Part-time Learners Research Articles

Exploring The Relationship of Grit Personality and Academic Achievement: Adult Learners

Grit is defined to the individual’s level of perseverance and motivation to achieve their long-term goals. The grit can drive students to sustain and finish their study in the time frame allocated. The purpose of this study is to determine the level of students’ grit among part time learners in Technical University in Malaysia and to explore how the grit level difference based on the gender. The study used the descriptive analysis approach. The sample of the study consisted of 148 students, who studied part time (via online), distributed as follows: (95) male and (53) female. To achieve the objectives of the study, an original grit scale (Grit-O) from Duckworth et al. (2007) was utilized. The results of the study revealed that the level of grit of the students were high, and the Grit level of male students were higher than female students. The study concluded that it is important build a strong grit character in students’ mind to have an outstanding academic achievement.

Part-Time Learners’ Perceptions of Success During Emergency Remote Teaching and Implications for Future

Part-Time Learners’ Perceptions of Success During Emergency Remote Teaching and Implications for Future

Recognition of Prior Learning Translation and Transfer (RPLTT): using Actor-Network-Theory to develop a specialised pedagogy

The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a process by which achievements gained through work or other experiences can be formally recognised and accredited in higher education. It has a role to play in providing accelerated routes for mature students and is particularly relevant to part-time learners. Despite studies showing the potential transformative effects and the benefits to retention, RPL remains a marginal activity. It is suggested that RPL assessment processes themselves may constitute a barrier to take-up and there has been a move to reconceptualise RPL as a distinctive specialised pedagogy for mediating knowledge sharing across boundaries. This paper contributes to this body of work through a study of RPL participants who were academics seeking credit for a postgraduate award. The research uses actor-network theory (ANT) to understand how and why they approached the RPL task in the way that they did. By understanding how things happened and how effects come into being it was possible to develop an RPL Translation and Transfer (RPLTT) model and typology that provides a heuristic for RPL design in practice contexts.

Enhancing Learner Participation in Online Discussion Forums in Massive Open Online Courses: The Role of Mandatory Participation

Online discussion forums are an essential and standard setup in online courses to facilitate interactions among learners. However, learners’ inadequate participation in online discussion forums is a long-standing challenge, which necessitates instructor intervention and the design consideration of online learning platforms. This research proposes and studies the role of mandatory participation, i.e., learners’ participation in online course forums by instructors’ requirements, in fostering their voluntary participation and boosting their learning performance. This novel effect link between mandatory participation and voluntary participation has not been assessed in previous research. An empirical study is conducted using a large-scale dataset of 27,767 learners from a leading massive open online course (MOOC) platform in China. The findings indicate that besides its direct effect on learning performance, learners’ mandatory participation has a significant positive effect on their voluntary participation in online course forums, enhancing learning performance. Moreover, the effect of mandatory participation on voluntary participation varies across learner groups, being more prominent for early registrants than late registrants and part-time learners than full-time learners. This research contributes to the online learning literature by introducing mandatory participation as a viable approach to foster voluntary participation and boost learning performance through enhanced voluntary participation. It provides evidence on the effectiveness of the novel design feature of MOOC platforms that enables and facilitates the mandatory participation mechanism in online learning.

Pandemic pedagogies: the impact of ERT on part-time learners in Ireland

ABSTRACT A wide range of literature has already emerged which assesses the sudden closure of Higher Education Institutions during the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020, when many academic institutions turned to ERT (emergency remote teaching) in order to maintain teaching and learning. The Faculty of Lifelong Learning at Institute of Technology Carlow, Ireland, one of the largest providers of part-time learning in the Irish sector, undertook a study of its learners in January 2021, to ascertain their experiences of the online pivot. This article takes a qualitative approach to the findings of this study and it highlights the importance of acknowledging the lived experiences of our learners. We acknowledge that it is necessary to engage with our learners’ opinions on the challenges and affordances of online and remote learning, and that the experiences of our learners are key to the future of our faculty and to part-time learning in Ireland. We focus on the normative expectations of learners, and their experiences of learning in the remote context, using a self-selected sample where N = 401 learners.

A Framework for Mobile Learning Acceptance Amongst Formal Part-Time Learners: From the Andragogy Perspective

Mobile learning is posited to be an effective learning tool for various learners. However, limited studies have been conducted to explore formal part-time learners’ behavior towards mobile learning. Therefore, this study investigated the level of acceptance of mobile learning by formal part-time learners in Malaysia. A theoretical model was developed based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and formal part-time learners’ attributes such as self-directed learning, prior mobile learning experience, learning readiness, and orientation to learning. The developed model and hypotheses were examined using a questionnaire, and measurement and structural models were analysed using SmartPLS (v 3.2.7). The participants of the study comprised 394 formal part-time learners enrolled in five public universities in Malaysia. Finding confirmed the significant influence of self-directed learning, learning readiness, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions in predicting the mobile learning behavioral intention and usage behavior. These findings can be considered by practitioners to enhance behavioral intention towards m-learning usage. The attributes of formal part-time learners toward the usage of m-learning in public universities were properly underlined in this study. This study’s main contribution would be to aid in the exploration of formal part-time learners’ characteristics, which would aid m-learning practitioners in developing the necessary applications and strategies.

