήματα και δεν υπάρχουν σημαντικές διαφορές ως προς το φύλο και την περιοχή που βρίσκεται το σχολείο. / The purpose of this paper is the definition of the ideas that children of 3rd and 4th grade of primary school have regarding adult education and lifelong learning. In the reasearch on adult education participated 96 students from 6 classes of schools located in the area of Patras. In the reasearch on lifelong learning participated 74 students from 5 classes of schools located in the same area. It is a qualitative approach, in which were used the technique of the discussion - resulting in creating texts- and the analysis of drawings. The results of the research about adult education revealed that the majority of texts are releated to drawings, whereas there are differences as far as the sex, the region of school and the sex that is depicted are concerned. Additionaly, the results about lifelong learning revealed that that the majority of texts are not releated to drawings, there are no differences as far as the sex and the region of school are concerned.

The aim of the study – to justify theoretically and to investigate empirically the improvement of the education of parents (as adults) in the educational institution for the children with hearing impairment through the case-analysis. Base of study and participants. The subjects were the parents of pupils from one Lithuanian educational institution for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing. The answers were received from 134 parents (mothers, fathers, foster-parents) whose children attend preliminary- the 10th grades. Results and conclusions. The study showed that parents are interested and know quite well about the activity of their child in school, about the activities of school in general, and about persons with hearing disorders. Parents are the most concern about the information, which is directly associated with their child. It was found out that the parents prefer informal learning to formal one. The one fifth of the parents have expressed their wish to be educated during the seminars, and only 2 percents of respondents have named their willingness to study in the formal educational institution. The evaluations of parents’ opinions about the dissemination of their experience let us conclude that majority of respondents has positive attitude toward educational activity: they tend to participate in the mobile groups of self-assistance, to share their knowledge and experience during mass events (meetings, seminars). Almost all departments of the educational institution for the... [to full text]

In the present-time society, where constant and intensive changes of life take place, where the idea of lifelong learning is being focused on, educational systems as well as the situation of school’s and pedagogues’ activities are undergoing changes. The significance of teachers’ constant up-dating increases; not the finite knowledge but the ability to constantly learn, improve one’s personality and professional skills become the main feature of professional mastery. Exactly this is the point towards which the system which is being formed at the moment for improvement of pedagogues is oriented in order to provide conditions for every teacher to constantly improve one’s own competency; it also reduces the gap between institutions training pedagogues and schools which undergo changes. Training of music teachers who are able to effectively strive for aims of musical education always has been among the most topical and problematic issues; that is why a special role falls on lifelong professional improvement of music teachers themselves. In order to ensure successfulness of this process, researches which disclose peculiarities of self-improvement of music teachers and factors which predetermine it are a must. The present study explores the demands and conditions for self-improvement of music teachers in the context of lifelong learning. It is aimed to disclose the factors which stimulate and limit professional self-improvement as well as to assess existing educational conditions... [to full text]

The work aims at exposing the importance of constant learning of teachers under conditions of changing education, teachers' needs and how the informal lifelong in-service educational institution, called Educational Centre, meets them. The characteristics of Educational Centre and its readiness to fulfil teachers' lifelong teaching are analyzed. The conceptualism of constant learning is analyzed in this work: the concept of qualification and competence, the importance of general skills, possibility to improve them and to get them while learning constantly. Pedagogical, psychological and social presumptions of lifelong learning are discussed. In the unit on methodology of lifelong learning it is said that constant learning of the teachers is an important condition of changing education, it is cleared up what the aims of adult teaching and psychological parameters of adult education are. The teachers' constant (lifelong) learning is investigated in details. The qualitative analysis of activity of Molėtai Educational Centre and its readiness to meet the needs of teachers' constant learning are presented. At the end of the work the conclusions about teachers' lifelong learning and readiness of the Educational Centre to do it are presented. Key words: constant learning, lifelong learning, informal in-service adult education, teachers' educational centre, qualification, qualification improvement, competence, andragogics, adult teacher.