scholarly journals Online Personal Learning Networks for Older Adults: Impacts on Social and Mental Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Dirk Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning Networks ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Mental Well Being

This study investigated retired older adults (age 55+) who use the Internet to facilitate their informal, self-directed learning by creating and maintaining their online personal learning networks (oPLNs), and how such use impacts their personal, social, and mental well-being.  Guiding this examination were particular research questions that specifically queried the perceived value of their oPLNs to activate and self-direct their informal learning. The web-conferencing tool WebEx was used to conduct four synchronous online focus groups allowing a total of 15 voluntary, geographically dispersed participants from across Canada to share their experiences and insights. A thematic analysis of the focus group transcripts revealed themes informing how oPLNs facilitated their informal learning goals and influenced participants’ personal valuing of their online activity.  As a component of results from the larger research study (Morrison, Litchenwald, & Krystkowiak, 2020; Morrison, Litchewald, & Tang, 2020; Morrison & McCutcheon, 2019)  , the findings presented, drawn from the online focus group qualitative data, indicated positive perceived valuing of their informal learning via their oPLNs as well as indications of favorable social and mental well-being outcomes. Interpretive speculation is provided regarding how these informal online learning experiences and oPLNs in particular, may point to a favorable impact on similar retired older adults’ personal, social, and mental well-being.

scholarly journals Older Adults’ Use of Online Personal Learning Networks to Construct Communities of Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Dirk Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Personal Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Learner Participation ◽  
Directed Learning

This study investigated how retired older adults (age 55+) use the Internet and social media tools to facilitate their informal, self-directed learning by creating and maintaining online personal learning networks (oPLNs). The research examined what information and communication technologies (ICT) participants included in their oPLNs and how they used these oPLNs to activate and self-direct their informal learning. Employing the web-conferencing tool WebEx, four online focus groups and four one-to-one audio interviews were conducted allowing for a total of 15 voluntary, geographically-dispersed participants from across Canada to synchronously interact and exchange their experiences and insights regarding their oPLNs. Using a thematic analysis method, the discussion transcripts generated were analyzed to examine learning contexts, strategies to manage learning, motivation to learn and achievement of learning goals, as well as to discover emergent themes. It was clear from our findings that oPLNs provided a virtual "learning community" that supported informal, self-directed learning via learner participation and interaction opportunities fostered by ICT-based tools and processes.

scholarly journals eutagogoy Extended: A Conceptual Framework to Support Informal, Self-Determined Lifelong Learning for Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Dirk Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Research Context

This paper reviews and then extends the concept of heutagogy, making a case for why and how it provides a theoretical and practical framework for understanding and facilitating informal, self-determined older adults’ online lifelong learning activities and processes. This discussion is situated within a unique research context, namely, older adults’ (retirees) use of online personal learning networks (oPLNs) to support their informal lifelong learning goals. From our analysis, there is evidence to substantiate the claim that heutogogical principles were manifest within an “ecology” of informal online learning.

scholarly journals Podcasts for Nonformal Learning: Using Social Media for Creating Personal Learning Environments, Personal Learning Networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Marija Stonkienė ◽  
Erika Janiūnienė
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Personal Learning Environments ◽  
Collaborative Interaction ◽  
The Creation

The use of second-generation web technology (WEB2) in education is emphasising the role of social media as educational sources. Researchers that are analysing personal learning environments (Schaffert, Kalz, 2009; Dabbagh, Kitsantas, 2012), personal learning networks (Couros, 2010) suggest the importance of social media, although this emphasis is attributed to the collaborative interaction of learners. To comprehensively assess the potential of podcasts as social media in the creation of personal learning environments, personal learning networks, the research described in this article does not restrict the definition of podcasts as the potential of collaboration provided by social media. In this article, attention is directed towards the potential of podcasts in the creation of personal learning environment and personal learning networks. By using integrated information behaviour module analysis to determine if the students of Lithuanian higher education institutions value the potential of informal learning provided by podcasts. To determine if these technologies are used for the formation of personal learning environments, personal learning networks, a discussion group research was conducted. During the research the analysis of participant podcast usage showed there is interaction between media content used for recreation and media content used for formal and informal learning. This means that the participants of the research use podcasts to create personal learning environments. On the other hand, this interaction is minimal, created only by the learners and reasoned by the search of educational podcasts. The analysis of the experiences of the discussion participants revealed that the collaborative interaction between learners involved in the research in searching, sharing and using podcasts in the process of learning is not intensive, it is typically fragmented. This allows to point out that the communities that use podcasts for informal learning are not forming. This shows that the potential of podcasts in creating a learning network is not fulfilled, and that podcasts don’t inspire participatory learning.

