Distance education programs have been encumbered with numerous issues concerning the quality of the delivery of distance education. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions, attitudes, and levels of job satisfaction for faculty teaching in a distance online education environment. This study explored theories and concepts relating…

GED (General Educational Development) testing candidates have many options available to them to prepare for the GED Test, including adult education (AE) classes, practice tests, and self-study. This study focused on candidates who voluntarily took the GED Test and could choose freely among preparation activities. We examined GED Test preparation…

This empirical study uses auto-ethnography to describe a higher education pedagogical process that facilitated largely doctoral students in preparing their candidacy proposals through the use of specific adult learning principles. Students' experiences and points of view of such a learning environment were explored, including: (1) how they…

This study investigated informal learning activities among low-education adults, using data from the 2005 National Household Education Survey. Survey respondents were asked about their participation in six types of informal learning activities, from reading books to using computers to attending conventions. Respondents with the lowest educational…

In 1957, 12 years after the end of World War II, the Ministry of Education issued Circular 323 to promote the development of an element of "liberal studies" in courses offered by technical and further education (FE) colleges in England. This was perceived to be in some ways a peculiar or uncharacteristic development. However, it lasted…

This article considers the impact of a technique of structured conversation to enhance a student-centred approach to tutorial time. It is suggested that the development of such an approach can provide enhanced learning support in the current challenge of widening diversity in the learner population. Many students in modern tertiary education show…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine how students from foundation degrees (FDs) run at local further education colleges coped (academically and to a lesser extent psychologically) with the transition to a final year honours degree at a university. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the experience of FD graduates who joined the…

Analyzes the concept of self-directed learning, focusing on the facilitation of self-directed learning in the noninstitutional setting. Clarifies self-directed learning and follows with an outline and discussion of the ability of distance education to facilitate such learning. (CH)

Suggests that andragogical practice should acknowledge and accept of its learners both self-directedness and its obverse, dependency; both can be viewed as phenomenological expressions of a specific, context-bound, and limited situation. Compares andragogy and pedagogy. (JOW)

The author analyzes the meaning of self-direction, defends and refutes it as a distinguishing feature of adulthood as compared to childhood and youth, and assesses its significance for lifelong education and learning. (JOW)

Examines the traditional liberal adult education thesis of educational externalism: that the role of the educator must be undertaken by a person other than the learner. Argues that this requirement is without defensible grounds in the management of the educational event or through singular contribution to its content. (Author/JOW)

The first part of this article gives an overview of two major paradigms that have influenced research in education: the positivist/empiricist and the interpretive. The second part presents an attempt to develop a research agenda into self-direction from a perspective that takes into account the learner's subjective interpretation of the learning…

Critically examines the general characteristics of a "discourse" of self-directed learning and considers consequences of assumptions made about adult learning and teaching. Presents and analyzes case studies of practice involving experiential teaching approaches with two groups of adult students. (JOW)

A study was undertaken to determine if identification of learning styles would assist in predicting adult students' success in an independent study program.. Results indicated that regardless of learning style, students can expect to complete the experience successfully. (JOW)