Session Information
22 SES 13 B, Inclusion and Diversity in Higher Education Settings
Paper Session
Contribution
University College Dublin (UCD)’s Adult Education has a long history of providing Open Learning (unaccredited) courses to adult learners. The purpose and value of unaccredited learning has been somewhat diminished or overlooked by policy rhetoric in recent years as Higher Education has become synonymous with accredited and formal learning. The focus on upskilling has subsumed the wider benefits of learning. This paper offers an alternative perspective on learning in the sector by capturing the voices of learners in a research study on ‘Learning Matters’.
The study offers us an outlook on students’ motivations and experiences of adult learning. This process can help establish the value of adult learning in people’s lives. It further interrogates what makes a learning experience exceptional.
This paper affords us an insight into the nature of learning when there is no other agenda or reward except the learning experience itself. The study mirrors discourses taking place at national and European levels on engagement, the wider beneftis of leaning and the significant social impact open learning can have. Critically the study reminds us that learning has many dimensions, and not all outcomes have to be functional or economic. The participants in the study demonstrate that the concept of learning for earning is both reductive and irrelevant to some cohorts. In short, the study reminds us that learning matters!
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Field, J. (2006). Lifelong Learning and the New Educational Order (2nd ed.). Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books. Field, J. (2009). Good for your soul? Adult learning and mental well-being. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 28(2), 175-191. Higher Education Authority (2012) Part-time and flexible highereducation in ireland. Policy, practice and recommendations for the future. Dublin, Higher Education Authority. Schuller, T., & Watson, D. (2009). Learning Through Life: Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning. Leicester: NIACE. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. (2009). Global Report on Adult Learning and Education. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.
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