scholarly journals Development of an assessment tool to measure the prior experiential learning of adult learners: The case of Wawasan Open University

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Liew Teik Kooi ◽  
Teoh Ai Ping ◽  
Phalachandra Bhandigadi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Diagnostic Test ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Attrition Rate ◽  
Open University

Recognition of prior experiential learning offers a vital contribution to supporting lifelong learning around the globe. The Malaysian government has placed great emphasis on lifelong learning in developing a knowledge society to achieve its goal of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020. Hence, the efficacy of recognition of prior experiential learning acts as a mechanism to enhance social equity and social inclusion in the Malaysian higher education context. In tandem with this, Wawasan Open University (WOU)'s vision and mission is to enculturise lifelong learning and provide access to adult learners who may have previously missed the opportunity to pursue higher education. Since its inception in 2007, WOU has developed a mechanism to review, recognise and accord validity to all prior experiential learning (PEL) of the learners. WOU's PEL comprises a series of assessment filters in three stages that are systematically utilised to gauge the learner's level of preparedness to embark on their tertiary education. These stages are (i) Certificate Attestation and Work Experience Portfolio, (ii) Diagnostic Test and (iii) a six-month HeadStart programme. This study investigated the effectiveness of the mechanism and its assessment tools in measuring prior experiential learning of the students. The authors examined the GPA/ CGPA performance of two groups of learners. The first group consisted of those who have passed the diagnostic test and proceeded directly to undertake their degree studies. The second group comprised learners who were unsuccessful in their diagnostic test and had to undertake a six-month HeadStart programme prior to commencing their degree studies. The authors then conducted an analysis on the correlation between the Diagnostic Test results and the GPA/CGPA scores obtained. Similar correlation analysis was also carried out to examine whether learners who had undergone the six-month HeadStart programme performed better in their tertiary studies. Support services offered to these two groups of learners were also identified. The findings from this study also reveal the appropriateness of the various components embedded in the Diagnostic Test as well as the courses offered in the six-month HeadStart programme that aimed to strengthen the learners' knowledge, skills and attitudes prior to pursuing their tertiary studies. Open Universities that subscribe to the philosophy of broadening access to higher education may explore the possibility of adopting the tested bridging programme developed by WOU for weaker Open Entry students to enhance the success rate of students and reduce attrition rate.

Higher Education Environment

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Total Quality Management ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
New Era ◽  
Education Environment

Tertiary education faces a new era as expectations for good quality education are increasing. Globalization and knowledge Society formed new conditions on the global economic and geopolitical scene, and led higher education ahead to new challenges which require a redefinition of its role. These challenges have created new opportunities, new collaborations and new ways of managing Higher Education Institutions. In response to the demand for higher quality products and services, a growing number of Higher Education Institutions worldwide are implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) and the Deming Management Method. The first chapter is designed to provide the reader an overview of the role of Higher Education Institutions and the implications of globalization and knowledge society on tertiary education. Furthermore, this chapter deals with the strategic challenges of Higher Education Institutions and their strategic response to those challenges, focused on Deming and Total Quality Management.

Older Adults as New Learners

2011 ◽  
pp. 300-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Stein ◽  
Constance E. Wanstreet ◽  
Michelle L. Lutz ◽  
Tiffany Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Nontraditional Students ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Baby Boomers ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Traditional Students ◽  
Customer Base ◽  
Marketing Model

This chapter presents a marketing model for four-year higher education institutions that may be appropriate for engaging aging Baby Boomers in lifelong learning. Baby Boomers will challenge higher education institutions to rethink their customer base and respond to a different set of needs from that exhibited by traditional students and by adult learners who are currently 65 or older. Higher education institutions have not prepared for the demands that aging Baby Boomers may place on providers of learning. The PRI2SM model suggests ways to recruit nontraditional students to traditional providers of higher education.

Knowledge Management in Higher Education and Professional Development in the Construction Industry

2011 ◽  
pp. 2355-2368
Author(s):  
Fung Fai Ng
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Design And Implementation

Development of a ‘knowledge society’ affects not only enterprises and organisations, but also individuals. Lifelong learning and continuing professional development are essential for graduates and workers to remain competent and competitive. Hence, knowledge management is not only important in business processes, but also in education. As the importance of knowledge management in the construction industry is growing, competence in knowledge management is essential for graduates of curricula related to the construction industry. Design and implementation of such curricula should take into account methods for enriching the knowledge management competences of students in higher education. This chapter reports on lessons learned from the design and implementation of a particular module where principles of knowledge management are integrated into the learning activities.

Lifelong Learning: Attitudes of Slovenian Higher Educators toward Accreditation of Prior Learning Experiences

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-398
Author(s):  
Doris Gomezelj Omerzel ◽  
Nada Trunk Širca ◽  
Arthur Shapiro ◽  
Mateja Brejc ◽  
Steve Permuth
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Education System ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Prior Learning ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
The Impact