Strategies to Promote Meaningful Student Engagement in Online Settings

Distance learning or online education has increased significantly over the past decade to coincide with easy access to technology and the availability of multifaceted learning management system software that can be used to develop asynchronous educational experiences (Ginder et al., 2018). The increased demand for online education, as well as unprecedented circumstances (Covid-19 Pandemic) that require quick changes to instructional delivery alternatives, have resulted in many traditional face-to-face programs transitioning into online and hybrid (e.g., part online and part face-to-face) programs across curriculum content areas to attract and retain full and part-time learners (DuPont et al., 2018). Effective online instruction must be engaging and meaningful/relevant. Course authors and instructors in higher education must incorporate strategies to maximize student engagement to develop high-quality learning experiences in online environments (Fallahi, 2019; Weidlich & Bastiaens, 2018). This article discusses the application of varied strategies and instructional practices to help instructors in post-secondary educational settings enhance the quality of teaching and social presence in the online learning environment. The strategies addressed are connected to the teachers’ ability to integrate multifaceted learning goals into instructional planning and delivery in order to create effective online learning environments that may improve outcomes for students across settings and content areas (Dixson, 2015; Henrie et al., 2015; Moore & Shemberger, 2019).

How can a design-based research methodology that utilises Mixed-Reality (MR) Technologies be utilized to effectively enhance learning for authentic, high-risk situations?

Even experienced mountain climbers underestimate key dangers and make poor decisions in stressful, high-risk situations when climbing, leading to injury and death. My own experience indicates that effective education can play a key role in managing these risks and improving experienced climber’s decision making. Current educational approaches for climbers, however, are generally limited to textbooks and ‘on the mountain’ learning. It is vital, therefore, that new approaches and methods are developed to improve learning. 
 
 My own experience and emergent case studies indicate that AR (Augmented), VR (Virtual Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality), have affordances (possibilities offered by the technology) to underpin new forms of learning and therefore have the potential to enhance education for high-risk environments. Emergent use of MR immersive technologies includes classroom learning, firefighting and military training. An initial review of literature has indicated though that there are very limited examples of rigorous research on the design and application of MR technologies in authentic education, especially for extreme situations such as mountaineering i.e., no one has rigorously designed for these technologies for learning in extreme environments, evaluated learning outcomes and theorised about how learning can be enhanced. 
 
 In response to this gap/opportunity, this research explores the potential of MR technologies to effectively enhance learning for authentic, high-risk situations. The research will use a Design-based research methodology (DBR) to develop design principles informed by key learning theories as they offer recognised and critical approaches for a new way of learning in an extreme environment. Underpinned by a Constructivist paradigm, initial theoretical frameworks identified include Authentic Learning and Heutagogy (student-determined learning).Herrington and co-authors (2009) recommended 11 design principles for the incorporation of mobile learning into a higher education learning environment, and Blaschke and Hase (2015)’s 10 principles of designing learning for heutagogy. Other theories and frameworks include Constructivist Learning and the ZPD (the Zone of Proximal Development), design for mobile MR learning and user-centred design. Activity Theory will also be utilised in the data analysis.
 
 Initial design principles will be developed by the DBR methodology. These design principles will be tested through the implementation and evaluation of an MR ‘prototype’ app design solution.’ The prototype solution will be iteratively redesigned using further evaluation and feedback from sample cohorts of end-users. Data will be collected from key participant interviews, researcher observation/reflections and biometric feedback. Methodological triangulation (multimodal data approach) will be used to evaluate learning outcomes. The iterative development will lead to transferable design principles and further theorising that can be transferred to other learning situations involving preparation and decision-making as well as knowledge in high-risk contexts. 
 
 Reference
 
 Amiel, T., & Reeves, T. (2008). Design-Based Research and Educational Technology: 
 Rethinking Technology and the Research Agenda. Educational Technology
 & Society, 11(4), 29-40. 
 
 Blaschke, L., & Hase, S. (2015). Heutagogy, Technology, and Lifelong Learning for Professional 
 and Part-Time Learners. In A. Dailey-Hebert & K. S. Dennis (Eds.), Transformative Perspectives and Processes in Higher Education (Vol. 6, pp. 75-94). Switzerland: Springer 
 International Publishing.
 
