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ADULT LEARNING OPEN UNIVERSITY DETERMINANTS STUDY 2 AbstractLearning is crucial for everyone. The association between biological (e.g., sleep, nutrition) and psychological factors (e.g., test anxiety, goal orientation) and learning performance has been well established for children, adolescents, and college students in traditional education.Evidence for these associations for adult distance students is lacking however. The Adult Learning Open University Determinants (ALOUD) study is the first to identify the determinants of learning performance within adult distance education. Over the course of one year all new students (N = 4945) of the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) were approached. At baseline, 2040 students fully participated in this observational longitudinal study by filling out an online questionnaire and performing cognitive tests. At the 7 and 14 months follow-up participants filled out a second and third questionnaire respectively, and data was given by the exam registration office to measure learning performance at these times. The ALOUD study might result in tailor-made educational innovations for adults participating in distance education and, finally, a more successful distance education student population.

Research has shown the importance of goal orientation in predicting academic performance for children, adolescents, and college students in traditional educational settings. Studies on this relationship within adult distance education, however, are lacking. To fill this gap, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between goal orientation and academic performance in adult distance learners. A sample of N = 1128 distance university students (age 18-75 years) filled out an online questionnaire. Their exam grades were collected from the files of the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL). A mixed model regression showed performance approach goal orientation to be a positive predictor of academic performance, whereas performance avoidance and work avoidance were negative predictors of academic performance. Non-significant results were found for mastery approach as well as for mastery avoidance. Implications of these results are discussed.

Academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and grit (i.e., perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) have all separately shown to predict academic success within traditional education. In higher online education, information on these relationships is lacking, while this group of learners is growing in size and importance. We therefore investigated the total as well as the unique predictive value of academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and grit on academic success in higher online education. Moreover, mediation effects were investigated. Students of a higher online education university in the Netherlands participated (N = 2027, age 18–80 years) in this observational study. Participants filled out online questionnaires on the variables of interest and potential confounding variables at baseline. Academic success was measured objectively through information provided by the exam registration office and operationalized in three variables: exam attempt, study progress, and academic performance. Logistic regression analyses showed that consistency of interests significantly predicted exam attempt (B = .43, p < .001). Generalized multiple linear regression analyses with negative binomial distribution showed that consistency of interests was a significant predictor of study progress (B = .16, p < .001). Mixed model analyses revealed no significant predictors for academic performance (ps > .06). The fact that of our three predictors solely consistency of interests was found to be predictive for academic success indicates that online educational institutes should pay attention to consistency of interests of their students to improve the academic success rates.