PH.D DEFENCE - PUBLIC SEMINAR

The Age Matters: Two Studies on Adult Education

Speaker
Mr Zheng Chenxu
Advisor
Dr Bernard Tan Cheng Yian, Tan Sri Runme Shaw Senior Professor, School of Computing


27 Jul 2022 Wednesday, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Zoom presentation

Abstract:

Adult education plays a critical role in mitigating the shortage of skills issue in the labour market, which has been a great concern in recent years due to the fast development of technologies. Through reskilling and upskilling the workforce, it contributes to keeping the momentum of economic growth on the macro level and helps avoid the increasing unemployment rate on the micro level. Despite the importance of adult education, knowledge of adult learners' learning experiences is still relatively limited. This dissertation seeks to contribute towards understanding (i) the age differences in on-time graduation rates and the impact of the age-related school climate in adult education programs, and (ii) the relationships between adult learners' challenges and the differences in challenges confronting adult learners of different ages.

In Study One (Chapter 2), I empirically study the age disparity in on-time graduation behaviour in adult education programs, as well as the importance of peer age composition in bridging the gap. In particular, I use a difference-in-differences model to classify adult learners into different age groups and observe their program on-time completion status in cohorts with different age compositions in multiple adult education programs. I investigate program heterogeneity further and discover that the age difference and the impact of peer age composition are mostly driven by programs that are often unfavourable to the elderly. In these programs, differences in persistent behaviour in the first program year and differences in students' learning progress in the third and fourth program years account for most of the age gap in on-time graduation rates. And the analysis also shows that the age gap in academic achievement helps to explain these findings. This study makes major theoretical and practical contributions to a better understanding of within-group disparities among adult learners and the impact of age-related school climate on learning outcomes in adult education.

Following Study One, I focus on the factors that contribute to age differences in adult education programs in Study Two (Chapter 3). I perform an exploratory study to understand adult learners' learning experiences, particularly with a focus on challenges in learning. To ensure the comprehensiveness of the findings, we consider the re-entering learning experience from both a macro and a micro perspective. Furthermore, rather than trying to identify as many problems as possible, I am concerned about the relationships between challenges and the differences in challenges among adult learners of different ages to explain the observed age gap in Study One. I code the challenges and relationships based on the interview transcripts from 26 cases, which are then synthesized into a structural causal model. Lack of self-regulation is a critical factor, according to the model, with four major causes: motivation deficiency, cognitive strategy deficiency, metacognitive strategy deficiency, and management strategy deficiency. Furthermore, while adult learners of different ages share similar challenge themes, elder adult learners are more vulnerable than young adult learners to age- and information-related challenge components in motivation and management strategy deficiency, as revealed by a comparison of transcripts. The findings of this study have significant implications for psychological and educational researchers, especially those working to design effective interventions for adult learners to improve their learning outcomes.

In this dissertation, by focusing on adult learners' age, a key feature distinguishing them from traditional students, I expect to not only reveal and explain within-group differences among adult learners, but also emphasize how to improve ongoing adult education programs to help adult learners achieve better learning outcomes.