Lifelong Learning Model Research Articles

A new lifelong learning model based on intergenerational exchange: Premises and foreseen benefits

Europe is facing within the last decade important shifts within its age related population structure, being confirmed an empathic process of population aging.Within the framework of the European project titled Intergenerational Learning: from Diagnostic to Impact Evaluation – CROSS AGES, an integrated learning model based on the support and enhancement of intergenerational exchange was defined, as a lever for promoting successful ageing (active ageing) and social inclusion of older people in the local communities. The project identified a series of LLL methodologies and tools designed to meet the specific requirements of older people's learning, such as motivation, contents of experience, communication and transmission means, flexibility needs in terms of time and methods, in order to favour the complete fulfilment and active participation of older people in the different living and working contexts.Because of social and demographical changes mentioned before, older and younger people may have to cooperate together in their current activities at workplace and even outside of it. However, the intergenerational exchange and cooperation may encounter some difficulties, as different generations use ‘different languages’, have different social and working practices, and activate and work at different paces.In order to study and promote intergenerational exchange between young and older adults, University of Padua, the coordinator of the CROSS AGES project, developed a battery of questionnaires, called Motivation to Acquire, Use and Transfer knowledge (MAUT), in order to assess the intergenerational knowledge exchange.The MAUT battery was applied in three European countries: Italy, Romania and France and, thus, the research results reveal the similarities and differences concerning the motivation to acquire and transfer knowledge in the working domain. Still, the focus of the present article is on the intergenerational exchange premises in Romania and Italy, a comparative analysis being offered.

Partnerships in Medical Education: An Exploration of Library Service Models for Postgraduate Medicine at Macquarie University

Macquarie University’s new medical school, The Australian School of Advanced Medicine (ASAM), is developing a postgraduate program that incorporates a partnership with Macquarie University Library. The curriculum encompasses contemporary models of competency-based assessment, teamwork and lifelong learning that are integrated with research and patient care. This exploratory paper shows how ASAM differs from other medical schools in ways that will necessitate an innovative response from the Library. Results of a Library survey identified key online services and the importance of integrating information skills training into ASAM’s curriculum. The ensuing discussion demonstrates how ASAM and the Library can share current technologies and educational principles to facilitate lifelong learning, health care and collaboration.

Policies and practices of lifelong learning in China

This paper focuses on the development of policies and practices related to lifelong learning in the last 10 years in China. It gives a brief introduction of the vital societal changes and offers a review on outstanding achievements in school education, which can be regarded as the context and infrastructure of lifelong learning enterprise. It analyses in depth the relevant national strategies adopted by the central government, which have been the fundamental guidelines for the practice of lifelong learning. After exploring the flourishing lifelong learning activities promoted by the government, industry and other nongovernmental agencies, it finally discusses the state‐led promoting model of lifelong learning in China.

Lifelong Learning for Public Health Practice Education: A Model Curriculum for Bioterrorism and Emergency Readiness

In 2002, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (UMNSPH) adopted an approach that supports basic, advanced, and continuing education curricula to train current and future public health workers. This model for lifelong learning for public health practice education allows for the integration of competency domains from the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice's core public health workforce competency levels and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Bioterrorism and Emergency Readiness Competencies. This article describes how UMNSPH has implemented the model through coordination with state planning efforts and needs assessments in the tristate region of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. In addition, we discuss methods used for credentialing practitioners who have achieved competency at various levels of performance to enhance the capacity of the public health preparedness systems.

A Comparative Approach to Lifelong Learning Policies in Europe: the cases of the UK, Sweden and Greece

This article argues that, despite globalisation forces, national education and training systems have kept their particularities. Policies of convergence, enhanced by supranational organisations such as the European Commission, have not yet led to a homogenisation of national education and training systems. The latter are still influenced by the political, economic and social framework. Thus, no single model of lifelong learning prevailed in Europe. There were countries close to the demand‐led model of ‘voluntary partnership’ (e.g. UK), countries representative of the ‘formalised social partnership’ model (e.g. Sweden) and countries adhering to the ‘statist’ model (e.g. Greece).

