With e-learning technologies evolving and expanding at high rates, organizations and institutions around the world are integrating massive open online courses (MOOCs) and other open educational resources (OERs). MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South explores the initiatives that are leveraging these flexible systems to educate, train, and empower populations previously denied access to such opportunities. Featuring contributors leading efforts in rapidly changing nations and regions, this wide-ranging collection grapples with accreditation, credentialing, quality standards, innovative assessment, learner motivation and attrition, and numerous other issues. The provocative narratives curated in this volume demonstrate how MOOCs and OER can be effectively designed and implemented in vastly different ways in particular settings, as detailed by experts from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific/Oceania, and the Caribbean. This comprehensive text is an essential resource for policy makers, instructional designers, practitioners, administrators, and other MOOC and OER community stakeholders.

Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age examines contemporary issues in the design and delivery of effective learning through a critical discussion of the theoretical and professional perspectives informing current digital education practice. This third edition has been thoroughly revised to address socio-cultural approaches, learning analytics, curriculum change, and key theoretical developments from education sciences. Illustrated by case studies across disciplines and continents for a diversity of researchers, practitioners, and lecturers, the book is an essential guide to learning technologies that is pedagogically sound, learner-focused, and accessible.

Over the last decade there has been a resurgence of interest in what adults learn in their later years (often described as beyond 65) and how this learning is linked to current personal, social and global issues. This learning commonly occurs in informal ways as seniors go about their daily lives. This kind of informal learning can be supplemented by non-formal education (via participation in planned learning as members of organizations) and less frequently in formal education structures such as universities. This book highlights how older people are learning in a myriad of ways and conditions. It covers everything from individualistic learning through to national issues of older adult education. Fresh perspectives are provided on biographical insights into retirement and higher education, how older people generate know-how in the company of others and in cross-cultural aspects, such as Chinese elders in Hong Kong and Maori seniors in Aotearoa New Zealand. In addition, the links between health and learning are explored, as well as the commitment universities in three countries have made to become age-friendly. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.

This is the first book to explore adult mathematics education. It aims to situate research and practice in adults learning mathematics within the wider field of lifelong learning and lifelong education. Topics covered include: mathematics and common sense; statistical literacy and numeracy; new theories on learning mathematics; mathematical competences for the workplace; ethnomathematics; and the training of tutors

Responding to the emerging needs of lifelong learners arguably represents one of the most fundamental challenges facing higher education systems of the countries of the developing world. At the start of the new century the concept of Lifelong Learning may indeed be counted as one of the the key organising concepts underlying public policy in many countries. The interpretation of the concept, however, remains highly contested.
This timely book throws new light on the dramatic changes taking place in higher education through an exploration of the participation of "non-traditional" students in ten countries. Among others, the following areas are explored:
* the complex reality behind the statistics on participation in higher education in five European countries (Austria, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom), North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand
* contrasting perceptions of lifelong learning
* changing patterns of participation by adults in higher education
* national and institutional policies and innovations to accommodate non-traditional students and new forms of study
* conclusions for policy, practice and research
Higher Education for Lifelong Learners will be of interest to academics, researchers and students involved with higher education, lifelong learning, and comparative education as well as policy makers, educational managers and administrators. The contributions reveal a remarkable transformation in the student body and in the way learners pursue their studies, highlighting the international impact of increasing marketisation and differentiation on the nature of the higher education accessible to potential lifelong learners.

Further and Higher Education in the UK has expanded greatly in recent years, bringing into education large numbers of young people who present teachers with new challenges. At the same time, there is an immense pressure to improve the quality of learning and teaching, and to encourage students to be active participants in the process.
This book is aimed at teachers, aspiring teachers and other professionals in upper secondary schools, further education colleges and universities who wish to increase learner motivation and to create opportunities for greater learner autonomy. It will:
* relate learning theory to practice
* provide practical help for teachers to understand how they tend to interact with students
* suggest how they may build a repertoire of teaching styles that foster sharing of responsibility with learners for more effective learning.

This book explores the reasons why adult ESL learners drop out of their language classes and suggests explicit strategies for keeping students engaged. The most effective strategies may be personal rather than technical or curricular. Based on a study of a group of Mexican immigrants to the US, the author proposes that superacion or 'self-actualization' is crucial to understanding the relative success of adult ESL learners. Learners' decisions to drop out were not hasty or superficial but were based on a commonsense assessment concerning how the class might improve the quality of their lives. Those involved in delivering ESL to adult learners should stress the tangible, practical advantages that accrue with learning English, and at the same time strive to make instruction relevant.

