Building and sustaining a lifelong adult learning network

Abstract

What happens when a group of co-learners engage in a continuous lifelong learning community in the context of rapid changes in both the use of ICT in learning and the curriculum? This paper describes a longitudinal study from 1995 to 2010 into the design and use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in an adult e-learning community operating at Paideia University - one of the world's first 'virtual' universities, based in The Netherlands. Working in partnership with Charles Sturt University in Australia, the Paideia study began at a time when all universities were seeking to understand the virtual university model and to discover which path to follow as learning and teaching online was about to change the adult learning landscape. The underlying theoretical framework of social constructivism, was supported at Paideia by its original 'virtual university' curriculum model for dialogue and peer learning techniques. The participants in this study shared a unique desire to seek alternative ways to learn beyond what was offered by conventional practice and universities. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.