Promoting Lifelong Learning Online

The introduction of computers and emerging technology applications has changed the learning landscape, especially in higher education. From traditional university classroom learning to community-based adult continuing education programs, it is common to see the delivery of instruction that is now supported by online or distance learning technologies. Online learning has become a common strategy to deliver instruction, enhance access to educational resources, and achieve success in higher education. This chapter focuses on practical applications of emerging technologies in the delivery of professional development programs.

"Life in the Round" and the History of Libraries in Micronesia

This chapter uses the importation of an American institution of information—“the library”—into the Pacific region of Micronesia as an example of a contextual-less, cross-cultural information transference that suggests the autonomous impact of distance education technology and protocols on indigenous and other interpretative communities. Such an impact negates the innate values of these communities as they pertain to concepts of “knowledge” and “information” derived from tenacious cultural and social values. Conflicts between indigenous values and the transferences of “the library” and subsequent information technologies are considered along with individualizing values exhibited by early Christian missionaries in Micronesia. Based upon these issues and cross-cultural tensions, the chapter appeals for the inclusion of indigenous contexts into discussions of online educational development and access to better understand and serve these communities and to provide an exemplary situation from which to recognize the importance of cultural contexts in the provision of distance educational opportunities.

Tech-Knowledge

This chapter describes how early childhood teachers can support the development of young children’s love for learning through technology, and how one early childhood education program promoted college students’ learning through online video conferencing technology. Useful suggestions for educational software for children as well as Web sites for both children and teachers are included. Recommendations on how to use technology for higher education are also described.

Online Education for Lifelong Learning

The term lifelong learning (which has played an important role in policy discussions as well as in studies of the sociology and economics of education) is increasingly important in the 21st century for college graduates to be able to take their place in the changing world scene and to be adaptable and creative within the organization that employs them. Lifelong learning has increasingly been cited but there is no shared understanding of its usage at the global level. The objective of the present chapter is to provide an extensive overview of the current literature to inform the shared understanding of lifelong learning in general and the concept of online lifelong learning specifically. The overview is represented in six themes: lifelong learning, self-directed learning, technology and globalization, open and distance learning, online learning assessment, and higher and adult education.

Lifelong Learning and Online Education

In this chapter, the effects of lifelong learning and online education in the role of an educator are examined. Lifelong learning and lifelong education, as well as online learning and online education are terms that are located in a new context where flexibility has become a central demand. In such a framework, we identify the new capabilities and challenges that organizations, learners, and educators face. Moreover, we attempt to describe the role that an educator should adopt in order to be effective and able to support learning in this new environment. This review concludes with a framework of competencies necessary for the educators who practice their profession within new learning environments that already exist or that are going to appear in organizations, as needs for learning and knowledge management are continuously increasing. For this purpose, a specific case study is presented regarding the way an online training system can be implemented in order to support learning within a banking organization..

A Theoretical Model for Designing Online Education in Support of Lifelong Learning

The escalating infusion of online education to promote lifelong learning has triggered a reexamination of teaching and learning not witnessed since perhaps the advent of the printed textbook. Textbooks changed the landscape of individualized learning as professors added reading to their inventory of instructional strategies. Today, distance education, in all its manifestations from programmed instruction to Web-based courses, requires instructors to employ new strategies in course design and delivery in order to engage students and promote learner-centered activities. The rapid growth of distance education (especially for the adult learner) serves to challenge traditional methodologies in which education is designed, delivered, and assessed. This chapter introduces a new model for designing instruction using this state-of-the-art venue, an archetype for effective instructional design for lifelong learning.

Building Powerful Online Synchronous Communications

Digital citizens have been using online synchronous communications (OSCs)-based milieus since the last decade. OSCs can provide these online communities with new and challenging opportunities via instant interactions, which are OSCs’ dominant nature, in lifelong learning. OSCs, therefore, help online learners, as lifelong learners, and communication workers (online communication designers, media coordinators, online managers, technology-support staff, multimedia designers, etc.) understand this milieu better to have more benefits. In this study, media richness theory and four cultural issues (biases, stereotypes, ethics and values) are discussed together to highlight the communicational characters of the OSCs. To utilize the communicational prospects of OSCs, this communication theory provides communication workers with useful guidelines related to cultural issues, which expand on future directions for OSCs. Finally, the researchers develop a framework according to the strategies of media richness theory, which declares that there must be a fit between technology and communication structures to reduce task-related ambiguity.

Self-Regulation and Online Learning

This chapter illustrates theoretical issues and practical challenges to support lifelong learning, namely the development and use of self-regulation within online learning environments. Self-regulation, or the ability of students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning is a critical skill for lifelong learning (Longworth & Davies, 1996; Zimmerman, 2002) and online learning (Niemi, Launonen, & Raehalme, 2002). While self-regulation may be and has traditionally been viewed and investigated from a social cognitive theoretical perspective, this chapter proposes that a Vygotskian view of self-regulation may be more applicable to investigating self-regulation within the social and cultural context of online teaching and learning. Case studies, personal essays, and contemporary research focusing on self-regulation in face-to-face and online environments are utilized to examine, discuss, and illustrate key challenges and strategies to support lifelong learning within online environments.

Constructivism Online

In higher education, the use of constructivist approaches in online learning reflects agreement with educators who stress that good teaching is both a collaborative and a highly individual process. Online constructivist application also suggests congruence with adult learning theory and educational programming designed for experiential and inquiry-based learning. The objective of this chapter is to investigate perceptions of teaching and learning in online instruction guided by the Vygotskian perspective of constructivist theory. The chapter first focuses on current research studies of online constructivist-based course development and application and then proceeds to the authors’ practical inquiry project, which examined (1) instructor perspectives on creating and facilitating online learning communities and (2) students’ perceptions of their online constructivist experiences. The authors conclude with a discussion of their findings, contributions to the field and suggestions and challenges for the principled use of a constructivist approach to online teaching.

Technology, Lifelong Learning, and Effective Foreign Language Instruction Under the Memory Efficient Approach

This chapter presents a method for foreign language (FL) teachers to implement currently available technologies as instructional tools in a FL language classroom using the memory efficient approach (MEA) to enhance instruction, and help students to become lifelong FL learners. Providing historical backgrounds of the FL acquisition or learning theory as well as technological implementation for FL instruction, the chapter suggests MEA with eclectic methodology for FL instruction. Under the MEA, the methods for “skill-using” and “skill-getting” (Rivers, 1985) are employed; thus, appropriate methods as well as appropriate instructional tools—technological and nontechnological—are selected according to the learning objective or goal. In addition, introducing emerging technologies that may be utilized for instruction in the FL area, the chapter will demonstrate a method to implement technologies in advanced Japanese courses as well as in elementary Japanese courses using MEA.