 Cochrane, T., et al., (2017) ‘A DBR framework for designing mobile virtual reality learning
 environments’, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 33, 
 
 6, pp. 27–40. doi: 10.14742/ajet.3613 
 
 
 Engeström, Y. (2015). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach 
 to developmental research (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
 
 Hase, S & Kenyon, C. (2001). Moving from andragogy to heutagogy: implications for VET',
 Proceedings of Research to Reality: Putting VET Research to Work: Australian 
 Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA), Adelaide, 
 SA, 28-30 March, AVETRA, Crows Nest, NSW.
 
 Kesim, M & Ozarslan (2012), Y. Augmented Reality in Education: Current 
 Technologies and the Potential for Education, Procedia - Social and 
 
 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological 
 processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Behavioral Sciences volume 47, 2012, 297-302.

How employers can support part-time learners in the workplace: Lessons learned from the experiences of completed part-time PhD graduates in the university sector in Ireland

How employers can support part-time learners in the workplace: Lessons learned from the experiences of completed part-time PhD graduates in the university sector in Ireland

Learning whilst working

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine student learner perceptions of benefits, barriers and enablers in learning whilst working, specifically focussing, on learning transfer from a university MSc in human resource management to students’ professional roles as human resource practitioners. Design/methodology/approach The study used in-depth semi-structured interviews with alumni of the programme who had graduated between one to three years previously. Findings The study found benefits (increased self-confidence, credibility and networking skills) as well as unanticipated challenges relating to individual learner characteristics, organisational culture and work-related support that hindered learning transfer. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to understanding the mechanisms required to support part-time learners on continuing vocational education programmes from a variety of stakeholders including students, their managers, their university and work colleagues, and academic staff. It highlights the benefits of activities designed to help students relate theory to practice and facilitate the transfer of knowledge between academic and practitioner environments. Practical implications The study highlights learner perspectives that are focussed on how organisational culture and line managers might play a more central role in influencing how people learn at work and facilitate the transfer of learning from formal educational interventions. Originality/value The study is valuable to academics and practitioners interested in improving learning transfer from formal educational to professional settings.

OVERCOMING THE FINANCIAL AID BARRIER FOR E-LEARNERS

Financial aid systems help make higher education available to all who can benefit. To “adjust” the existing financial aid system to make it more student-friendly and open doors currently closed to many part-time learners and students with the greatest financial challenges, state policy changes and greater private sector initiatives targeted at workforce can use creative strategies, including altering state-based programs, creating new learning tax incentives, coordinating employer-based aid, and distributing aid directly to students.

Part-Time Learners of Higher Education: Training and After Graduation

Analysis based on state statistics and survey data of RLMS for 2016 on 30–39-year-olds with higher education, who completed part-time and completed full-time education in universities, allows to detect the degree of commonality/differences in their socio-demographic characteristics, educational path, employment status and subjective evaluations. “Part-timers” are older, among them the proportion of women, residents of villages and settlements, who are married and have children, is higher. They study more often in rural schools and graduate from 9 rather than 11 grades; more than a half go to university after receiving a secondary vocational education. “Part-timers” are very slightly different from “Full-timers” in main indicators of labor activity: share of employed is slightly higher, one of the unemployed is lower; more often work in formally organized jobs. The first ones are distributed on somewhat lower statuses: the share of highly qualified specialists (which is formally provided by diploma) is lower and the share of workers is slightly higher. There is much more unity than differences in subjective assessments of their work by “Parttimers” and “Full-timers “. Almost three quarters are satisfied with working conditions and 7–10% are not; the ratio of satisfied to unsatisfied wages is 45 to 30%. At the same time, “Part-timers” have a small margin of positive ratings. Ideas about their place in some social hierarchies are also very close in both groups.

The Part-Time Student Experience: Its Influence on Student Engagement, Perceptions, and Retention

Part-time learners have had a history of campus isolation, fewer opportunities to engage on campus, and much higher attrition rates than their full-time peers (Jacoby, 2015; Rajasekhara & Hirsch, 2000). As a result, this study sought to uncover effective ways of enhancing the academic and social experiences of part-time learners and, in turn, increase retention rates. The attitudes, experiences, perceived needs, and challenges of 41 part-time students at a large Canadian community college during the fall 2015 semester were captured through an anonymous survey. From the data gathered, effective ways to enhance the college experiences of part-time students were identified and a relationship between school affinity and a part-time learner’s motivation to remain in school and persist to graduation were established. Recommendations resulting from this study centre on flexibility, availability, and student choice for post-secondary programs, courses, services, and social events aimed at part-time learners.

