The self-evaluation of adult learners in distance education programs
Published:
Jun 9, 2016
Keywords:
self-evaluation of learning distance learning adult education
Abstract
This paper reports on findings from a research aimed to elicit views of adult learners participating in distance education programs on self-evaluation of learning activities and the foreseen difficulties which they would encountered from the application of self-evaluation practices in their courses of study. Seventy four (74) adults following distance learning postgraduate courses answered relevant questions in semi-structured interviews carried out by the author of this paper.
As the evidence of this research indicates most of adult students expressed positive views about self-evaluation of their learning activities during their course of studies.
However they were also traced significant influences of their past schooling experiences on the meanings currently assigned to the evaluation of learning having as a consequence many conceptual inconsistencies between their personal learning aims and their understandings of terms and conditions of self-evaluation.
More specifically, self-evaluation is conceived either as a “measurement” process which emphasizes the outcomes of education programs or as a “managerial” activity which is focused on educational process bestowing to the tutor a crucial role in shaping the outcomes of their evaluation of learning.
A reflected reconstruction of the past and present evaluation experiences of adult learners seems to be a prerequisite for a necessary differentiation between the evaluation of their learning and the assessment of their performance. On this ground the fluency of adult learners for their self-evaluation is a key issue of adult distance education programs for which the self-direction of participants’ learning activities is a substantial presupposition of success.
As the evidence of this research indicates most of adult students expressed positive views about self-evaluation of their learning activities during their course of studies.
However they were also traced significant influences of their past schooling experiences on the meanings currently assigned to the evaluation of learning having as a consequence many conceptual inconsistencies between their personal learning aims and their understandings of terms and conditions of self-evaluation.
More specifically, self-evaluation is conceived either as a “measurement” process which emphasizes the outcomes of education programs or as a “managerial” activity which is focused on educational process bestowing to the tutor a crucial role in shaping the outcomes of their evaluation of learning.
A reflected reconstruction of the past and present evaluation experiences of adult learners seems to be a prerequisite for a necessary differentiation between the evaluation of their learning and the assessment of their performance. On this ground the fluency of adult learners for their self-evaluation is a key issue of adult distance education programs for which the self-direction of participants’ learning activities is a substantial presupposition of success.
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