Schools and Kindergartens: A Design Manual

Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 18 No. 2 (2008) ISSN: 1546-2250 Schools and Kindergartens: A Design Manual Dudek, Mark (2007). Switzerland: Birkhaüser Verlag AG; 255 pages. $129. ISBN 9783764370534. Schools and Kindergartens: A Design Manual assembles two books in one, though this is not the stated intention of the author. The first part of the book is a collection of very good essays about various aspects of school design. The second part is a collection of projects presented in the format of well-known architectural magazines: short description, diagrammatic plans, and pretty pictures of the completed building. The essays of the book’s first half are erudite and useful discourses on different concepts and problems that confront contemporary school designers. After an introduction by the author/editor, short essays by different experts unfold to introduce “Historical Paradigms,” “Educational Systems,” “Schools in Community,” “School Typologies,” “Spatial Configurations,” “Acoustic Design,” “Lighting Design,” “Sustainability,” “Outdoor Spaces,” and the concluding “An Educationalist’s Perspective on Nursery Design” and “Schools and Kindergartens Under Reconstruction.” Although the topics at times overlap, (e.g., “Historic Paradigms and Educational Systems”) or set forth competing systems of architectural theory (e.g., “School Typologies” and “Spatial Configurations”), they nonetheless cover a wide range of materials that will prove useful, both for professionals familiar with school design and for clients and communities looking for a guide to successfully understanding the problems of designing for education. The information in the essays is precise without being pedantic, sophisticated while remaining clear. However, there are three critical topics that remain neglected: community participation, context, and evaluation. Although the essay on “Schools in Community” addresses the importance of understanding the social setting of education, in the end the essay 276 stops short of defining or recommending possible ways in which the community can participate in the design of their school. This is unfortunate on two fronts. First, the value of contributions made by a community of citizens in democratic assembly is overshadowed in the essay by the need for designers to establish ties with organizations within the community. Second, although this same essay concludes that “The future is in making these facilities open to the public, yet at the same time safe, secure and effective for those attending as full time students,” the value of life-long learning models within a community is left unexplored. The aspirations of a community for its structures must be clearly articulated, especially when considering schools, for it is in these buildings that the values and needs of the citizenry are established. The difficulty with this book, and indeed with most books on public projects, is that the specific socio-political context of the project is left ill-defined, if not ignored completely. The corollary aspect of school design that is missing from this book is an evaluation of the successes and failures of the designs. This lack of critique is especially evident in the second half of the book. “What is the relationship between pedagogical visions and spaces for children?” Although the preface of the book begins with this provocative question, it unfortunately remains largely unexplored in the examples provided. Rather than critique the collected designs using the criteria assembled by the experts in their essays, the book reverts to a traditional catalogue of attractive buildings organized by loosely defined categories of age groups: Nurseries and Kindergartens, Special Schools, Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, and Academies and Vocational Schools. The failure of this book’s second half, unfortunately, is not unusual. The illustration of buildings in the catalogue, by following the industry standard, undermines the possibility for any serious critique. For example, despite the essay authors’ call for lighting, acoustic and sustainable designs, almost all of the drawings in the catalogue are plans. Without cross-section drawings it becomes impossible to understand how or why the examples given are “good design.” Similarly, despite a clearly written and compelling essay on the importance of outdoor play areas, almost none of the projects 277 includes a site plan, let alone details about a project’s landscape strategy. And these are just technical considerations. Nowhere in the catalogue of projects, for example, is there an attempt to assess the success of...

21st Century Knowledge‐Building in the Asia Pacific: Towards a Multi‐Disciplinary Framework for Linking ICT‐Based Social and Personal Contexts of Education and Development

AbstractIn the larger context of an emerging global knowledge society and economy, education policies around the world have stressed the increasing importance of both information and communication technology (ICT) and ‘active’ models of lifelong learning. Similarly, new ‘knowledge management approaches involving such concepts as ‘community of practice’ and ‘individual tacit knowledge’ are related aspirations for capacity‐building on both sides of the so‐called digital divide between rural or developing areas and modern progressive cities and countries. Common to both informal and formal learning models on one hand, and community and enterprise development is an alternately theoretical and informal assumption of “knowledge‐building” which is often contradicted or frustrated in practice because of the difficulty in effectively reconciling or connecting top‐down imperatives and bottom‐up aspects of the local context. In other words, there are some common aspects of (and lessons in) the struggle by educators to effectively integrate ICTs to enhance education on one hand, with achieving sustainable capacity‐building in ICT‐related community development projects and enterprise development initiatives on the other. This paper outlines a framework for better recognizing and engaging with similar and convergent “missing links” in the areas of education and development that have to do with the learning process, cultural change, and new conceptions of both individual and community knowledge. With particular reference to an Asia‐Pacific context, it argues for a kind of ‘dialogical’ approach that is needed in the 21st Century or digital age to better organize, manage, and apply the alternately tacit or informal and explicit connections between human knowledge as both ideas and practice.

