The concept of the ideal student is one that has generated much research across many disciplines across the globe and continues to stimulate debate about teaching and learning within higher education. This paper explores the concept of the ideal student in relation to the experiences of mature female students enrolled onto a Foundation Programme…

Research on learning strategies and learning motivation in different educational contexts has provided valuable insights, but in this field, low-educated adults remain an understudied population. This study addresses this gap by means of a person-oriented approach and seeks to investigate whether quantitatively and qualitatively different learner…

Individuals with intellectual disability may have limited narrative skills. The novelty of this study lies in the examination of strengths and weaknesses which may enable a more facilitative approach to narrative and other storytelling-based methodologies among adults with intellectual disability who study in an academic enrichment program in…

The present study is part of an exploratory research study conducted to understand the Learning experiences of adult learners in Higher Education Institutes in India. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the motivational orientations of adult learners for lifelong educational courses and hence, the Educational Participation Scale…

Adult learners come to the learning experience from diverse backgrounds, myriad experiences, interests, and preferences for perceiving information, engaging with the learning, and expressing what they know. To ensure equitable learning outcomes, these dimensions of predictable variability must be proactively designed for in the curriculum. While…

Learning a language is a lifelong process and requires motivation, patience, a great deal of effort to continuously observe, reflect, and apply the acquired knowledge and skills in practice. Building on an experiential learning approach to support lifelong learning offers a wide range of ways in which instructors can create and deliver engaging…

This study examined the associations between adult education and training (AET) participation, educational attainment, literacy skills, gender, and race/ethnicity among the U.S. adult population aged 25 to 65 years old (n = 5,450). Given the socioeconomic advancements of women and racial/ethnic minorities in the last few decades, including higher…

Grit is theoretically defined as the combination of perseverance and passion for long term goals. Both of these constructs are likely to be relevant for our understanding of how language acquisition occurs and for explaining between-person differences in the rate of language acquisition. Despite this relevance, there are methodological and…

The use of the "traditional"/"nontraditional" binary when referring to students in the context of higher education (especially in the United States) is so firmly established and compulsory that even when we try to challenge the dualism we often fall short. I believe that this has even happened in the current call for…

Agricultural extension plays a vital role in closing the capacity gaps of smallholder farmers throughout low- and middle-income countries, and there is an increasing interest to improve extension outcomes due to its central role in improving livelihood outcomes. Central to this interest is widening the scope of extension content to cover essential…

Many adult English learners enroll in U.S. Adult Basic Education programs every year. The federally defined goal of these programs is to increase adult learners' skills to enable them to enter the workforce, but it is not clear whether this purpose matches learners' own motivations for entering these programs. Using the lens of self-authorship…

Developing adults' reflective thinking habits is an aim of adult education, but the best way to do it has been overlooked. Common strategies communicate the skills and knowledge needed to reflect while providing practice opportunities. Yet research indicates that reflective habits are comprised of not only skills and knowledge but also of…

The purpose of this quantitative, comparative study was to identify statistical differences that may have existed between adult basic education students in traditional and blended classrooms on the variables of perceptions of self-efficacy and academic performance. The seminal theories underpinning the research were andragogy, heutagogy, and the…

In light of its low fertility rate and long life span, Hong Kong is facing the challenge of a rapidly ageing population. To foster successful ageing, learning throughout life regardless of age is promoted as lifelong learning. A total of 20 older adults who are studying the Diploma in Active Ageing at the School of Professional Education and…

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of adult learners in a first-year seminar course at Columbia State Community College, located in middle Tennessee, to determine if the content of the course has an impact on the learners' adjustment to college. With the statewide initiative to reach a goal of 55% of the state's population…