Open University and Zero-Advanced Students – Who the Students Are and Why They Don´t Progress?

Abstract

In recent decades, the talk of lifelong and continuous learning has become an internationally prevailing trend. Lifelong learning has many meanings depending on the interests and the determinants. On the other hand, lifelong learning is understood in the context of adult education as the OECD's contribution to market-liberal social and economic governance. In this case, the main actor is the individual with responsibilities and duties to ensure social competitiveness. On the other hand, lifelong learning is defined by adult education, cultural democracy, narrowing educational disparities and cultural equality. In the ethos of lifelong learning and in the spirit of continuous education, many adults are optimistic and goal-oriented towards Open University studies. Adult agency would seem to appear in accordance with the ideal concept. The Open University also seeks to take into account the everyday boundaries of a heterogeneous group of adult learners through flexible arrangements, thereby creating equal opportunities for learning. But sometimes, and in fact, very often, Open University adult student studies do not progress and do not graduate. For these undergraduate students, there is little visibility from the spotlight of top performers. Who are these students who enrol and pay, but who do not progress at all and why? According to the results, the zero-advanced students had preparedness, ability and enthusiasm for studies, but at the same time different challenges. Three perspectives were built on the analysis to explain the lack of progress: (1) holistic challenges of balancing life, (2) poor academic learning skills, and (3) individual student-related issues.

Lärarstudenters undervisning av virtuella elever

“…This study focuses on two important areas of teaching with respect to pupils' learning: (a) handling content, and (b) classroom interaction (cf. Maunula, 2018;Mercer et al, 2009;Emanuelsson & Sahlström, 2008). When teachers explain and represent the subject, they handle content.…”

Variation theory as a lens for interpreting and guiding physics students’ use of digital learning environments

“…Having established the importance of contrast (as a pattern of change against a background of sameness) for learning, the second concept from variation theory that we make of use of in this paper is the notion of a dimension of variation. A dimension of variation is simply an aspect across which a range of values can be experienced (Fredlund 2015, Häggström 2008, Marton and Booth 1997, Maunula 2017. In the example used above, the damping coefficient, ζ, is a dimension of variation.…”

“…Marton (2015) has acknowledged that students will 'select a meaning among meanings' (p 41) when an aspect has been discerned previously, but the idea of tracking when and how students involve previously-opened DoVs during problem solving or group interactions is to the best of our knowledge absent from the variation theory literature Häggström (2008). andMaunula (2017) both examine how DoVs are incorporated into various student-teacher interactions, but choose to refer to any instance of a DoV's appearance as it being 'opened up'.…”