Personal Learning Networks

2010 ◽  
pp. 226-240
Author(s):  
Teresa J. Carter ◽  
Jeffrey S. Nugent
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Personal Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice

Twenty-first century information communication technologies are enabling learners to create personal learning networks (PLNs) tailored to individual learning goals, needs, and interests, with implications for self-directed learning in the digital age. New, readily available digital media tools, open courseware, and other Web 2.0 technologies are changing how learners interact online, creating a participatory culture of knowledge sharing and content creation that is very different from early uses of the Web for accessing content. As learners participate in the multiple virtual communities of practice that comprise a PLN, they require new skills that merit reconsideration of the role of the educator in helping learners to become self-directed in both formal and informal learning contexts.

scholarly journals Networked individualism and learning in organizations

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bieke Schreurs ◽  
Antoine Van den Beemt ◽  
Nienke Moolenaar ◽  
Maarten De Laat
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning Networks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Networked Individualism

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the extent professionals from the vocational sector are networked individuals. The authors explore how professionals use their personal networks to engage in a wide variety of learning activities and examine what social mechanisms influence professionals’ agency to form personal informal learning networks. Design/methodology/approach This study applied a mixed-method approach to data collection. Social network data were gathered among school professionals working in the vocational sector. Ego-network analysis was performed. A total of 24 in-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews were analyzed. Findings This study found that networked individualism is not represented to its full potential in the vocational sector. However, it is important to form informal learning ties with different stakeholders because all types of informal learning ties serve different learning purposes. The extent to which social mechanisms (i.e. proximity, trust, level of expertise and homophily) influence professionals’ agency to form informal learning ties differs depending on the stakeholder with whom the informal learning ties are formed. Research limitations/implications This study excludes the investigation of social mechanisms that shape learning through more impersonal virtual learning resources, such as social media or expert forums. Moreover, the authors only included individual- and dyadic-level social mechanisms. Practical implications By investigating the social mechanisms that shape informal learning ties, this study provides insights how professionals can be stimulated to build rich personal learning networks in the vocational sector. Originality/value The authors extend earlier research with in-depth information on the different types of learning activities professionals engage in in their personal learning networks with different stakeholders. The ego-network perspective reveals how different social mechanisms influence professionals’ agency to shape informal learning networks with different stakeholders.

scholarly journals Continued work employment and volunteerism and mental well-being of older adults: Singapore longitudinal ageing studies

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 531-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Schwingel ◽  
M. M. Niti ◽  
C. Tang ◽  
T. P. Ng
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Well Being

“I Love Being Able to Have my Colleagues Around the World at my Fingertips:”

2013 ◽  
pp. 110-126
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Branch ◽  
Joanne de Groot
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning Networks ◽  
Online Distance Education ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Life Long Learning ◽  
Online Distance ◽  
Teacher Librarians

Teacher-librarians are often “lone wolves” in schools. This chapter explores how Canadian teacher-librarians are participating in life-long learning in the 21st century using Web 2.0 technologies. It also explores how one online distance education program implemented changes to help prepare teacher-librarians to participate in local and global personal learning networks. Findings from a Canadian survey on this topic found that teacher-librarians often seek out other teacher-librarians for advice and support, as well as relying on regular interaction (both face-to-face and online) with their colleagues. Other informal professional learning occurs through listservs, online networks, Elluminate sessions, webinars, TED talks, podcasts, Nings, blogs, and Twitter. New and emerging technologies are helping teacher-librarians connect to one another locally and, more importantly, globally. It is this combination of both local and global personal learning networks that helps teacher-librarians move from being lone wolves to members of the pack.

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