Caring for patients with progressive illness who need symptomatic and palliative care involves professionals as well as non-professionals. Within the variety of settings that may exist around a patient, education will be constantly needed. A limited systematic review was therefore conducted in order to highlight factors that influence informal…

Patient education is recognized by health care providers and patients themselves as an important component of adequate health care for hospital patients. Through this informational process, patients receive information about specific health problems, learn the necessary competencies to deal with them, and develop accepting attitudes toward the…

This study aimed to investigate how 132 poor, urban, elderly black persons engage in formal and informal learning activities and the relation of such activities to educational histories and current life satisfaction. Findings show that the population is involved in purposeful learning activities and is motivated to pursue educational interests.…

Describes a seminar in adult education held by Dr. Alan Knox, Professor of Adult Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, Long Island. The objective was to increase the participants' competence in the development of informal educational programs for adults. (Author/DR)

Lifelong learning has evolved from the UNESCO concept in the 1960s-70s of democratization through education to the 1990s' economic competitiveness arguments. Current economic and social conditions demand a broader conception that encompasses changes in work, technology, and demography and environmental sustainability. Focus should shift to…

A survey of adult learning opportunities in Belfast, Northern Ireland, found an emerging sector of community and voluntary organizations offering programs emphasizing issue-based, action-oriented learning in a democratic participative culture. They offer alternatives to traditional formal providers of liberal adult education. (SK)

Analyzes the results of the first countrywide survey of the informal learning practices of adults in Canada, conducted in 1998. The survey found respondents to be devoting unprecedented amounts of time to learning activities, including an average of 15 hours per week in informal learning projects. Implications for policy and program initiatives…

The anniversary of the "International Journal of Lifelong Education" can participate in a conceptual landslide from lifelong education to lifelong learning. Contemporary discourses of lifelong learning etc. are abstractions behind which new functions and agendas for adult education are set. The ideological discourse of recent policies…

Briefly summarizes environmental education goals and topics as identified in elementary and secondary education curricula in four Arab states (Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan) and describes environmental education nonformal efforts in Lebanon. (DC)

The research reported in this paper attempts to document the actual learning practices of working-class people in the context of the much heralded "knowledge-based economy." Our primary thesis is that working-class peoples' indigenous learning capacities have been denied, suppressed, degraded or diverted within most capitalist schooling,…

The potential of poetry for expanding possibilities in teaching, learning, and research is explored through specific examples from a poet/teacher's practice of poetry as a way of knowing and a medium for sharing knowledge.

This report presents selected data on adults' participation in educational activities in the United States, excluding full-time only enrollments in college/university or vocational/technical credential programs, over a 12-month period from 2004-05. Historically, full-time only participation in postsecondary (college and vocational) programs has…

This report describes a course sponsored by the Workers' Educational Association in England that is intended to fill a gap between informal discussion groups and access courses for higher education. Section 1 describes this intensive course, which occupies five hours per week and uses team teaching, one-to-one tutorials, formative evaluation, and…

UNESCO's advisor to India's Ministry of Education and Social Welfare explains the limitations of formal education, outlines a parallel informal system, analyzes misconceptions regarding informal education, identifies its potential clientele and agents, and describes possible solutions for priority areas and groups. The advantages and limitations…

In January 1980, TVOntario, a television network operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, introduced a new concept in adult learning, the TVOntario Academy. It consists of a combination of high broadcast-quality television programming, a computer-managed learning (CML) system, and especially designed courseware aimed at…