This book explores the reasons why adult ESL learners drop out of their language classes and suggests explicit strategies for keeping students engaged. The most effective strategies may be personal rather than technical or curricular. Based on a study of a group of Mexican immigrants to the US, the author proposes that superacion or 'self-actualization' is crucial to understanding the relative success of adult ESL learners. Learners' decisions to drop out were not hasty or superficial but were based on a commonsense assessment concerning how the class might improve the quality of their lives. Those involved in delivering ESL to adult learners should stress the tangible, practical advantages that accrue with learning English, and at the same time strive to make instruction relevant.

The education division is a prominent part of the public health profession. It focuses on educating individuals and communities to promote health and prevent disease. The educators are drawn from a diverse range of disciplines and defined as professionally prepared individuals who serve in a variety of roles using appropriate educational strategies and methods to facilitate the development of policies, procedures, interventions, and systems conducive to the health of individuals.This unique volume in the Global Science Education Series describes some of the challenges faced by this profession in helping the audience to understand public health and solve health issues. Key Features: Aids researchers in designing an evaluation study in CPE for health professions and related fields Presents data on how public health practice comprises of individuals working together toward promoting population health Covers continuing professional education in the US and how it can be adopted globally Discusses the Kirkpatrick's four-level evaluation model at length Demonstrates how questionnaires are preferable in evaluating CPE programs due to their cost effectiveness and being user friendly

Discover the secrets and tips to get the business education you need, the faster and cheaper way. The average debt load for graduates of the top business schools has now exceeded $100,000. For most young professionals, this means spending the first half of their career in the red and feeling pressure to take the first position offered to them so that they can start paying off their debt. However, it doesn't have to be that way. Author and businesswoman Laurie Pickard discovered a way to get the business education she needed to land her dream job while avoiding the massive school loans that plague so many. In Don't Pay for Your MBA, she shares all that she learned so that others can benefit as well. Pickard discovered that the same prestigious business schools that offer the MBAs so many covet also offer MOOCs (massive online open courses) for low or even no cost. Within these pages, you will learn how to: Define your goals and tailor a curriculum that is geared toward your dream job Master the language of business Build a strong network Choose a concentration and deepen your expertise Showcase your nontraditional education in a way that attracts companies Don't fall for the lies that pressure countless graduates every year into MBA programs and insurmountable debt. Self-directed online learning can fill gaps in your training, position you for promotions, and open new opportunities--at a fraction of the cost!

Enhancing the Wellbeing and Wisdom of Older Learners: A Co-research Paradigm examines how lifelong learning, becoming wise, and sharing wisdom are integrally linked to older people's wellbeing. The book highlights appropriate learning styles and pedagogies for older people, including research models emphasising participation, and offers recommendations for research in lifelong learning with the potential to effect change. Focusing upon a collaborative action research project, 'Sagaciation', chapters explore the involvement of older learners in the design and delivery of the scheme, which enabled them to expand their knowledge and skills, and to fully engage as critical and creative voices in a supportive and welcoming environment. The book offers an account of the process of the action research, as well as its findings. The project is set into the context of leading academic thinking on fields such as the growth of an ageing population, the rise of literature on ageing, negative and positive constructions of ageing, social gerontology, the wellbeing and health of older people, and educational gerontology. This book challenges negative representations of older people as a burden by offering a paradigm of hope, resilience, and sagacity within education and beyond. It will appeal to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of adult education, lifelong learning, gerontology, mental health and wellbeing, and the sociology of education, as well as to policymakers and those working with older people

The field of Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) has long been influential beyond its already porous borders, and continues to be a source of important ideas, inspiration, and innovative practices for those in disciplines such as educational administration, social work, nursing, and counseling. Recognizing this, the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education commissioned the editors to create this compendium, which provides an invaluable resource to readers already established in the field, those entering the field, and to myriad neighbors of the field as well. This four-volume compendium (also available as a combined e-book) brings together a host of national and international contributors to map the field of ACE in a series of brief articles addressing key theories and practices across its many domains and settings. These are arranged in four volumes, available either individually or as a set: Volume One: The Adult Learner Volume Two: Teaching and Learning in ACE Vol. Three: Leading and Managing ACE Volume Four: Inquiry and Influences The volume on Adult Learners will include articles addressing topics such as adult development, diversity, learning abilities, the influence of personality on learning, and the role of experience in adult learning. By far the largest segment of learners in society, and currently the largest segment of college students as well, a better understanding of the adult learner is vital for educators of all kinds. Volume two addresses Teaching and Learning topics ranging from methods and roles to programs and materials. Encompassing formal and informal learning, as well as the variety of focus and setting, from cultural to occupational, this volume explores the wide range of theory and practice in ACE. Issues of Leadership and Administration such as planning and resource allocation, organizational change and culture, and the value of a shared vision for all stakeholders are addressed in the third volume. From practical matters like staffing and volunteers, to big-picture issues such as alternative visions for the future of the field, this volume offers vital knowledge and insight. The final volume, on Inquiry and Influences, examines the context, trends, and methods of research and evaluation in the field's many domains. Wide-ranging inquiry has always been a hallmark of ACE, and only continues to grow along with the recognition of the importance of adult learning for learners and for the society as a whole. All four volumes are available as a single e-book, to make the most of the inter-relatedness of the various topics. This version uses live links in the table of contents and combined index (as well as keywords at the start of each article) to enable readers to follow their own topical interests and thus create unique learning pathways for themselves.