This article focuses first on fundamental trends weakening the European—specifically, the Slovenian—economy and social structure, which are creating a two-class system consisting of an undereducated/uneducated population unable to compete for employment in an economy increasingly requiring more education to update employees’ skills. Learning and education have become an imperative for people wishing to upgrade their employability to counter increasing unemployment and the impact of an aging society. The study next addresses its purpose—to discover higher educators’ and folk high school educators’ perceptions of an initiative developed to address this social and economic problem, namely, by creating a lifelong learning approach to accredit informal and experiential learning experienced outside the formal higher education system. A national Slovenian conference was organized to focus on these issues. A convenience sample of participants attending this conference were asked to what extent they perceive and expect Slovenian higher education institutions and other educational organizations to accredit nonformal and experiential learning and what criteria and conditions are necessary for a successful initiative. The study explores the European social model, which aims to improve employability to avoid increasing the two-class social system of uneducated and undereducated citizens as the economy increasingly requires more highly educated employees. Although a third of the respondents were unaware of the issues of such an approach to lifelong learning, participants overall perceived that creating a flexible education system, including procedures for validating previous education and other forms of knowledge, should be one of the objectives of higher education institutions, as well as other institutions engaged in adult education. To be effective, the system must be developed and implemented in partnership with employers, individuals, and educational institutions. This article describes the situation with respect to recognizing prior learning in European Union countries and the Slovenian reactions to them. Moreover, it presents results of empirical survey research into the motivation of participants in educational institutions to cooperate in the system established to validate nonformal and informal learning. Respondents recognized a need for and supported developing a system of accrediting lifelong learning experiences. A lifelong learning policy appears to include the three dimensions of innovation, social inclusion, and active citizen participation. The concepts of the learning society, the knowledge society, and lifelong learning have been relatively slow to emerge to become significant influences in Slovenian higher educational attendees’ perceptions as national goals for higher education. A huge discussion among participants manifested support for such an enterprise as a social good, and they recommended forming a commission of higher education institutions to develop a system consisting of a common framework within which accreditation could be implemented to meet increasing social employment needs affecting Slovenian society, with one major criterion: that it be fair and just. Another recommendation was to include employers, individuals, and higher education reference groups in developing the system.

scholarly journals Lifelong Learning in Institutions of Higher Education

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Nesbit ◽  
Catherine Dunlop ◽  
Lorraine Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Institutional Characteristics ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Lifelong Learners ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Citizenship Development

In this study, we examined the provision and development of lifelong learning within institutions of higher education in British Columbia and explored some of the institutional characteristics that enable or discourage it. The results suggest that most lifelong learning opportunities are directed toward enhancing employment and career opportunities rather than citizenship development. Yet, as the demand for higher education and the number of adult learners enrolling in programs continue to increase, these institutions are well-positioned to develop new forms of education that acknowledge, accommodate, and respect the concerns and interests of lifelong learners.

scholarly journals Governmentality - Neoliberalism - Education: the Risk Perspective

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondrej Kaščák ◽  
Branislav Pupala
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Single Issue ◽  
Discursive Formation ◽  
Internal Logic

Governmentality - Neoliberalism - Education: the Risk PerspectiveThis paper understands the basic elements of neoliberalism in education and governmentality to be the technologies for the neoliberal government of education. It outlines Foucault's methodology for analysing governmentality and shows how neoliberalism is a discursive formation which homogenises apparently unrelated language games and discourses. It places particular emphasis on the rhizomatic dispersion of neoliberal discursive and non-discursive practices, which in the end create a mosaic of thinking and acting with its own existing internal logic. This paper provides a cross-sectional perspective on how neoliberalism has implanted itself as a universal phenomenon along the horizontal and vertical lines of the education sphere and shows how, particularly through the policy of lifelong learning for a knowledge society, it is transforming first of all the education of adults and how subsequently it has become a fundamental blueprint for the complex revision of higher education and regional schooling, including pre-school education. This paper prefaces this single-issue edition of the Journal of Pedagogy and therefore presents and summarises the articles published in this issue, and suggests how they are thematic examples of a single and more general theoretical framework.

scholarly journals Towards developing the skill of transcommunicating among tertiary education students: the role of study abroad programmes

1970 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlena Iwona Bielak
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
International Student ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Student Mobility ◽  
Education Students ◽  
International Student Mobility ◽  
Global World

The objective of the paper is to highlight the need of adjusting the skills of tertiary education graduates to the requirements of the present global world, which entails the idea that higher education should be aimed at developing abilities that will facilitate communicating within and across a variety of communities, ethnicities and cultures. In the paper it is postulated that tertiary education graduates should be equipped, inter alia, with the skill of transcomunicating based on the idea of equality of cultures and languages. Due attention is paid to the role of study abroad programmes in the aforementioned process. Accordingly, the research part of the paper delves into the influence of the Erasmus+ mobility on the development of transcommunication among tertiary education students and rests on the analysis of the material gathered during interviews with learners who participated in the international student mobility conducted within The Erasmus+ Framework. The research results point to the key role of experiential learning held in territorial contexts in the process of developing the skill of transcommunicating among the research participants.

Knowledge Management in Higher Education and Professional Development in the Construction Industry

2011 ◽  
pp. 150-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fung Fai Ng
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Design And Implementation

Development of a ‘knowledge society’ affects not only enterprises and organisations, but also individuals. Lifelong learning and continuing professional development are essential for graduates and workers to remain competent and competitive. Hence, knowledge management is not only important in business processes, but also in education. As the importance of knowledge management in the construction industry is growing, competence in knowledge management is essential for graduates of curricula related to the construction industry. Design and implementation of such curricula should take into account methods for enriching the knowledge management competences of students in higher education. This chapter reports on lessons learned from the design and implementation of a particular module where principles of knowledge management are integrated into the learning activities.

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