Individual Learning Accounts and other models of financing lifelong learning

To answer the question ‘Financing what?’ this article distinguishes several models of lifelong learning as well as a variety of lifelong learning activities. Several financing methods are briefly reviewed, however the principal focus is on Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) which were seen by some analysts as a promising model for financing learning for adults and an instrument for shifting initiative, choice and responsibility for learning to the learners themselves, for generating a market for providers of education and training, as well as making individuals and their employers share the costs of these activities. Before the backdrop of the decision by Sweden and Canada to abandon their plans to introduce such ILAs prior to their actual launch and the negative experience of the UK where ILAs were implemented on a large scale but later rescinded, the article tries to analyse the problems that ILAs experienced.

Models of Lifelong Learning and the ‘knowledge society’

Many of the current policy debates in Europe focus on what kind of ‘knowledge economy’ or ‘knowledge society’ would be best in the future if it is to combine both economic competitiveness and social cohesion. Should European economies move increasingly towards the so‐called Anglo‐Saxon model of flexible labour markets and high employment rates—with the increasing income inequalities that attend them—or would some new form of the European Social Model be more appropriate for Europe's traditional concerns with matching economic competitiveness with social cohesion? This article explores the different models of the ‘knowledge economy/society’ which can be identified in the European Union and how different models of Lifelong Learning support these. The analysis is confined to western European member states, and some of their major OECD competitor states, since it is too early yet to identify knowledge economies in the transformation states of central and Eastern Europe. Whereas traditional political economy approaches typically present dualistic theories relating to the Anglo‐Saxon and Social Market models, the author now identifies at least three major models of the knowledge economy/society in Europe, roughly corresponding to different geographical/cultural regions, and that these are indeed supported by different models of Lifelong Learning. Only one of these can be said to combine the concerns of economic competitiveness and social cohesion.

The Nordic model of Lifelong Learning

This article explores how the so called Nordic welfare state, with its specific institutional make up, handles Lifelong Learning in a time characterised by the challenges of economic globalisation and the hegemonic impact of the neo‐liberal agenda. The analysis reveals a high participation in the Nordic countries in Lifelong Learning and, in comparison to other countries, low inequalities. This can be directly linked to a state that sets a very demanding equity standard and has developed an institutional framework to support this ambition. This model explicitly recognises market failures in contributing to a system of Lifelong Learning for all. The findings support the growing awareness in the literature that those forecasting the end of the welfare state had misunderstood and/or undervalued the important impact of the specific institutions that constitute the welfare state itself.

Involving Undergraduates in Aging Research at a University in Transition: An AREA Award

Involving students in research with older adults at a university in transition has its unique challenges. The goal of this paper is to discuss some of the rewards and lessons learned in undertaking a research program involving undergraduates at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UC-CS). UC-CS is a regional university in transition from a model of life-long learning to a more traditional research university. Most students work at least 20 hours per week, and many work full-time during the course of their studies. UC-CS has a particular strength in aging with a community-based CU aging center, and a core faculty committed to the population. Both the author and students benefited from an Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for the study of aging. The author benefited from the energy and productivity of the students, whereas the students benefited from having a personal relationship with a mentor and additional writing experiences.

Communities of practice and professional development

The Internet has had a transformative effect on many aspects of contemporary living. While there may be a tendency to overstate the impacts of this technology, workplaces and work practices in many societies have been greatly affected by almost instant access to massive amounts of information, delivered through broadening bandwidth. This paper embeds a discussion of professional development in this technological context, and comments on the emergence of a range of Internet‐based tools designed to assist with the delivery of professional development programs for secondary teachers. We argue that the tools by themselves are not enough to guarantee effective professional development and that building ‘communities of practice’ will become significant in lifelong learning models. We discuss some work undertaken in a professional development project with secondary school teachers distributed at a distance from the host institution.

Maintenance of Skills for Today's Family Physician: The SAGE Approach to Physician Learning

Physicians need practical ways to maintain and augment clinical skills after residency training. The problem is amplified when a physician encounters a new practice environment that requires retraining in particular skills. With their broad scope of practice, family physicians are especially prone to deterioration of infrequently used skills. The SAGE model for lifelong learning provides a simple solution for today's military family physicians. Scan, assess, gather, and experience are four key steps physicians should take when maintaining or upgrading clinical skills. This approach allows physicians to identify available resources and to develop action plans to improve skills. Supervisors must encourage physicians to be honest in self-assessment of patient care skills and should support the acquisition of improved skills. System-based solutions, in keeping with suggestions from the Institute of Medicine, are introduced.

