iPhones and iPads are bringing significant changes to the way in which people communicate with their families, friends, colleagues and with the outside world, and how they access information, carry out work tasks and interpret and incorporate the non-alphabetic symbols and signs that represent daily realities. Additionally, many primary and…

Open Space Technology is a cumbersome name for a participative conference model that enables dynamic inclusive engagement and challenges traditional, highly structured hierarchical conference formats. Based on self-organising systems, (Wenger, 1998) Open Space Technology conferences have an open process, start with no agenda and empower the most…

The experiences of adult learners with dyslexia is an under-researched area in Ireland at present. This article will discuss the findings from phase one of a mixed methods research study, which is investigating the guidance counselling needs of clients with dyslexia within the Adult Education Guidance Initiative (AEGI). The research is underpinned…

Implementing network type structures has become a widely appreciated strategy to promote actor-relationships in the field of adult and community education and to coordinate them purposefully. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on how a "successful" coordination of actor-relationships can actually be achieved. This paper offers…

This article documents the findings of a qualitative study into the social value of community-based adult education in Limerick City. The article demonstrates that participants experience significant improvements in numerous facets of their lives and we argue that it is crucial that we recognise the multiple and inter-connected social impacts that…

This article summarises the background to the development of further education and goes on to describe research carried out with a group of older mature students in a further education college in Ireland. The first research element was a survey and focus group, followed by interviews, which explored with the students their reasons for returning to…

This paper argues that there are many ways of conceptualising lifelong learning and examines EU and Scottish lifelong learning policies in order to identify their underlying assumptions. Through an analysis of these policies, it is demonstrated that they draw on a number of inter-related fallacies that prioritise lifelong learning mainly in…