Teachers and Teaching in Vocational and Professional Education introduces a critical understanding of how teachers deliver occupational or vocational courses at various academic levels. Including wider coverage of work-related programmes and based on empirical research, this book uses the term occupation-related to refer to programmes spanning several academic levels and education sectors, including the further and higher education sectors. The book disassociates the English context of work-related studies, where issues of the academic-vocational division and socio-cultural dimensions have hampered critical investigations of this under-researched topic. Also, it offers a conceptual framework from the perspectives of teachers in their teaching and work-related settings derived from the understanding and development of Bernstein's recontextualization process. Teachers and Teaching in Vocational and Professional Education will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates who are engaged in the study of education and occupation-related programmes. The programme areas include accounting, dental hygiene, equine studies, fashion and textiles, health and social care, medical training of clinicians and emergency medicine, and travel and tourism.

Preparing Students for College and Careers addresses measurement and research issues related to college and career readiness. Educational reform efforts across the United States have increasingly taken aim at measuring and improving postsecondary readiness. These initiatives include developing new content standards, redesigning assessments and performance levels, legislating new developmental education policy for colleges and universities, and highlighting gaps between graduates' skills and employers' needs. In this comprehensive book, scholarship from leading experts on each of these topics is collected for assessment professionals and for education researchers interested in this new area of focus. Cross-disciplinary chapters cover the current state of research, best practices, leading interventions, and a variety of measurement concepts, including construct definitions, assessments, performance levels, score interpretations, and test uses. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This edited collection was produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the journal Comparative Education, one of the most established and prestigious journals in the field. Each chapter was written by a leading scholar of comparative and international education. The collection marks a creative and critical engagement with some of the most important topics in contemporary comparative education, including 'big data', pedagogy, adult education, scholarly mobility, and gender. The theme of 'silences' connects the papers: while comparative education covers the breadth and depth of educational concerns, it has its own obsessions, but which themes do not receive the attention they deserve? This book will be of interest to anyone interested in the theory, method and practice of comparative education today or in its development over the past 50 years. It will be informative to all scholars and graduate students concerned with education in its global contexts. In addition, to those readers who situate themselves within the field of comparative and international education, it offers a unique perspective on this important area of inquiry and the activities, preoccupations, absences and communities within it. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

People with autism are being left behind today, with only 16 per cent in full-time employment. This inspiring book addresses the lack of understanding of the wonderful contributions people across the autism spectrum can make to the workplace, drawing attention to this vast untapped human resource. Employers who create supportive workplaces can enhance their companies by making use of the talents of people with autism while also helping to produce a more inclusive and tolerant society, and people with autism can themselves benefit materially and emotionally from improved employment opportunities. Packed with real-life case studies examining the day-to-day working lives of people across the autism spectrum in a wide variety of careers, this book provides constructive solutions for both employers seeking to improve their workplaces and for individuals with autism considering their employment options. It dispels popular myths about autism, such as that everyone is good at IT, and crucially tackles the potential job opportunities available across the spectrum, including for those who have no language at all. It also highlights the neglected area of gender differences in the workplace and the costs of autistic females' ability to 'camouflage' their condition. This book is a must-read for parents, employers and adults with autism, and for anyone interested in the present and future of people with autism in the workplace who will benefit from the positive message that employing autistic people is not an act of charity but one that makes sound economic sense.

This book brings together theoretical and practical debates from adult literacy and language education with those of creative writing and community publishing work. Illustrated by accounts of first-hand experience, each chapter focuses on the practical business of achieving good learning and development opportunities for women and men of all ages. Whether working with refugees seeking confidence in spoken English, elderly people reflecting on life experience, or basic education students wishing to 'improve' their literacy, the principle with which the writers are engaged is that of democracy - a process which has lessons both uncomfortable and exciting for educators, as well as for learners. In direct opposition to current imperatives to standardisation and 'standards', the writers in this book argue for the effectiveness of deeper and more generous approaches to literacy and language: approaches which are at the heart of the community publishing movement in the UK. As Judy Wallis puts it: I am not arguing that the teaching of formal skills should be abandoned. Adult Basic Education students know better than anyone that it is important to spell correctly and to write in Standard English because people will discriminate against those who can't... The issue is not whether students need to acquire formal writing skills, but how they can acquire them most successfully.

