Australian Journal of Adult Learning
Critical thinking and research in the field of adult learning
Author/s: Joanna Crossman, Sarbari Bordia
Edition: Volume 51, Number 2, July 2011
Summary: Graduates need to be prepared for working in global organisations that increasingly rely on virtual, culturally diverse teams. Continue reading “Friendship and relationships in virtual and intercultural learning: Internationalising the business curriculum”
Author/s: Elspeth McKay and Cenie Vilela
Edition: Volume 51, Number 2, July 2011
Summary: The purpose of this paper is to outline government online training practice. Continue reading “Corporate sector practice informs online workforce training for Australian government agencies: Towards effective educational-learning systems design”
Author/s: Coral Campbell, Erica Smith and Emma Siesmaa
Edition: Volume 51, Number 2, July 2011
Summary: Throughout the world, people have to deal with the issues of global warming and other more direct consequences of environmental change. Continue reading “The educative role of a regional newspaper: Learning to be drier”
Author/s: Tracey Ollis
Edition: Volume 51, Number 2, July 2011
Summary: This paper explores the informal and social learning dimensions of activists as they learn skills and knowledge through participating in social action. Continue reading “Learning in social action: The informal and social learning dimensions of circumstantial and lifelong activists”
Author/s: Rowena MacKean and Joan Abbott-Chapman
Edition: Volume 51, Number 2, July 2011
Summary: The significance of findings from a qualitative Tasmanian study, which investigated the part played by informal learning in positive ageing, Continue reading “Leisure activities as a source of informal learning for older people: The role of community-based organisations”
Author/s: Donna Rooney
Edition: Volume 51, Number 2, July 2011
Summary: The overarching aim of this paper is to ‘talk up’ learning in the Australian neighbourhood centre sector, realising this aim is premised on a need to understand neighbourhood centres themselves. Continue reading “Centres ‘Down Under’: Mapping Australia’s neighbourhood centres and learning”
Author/s: Karin du Plessis, Kaarin J. Anstey, Arianne Schlumpp
Edition: Volume 51, Number 1, April 2011
Summary: Demographic trends indicate that older adults live longer and maintain active lifestyles. The majority are educated and many enjoy the stimulation that ongoing learning opportunities present. In order for these older adults to benefit from learning opportunities, circumstances specific to these individuals (e.g. age-related decline) need to be considered. The current paper reviews cognitive literature to establish older adults’ ability to learn. This is followed by a discussion of training programs as well as suggestions for course design specifically focused on older adults.
Keywords: Older, adults, learning, health, cognitive, training
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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Author/s: Cassandra MacGregor, Thomas G. Ryan
Edition: Volume 51, Number 1, April 2011
Summary: This paper illuminates and details some of the traits, pressures and semi-autonomy of the young adult between the ages of 18 and 24 who must confront the barriers and challenges upon returning to secondary school within the high school and the adult education centre context. Focusing on these young adults is fundamentally important to begin to understand and appreciate the many variables such as gender, early school-leaving, re-entry and needs that impact students who are re-entering secondary school. We present the negative experiences that many of our young adult students have had in a manner that is summative yet touches on the underlying socio-economic challenges that have forced their hand and placed them not only at risk but caused them to leave the secondary school program before program completion. A number of personal insights and qualitative collective observations present an accurate picture of the situation in one central Ontario (Canada) site.
Keywords: secondary, adult learners, young adults, insights
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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Author/s: Julie Willans and Karen Seary
Edition: Volume 51, Number 1, April 2011
Summary: The mature-age learner’s re-engagement with a formal learning environment may be somewhat akin to the novice Paintball player who, unless well positioned and attuned to the rules of the combative game, is bombarded and worn down by constant ‘hits’. For the mature-age learner, such ‘hits’ may come in the form of tensions surrounding institutional protocols, social interactions with other peers and personal challenges related to other life-role responsibilities. Transformative learning theory (Cranton 2006, Mezirow 2000) accounts for the often erratic and contradictory trajectories of personal change that some mature-age learners make manifest. Data from a 13-week research project with a group of mature-age learners indicate that these trajectories need to be taken into consideration by educators. A proposition is made that, through the assurance of appropriate, meaningful curricula and the promotion of learning communities (Gabelnick, MacGregor,Matthews & Smith 1990) that build resiliency (Knight 2007, Goleman 2002, Resiliency Initiatives 2001), educators can empower mature-age learners to cope with the challenges that will inevitably confront them.
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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Author/s: Robyn Broadbent
Edition: Volume 51, Number 1, April 2011
Summary: In 1999, a group of men embarked on a remarkable project that resulted in building a two million dollar youth centre in one of Melbourne’s most disadvantaged communities. From the outset, Victoria University (VU) was a keen partner in the project. This project had key synergies with the current experiences of the University—a dual sector higher education and vocational education institution in Melbourne’s western suburbs. There were also alliances with emerging government policy, in particular policy focused on responding to the rapid social and economic transformations that were occurring where increasingly the social and employment divide was apparent in the western region of Melbourne. Education, and in particular vocational education, it was hoped was to be part of the solution. And on that basis Government policy was focused on ensuring that young people stayed in the education and training system. Young people, as a result of policy changes in 2000, were encouraged or forced to re-enter education to continue to secure any government income support. For Victoria University this meant that an increasing number of young people with complex issues came to their door. It is a situation that is again being faced by the education system in Australia with the most recent announcement by the Federal Government on the jobs and training compact (Council of Australian Governments 2009). This paper outlines a dual track journey, one of a project destined to be built and another of a University that embarked on research, reflection and action to create a very different learning environment for some of the most disadvantaged young people in Australia. In the end, the University located one of its entrances at a multi-purpose youth centre in Sunshine, with the aim of re-orientating its welcome mat to young people and engaging them in returning to study and fulfilling their own aspirations to succeed.
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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.