Exploring the impacts of distance higher education on adult learners’ lives and reclaiming lifelong learning as a human development process

Claudia Neves,Susana Henriques

doi:10.5944/openpraxis.12.4.1084

Abstract

This article intends to launch discussion and reflection on two main themes: lifelong learning and digital literacy in nowadays societies. In looking for the intersections between these concepts to connote them with a more humanistic and holistic perspective, we explore the potentials of distance learning in the lives of adult learners. The empirical basis for this exploration is a survey applied to 706 (143 respondents) graduates in the education of the Portuguese Open University to know their future projects and the impact of this degree in the various dimensions of their personal, social and professional lives. The conclusions of this analysis point to recognition, by the respondents, of the positive impacts that distance higher education has in their personal and social lives. However, these impacts are not as visible in professional terms since the answers show little significant professional progressions. In this sense, the article concludes that it is important to rethink the founding ideas of the concept of lifelong learning from a humanistic perspective and to approach it with a holistic and transversal conception of what is now defined as digital literacy. Distance education, for adult learners, is a scenario that not only strengthens the personal, social and professional development of individuals, but also the development of competencies applied not only to the digital world but also to each person’s daily activities.

Highlights

This article focuses on the pathways and living conditions of students of the Portuguese Open University (UAb), who complete their higher education degrees in adulthood, working full-time, graduates of the Degree in Education
The professional occupations of the parents is an important element for the characterization of the social origin of the respondents, which reinforces the notion that the graduates in Education of the Portuguese Open University are non-traditional students in paths of upward social mobility
In 2006, Gert Biesta asked the following question: what is the point of lifelong learning if lifelong learning has no point? In this article, we reclaim the point of lifelong learning in a digital society where men and women have to develop skills to undertake their life projects in a personal, social and professional way

Summary

Introduction

This article focuses on the pathways and living conditions of students of the Portuguese Open University (UAb), who complete their higher education degrees in adulthood, working full-time, graduates of the Degree in Education. The main goal of the research presented in this article is to know the students’ future projects and the impacts of this degree in the various dimensions of their lives, both personal and professional This is an area that has attracted a growing research interest that has been carried out on Portuguese graduates (Gonçalves, 2000; Alves, 2003; Alves, 2005; Gonçalves & Menezes, 2014; OPSD-UA, 2015). The student that chooses this graduate course is usually somebody who wants to improve skills to understand and intervene in the educational field and develop skills to intervene in different contexts of formal and non-formal education, contributing to the development of individuals and social groups This Degree is intended for persons wishing to perform functions within social organizations and institutional bodies with educational responsibilities. Exploring the impacts of distance higher education on adult learners’ lives and reclaiming lifelong learning

Literature Review

Findings

Methods of professional work

Final Discussion