Originally published in 1985. This book explores issues around education for women and uses the British experience as an example of what adult education in its variety can offer to women in breaking traditional moulds. The text raises questions about where women are, where they might be, and how education as a whole can be used by women, for women. The critique of adult education is both theoretical and useful for practice, including many case studies from areas as diverse as the education of minority women, setting up of women's education centres, working with childminders, and courses at the Open University.

Originally published in 1983, this book not only dissects the intrinsic and oppressive sexism of conventional adult and continuing education, but also argues the case for women-centred education with a powerful and compelling logic. A challenging and controversial book of the time, mixing provocative theories with details of practice in a wide-ranging and readable debate, it addresses the process through which women's rights to educational equality can be guaranteed. "Arguably the first feminist analysis of adult education" Daniel Schugurensky

This book examines three sites of pedagogical innovation, all of which are explicitly activisms against the current political and pedagogical climate. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework including autonomous Marxism, post-anarchism, social movement theories and theories of critical pedagogy, it examines social movements though a pedagogical lens and attempts to understand how connections can be made between social movement learning and other initiatives and forms of higher learning. With studies of the London Occupy! movement; The Social Science Centre, a co-operative higher learning provider that practises popular education in city venues; and a university politically opposing the 'student as consumer' ethos, Spaces of Political Pedagogy connects these various projects as a continuum of educational experimentation, offering insights into the ways in which these sites practice pedagogy and the manner in which these practices could be implemented more widely to inform and improve struggles for wider social justice. As such, it will appeal to scholars of education and sociology with interests in pedagogy, social movements and activism.

This timely Handbook takes stock of the range of debates that characterise the field of international education and development, and suggests key aspects of a research agenda for the next period. It is deliberately divergent in its approach, recognising the major ideological and epistemological divides that characterise a field that draws on many traditions. Leading and emergent voices from different paradigms and contexts are afforded a space to be heard and each section puts current debates in larger historical contexts. The Handbook is divided in four parts and book-ended by an introduction and a conclusion, the latter oriented towards the implications that the volume has for future research agendas. The first part explores major strands of debates about education's place in development theory. The second acknowledges the disciplining of the field by the education for all movement and examines the place that learning and teaching, and schools play in development. Part three looks beyond schools to consider early years, adult and vocational education but focuses particularly on the return to thinking about higher education's role in development. The final part considers the changing, but still important, role that international cooperation plays in shaping education in developing countries. Featuring over thirty chapters written by leading international and interdisciplinary scholars, the Routledge Handbook of International Education and Development offers the first comprehensive and forward-looking resource for students and scholars.

Lifelong learning is a key concept for the development of adult education as an area of practice and theoretical consideration. In recent decades, meanwhile, the idea of lifelong education and learning has been central to the guidance of various international organizations of many countries. Currently, lifelong learning is widely accepted in terms of its benefits, thus the meanings it can contain are rarely questioned. This book proposes three models for analyzing public adult education policies: the democratic-emancipatory model, the modernization and state control model, and the human resources management model. The models guide a critical discussion on European Union policies for the adult education and training sector. This analysis also contains references to national adult education policies. The book further describes the proposals presented by UNESCO since the 1970s with respect to lifelong education and lifelong learning. The book will prompt the reader to question ways of looking at a priority issue in contemporary public policies. (Series: Study Guides in Adult Education)

The rise of Far Right populism poses major challenges for communities, exacerbating divisions, hate speech and hate crime. This book shows how communities and social justice movements can effectively tackle these issues, working together to mitigate their underlying causes and more immediate manifestations. Showing that community-based learning is integral to the development of strategies to promote more hopeful rather than more hateful futures, Mayo demonstrates how, through popular education and participatory action research, communities can develop their own understandings of their problems. Using case studies that illustrate education approaches in practice, she shows how communities can engineer democratic forms of social change.

Leadership of different kinds exists at many levels in the post-compulsory sector-from principles to programme leaders, administrative staff and even caretakers. Based around case studies of current leaders in post-compulsory education, this unique book explores a number of leadership models and styles in order to provide inspiration and guidance for the next wave of potential leaders. * Captures authentic "voices of the leaders" * Includes examples of further, adult, community and prison education * Covers all type of leadership: charismatic leaders, academic leaders, spiritual leaders, women leaders, ethnic leaders, ethnic leaders, business leaders Presenting a wide and holistic view of leadership at different levels, this book is relevant for all potential and current leaders in post-compulsory education. By encouraging readers to review and reflect on the models described, the book will inspire leaders of the future to develop their own leadership styles and visions.