Freedom from Choice

Freedom from Choice

Use of the Semantic Web to Solve Some Basic Problems in Education: Increase flexible, distributed lifelong learning; decrease teacher's workload

<div class="abstract_container"> <strong>Abstract:</strong> The use of the semantic web in education is explored. Two application areas for use are discussed: a) software agents that support teachers in performing their tasks in flexible online educational settings, and b) software agents that interpret the structure of distributed, self-organized, self-directed learning networks for lifelong learning. The resulting information is used by learners to help persons them perform their tasks in this context more effectively and efficiently. Both of these tasks require a semantic representation of educational entities, specifically the structure of the teaching-learning process, in order to allow for automatic processing. Self-organised learning networks provide a base for the establishment of a form of education that goes beyond course and curriculum centric models, and envisions a learner-centred and learner controlled model of lifelong learning. In such learning contexts learners have the same possibilities to act that teachers and other staff members have in regular, less learner-centred educational approaches In addition these networks are designed to operate without increasing the workload for learners or staff members. Mechanisms responsible for this efficiency are principles of self-organization and software agents. Both of which are based on semantic web principles that provide support and regulative feedback for both learners and teachers. </div> <p class="link_container"> <strong>Invited Commentary:</strong> <a class="rel commentary" href="/2004/6/carey">Carey, T. (2004) Commentary on: Koper, R. (2004) Use of the Semantic Web to Solve Some Basic Problems in Education [PDF]</a> <p class="editors_container"> <strong>Editors:</strong> Terry Anderson and Denise Whitelock.

A Win-Win Model for Lifelong Learning in Retirement

A Win-Win Model for Lifelong Learning in Retirement

Professional Reading Circles: Towards a Collaborative Model for Lifelong Learning

Professional Reading Circles: Towards a Collaborative Model for Lifelong Learning

Adult education, lifelong learning and citizenship: some ifs and buts

This paper suggests that the dominant discourse of lifelong learning is a political rather than an educational discourse. On this view, lifelong learning enables the deconstruction of welfare to be effected through the reconstruction of citizenship. Democratic citizenship properly understood, on the other hand, depends on determined progress towards a more equitable distribution of material and cultural resources among citizens. Education on its own can do little to ensure that such structural change takes place. It is, nevertheless, the task of critical adult education, as distinct from economistic models of lifelong learning, to raise such questions as urgent issues for democratic deliberation and debate, and to expand our notions of what it means to be active citizens in a democratic society. The paper contains the text of a talk given at the annual study conference of the UK's National Institute of Adult Continuing Education in April 2002.

Computer-assisted learning in undergraduate psychiatry (CAL-PSYCH): evaluation of a pilot programme.

To introduce and evaluate a computer assisted learning programme in undergraduate psychiatry (CAL-PSYCH). An interactive e-learning environment was created within the University College Dublin portal to assist students in acquiring the necessary skills in undergraduate psychiatry. The pilot phase consisted of providing their lectures on-line on the interactive site. Data were gathered from the last group of students in 2001 (pre-CAL-PSYCH) and the first group of students using CAL-PSYCH in 2002. We included assessment of percentage of students accessing the site, attendance rates at face-to-face lectures and tutorials, and also a feedback questionnaire from students who accessed the site. All responders had used CAL-PSYCH. Students gave higher ratings for quality and interactivity of lectures compared with the pre-CAL-PSYCH curriculum. Students also expressed enthusiasm about CAL-PSYCH and encouraged us to develop it further. Computer-assisted learning environments such as CAL-PSYCH provide the opportunity to bring modern e-learning techniques to medical education, and may provide a new model for life-long learning in medicine.

Half Full, Not Half Empty: A Positive Look at Part‐time Higher Education

This article explores the largely negative view of part‐time higher education in contemporary policy discourse and the academic community. It presents the available data and re‐interprets it in a positive way demonstrating that part‐time students are not only in the (silent) majority but represent a model of lifelong learning, generate significant income for the universities and represent a resource of great potential for higher education. However, it concludes that there remains an outstanding research agenda and policy debate before its full potential can be realised.