Financial risk and inflexibility: part-time HE in decline

The last special edition of this journal featured a range of articles exploring important issues around the impact of financial support on access to higher education, and subsequent persistence and achievement. The authors focussed on the unstated assumption that all HE students are full-time, and their findings implied that all students in need of financial support are 18 – 21 years old. In a UK context, this ignores the 28% of HE students who can only study part-time, a group disproportionately represented by mature students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This article draws on a UK-wide study of part-time learners in HE (Butcher, 2015) to argue that the financial challenges faced by part-time HE students, together with the inflexibilities in many university systems, contribute to the diminishing attraction of part-time study, and may play a significant role in the dramatic decline in part-time HE numbers in England, and to a lesser extent across the UK, since 2010.

Part-time learners in open and distance learning: revisiting the critical importance of choice, flexibility and employability

In this article, we argue that, if open learning seeks to (re)assert a social justice mission, issues of openness and flexibility are more critical than ever. Drawing on qualitative data from a National Union of Students Wales/Open University study, which explored, in the voices of Welsh students, the identity, motivation and barriers faced by part-time distance learners, three key findings emerged. First, the chimaera of ‘choice’ – for part-time distance learners whose personal circumstances prevent any other mode of study; second, the vacuity of policy assertions around ‘flexibility’ in HE – what personalised learning means for part-time distance learners should be contested and re-examined; third, the mantra of ‘employability’ – for part-time distance learners, employability is a conundrum which needs to be understood in a far more inclusively nuanced way. We conclude that the voices of part-time distance learners need to be heard by policy makers and should inform open universities’ continuing efforts to enable vulnerable and marginalised learners to access HE.

Flexible Pedagogies for Part Time Learners: Guiding the learning journey of part-time postgraduate social science research students

Flexible Pedagogies for Part Time Learners: Guiding the learning journey of part-time postgraduate social science research students

Photovoltaic engineering e-learning applications developed for remote laboratory experimentation systems

In this paper, a functional remote experimentation system tested for long-term use stability and under real weather conditions is presented. The proposed system offers the ability to students and anyone interested to remotely conduct experiments with a real PV module from anywhere on the planet, as long as an Internet connection is available. This innovative system is based on a 55Wp photovoltaic panel installed facing south on the roof of a lab, which is installed on a motorized mount allowing it to alter its tilt angle from 0° to 90°. A camera offers continuous live video streaming of the test site. In order to demonstrate a portion of the aforementioned system’s potential, a set of five proposed educational experiments and exercises that may be performed through the Internet is being comprehensively demonstrated in this paper. Each test creates an I–V and a P–I chart, as well as a TXT file with the test data, which is automatically stored for future use. The procedure only takes a few seconds to complete and the extracted data can then be studied and analyzed in due time, allowing the student to contemplate on the results and put theoretical knowledge into practice. Remote access to a renewable energy lab opens new ways to the education of photovoltaics by offering the students a feeling of direct experience with actual PV equipment and is a process exceptionally useful for part-time learners, distance learners, as well as students with disabilities.

Language learning strategies among less proficient learners in Oman

The present study examined the most frequently used language learning strategies among the less proficient learners. In addition to exploring the influence of age and gender on LLS, it also attempted to analyze the impact of full-time work experience on the language strategy use of part-time learners .Convenience sampling technique was used to carry out the survey involving 82 students from Majan College belonging to Level 0(i.e. Foundation) and Level-1(i.e. Undergraduate). The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning for learners of English as a foreign language was implemented for this purpose. The results of this study indicated that the less proficient learners used compensation and memory strategies more frequently than cognitive, metacognitive, social and affective strategies. Age and gender had no significant effect on the frequency of strategy use. However part time students who had an advantage of working experience, displayed a higher strategy use than the full time students with a significant difference..

Compensation Learning Strategies Employed by Adult ESL Learners of a University in Malaysia

The present research is an investigation into the repertoire of compensation learning strategies employed by adult ESL learners of UiTM Penang. The participants of the study were 30 Malay part-time learners learning English as a second language. The simple random approach was used in determining the respondents. The instruments used were two structured questionnaires, – adapted Oxford's (1990) SILL, version 7.0 and respondents’ background information – and semi-structured interview based on Wenden's (1987) guidelines. The questionnaire data were analyzed using SPSS and the interview data were transcribed and analyzed based on Wenden's guidelines (1987). Results of the study showed that the Malay part-time learners were at the medium level of using compensation learning strategies in learning English. In addition, not all of the compensation strategies under Oxford's (1990) model were fully utilized. Hence, the researcher recommended that there is a need to train the learners in other compensation learning strategies such as from the Oxford's (1990) model so as to extend their existing repertoire of the strategies which would enable them to employ more of the strategies when learning English.

Teaching HR Professionals: The Classroom as a Community of Practice

This paper introduces an innovative course design incorporating both communities of practice and reflective practice as a learning strategy for part-time learners in higher education. The new design has been applied to teaching HR practitioners in a UK-based business school. Findings indicate that the suggested way of organizing teaching and learning for part-time professionals is very informative and facilitates a richer engagement with theory whilst addressing issues of practice.