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THE OLDER ADULT'S LEARNING PROJECTS

Roger Hiemstra

Adult and Extension Education

Iowa State University

This paper examines the learning activity of older adults. Utilizing the methodology for identifying learning projects derived by Tough (1971), we interviewed 214 Nebraskans, 55 or older (average age, 68.11). Findings included the following: (1) nearly 325 hours and 3.3 learning projects were the annual averages, (2) a majority of the learning activity was self-directed, (3) there were no differences in the means for nine demographic subgroupings on the number of annual hours in learning, and (4) upper-middle- and upper-class, college-graduated, and white-collar respondents carried out significantly more learning projects than their counterpart subgroups. It is suggested that adult educators must reexamine their roles as supporters of formal institutional programs in light of the data on learning projects.

Educational Gerontology, 1: 331-341, 1976

Copyright © by Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, A Taylor and Francis Journal.

Reprinted by Permission of the Journal’s editor

Stylistically, the article has been converted to APA, 5^th Edition.

INTRODUCTION

A great deal has been written on the older adult and learning, but much of this information seems to be based more on myth than on reality. Just a few years ago many authors were suggesting that learning needs, interests, and capabilities declined rather rapidly with age, especially when a person reached about age 40 or 45. However, recent research and writings have challenged the assumption of rapid decline.

Havighurst (1972), for example, has pointed out that learning is necessary throughout life because of continuously new developmental-task needs with age. Some of the greatest changes in life prompting continual adaptation and learning come with such events as retirement, death of spouse, and declining health.

There is also increasing evidence that older learners can outstrip younger learners in certain areas. One study (Woodruff & Birren, 1972) showed that the elderly can learn certain biofeedback techniques more quickly than younger people can, suggesting that the elderly are potentially better at self-awareness or progressive-relaxation kinds of activities.

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Thus, a variety of stereotypes pertaining to older people are being challenged. McClusky (1974) refers to these as myths that are being dispelled. He suggests that many elderly are active, intelligent, and involved people who have positive feelings about themselves and their potential.

However, negative attitudes remaining in society have adversely affected older persons in their attempts to be successful in the conventional classroom. As Oakes' (1971) research has shown, only an estimated 4.5% of people aged 55-64 and 1.6% of those aged 65 and over participate in formal adult education programs.

To add to this low rate of participation in formal programs, only infrequently are educational opportunities directed at real needs and goals of the elderly (Hiemstra, 1972). Instead, "we tend to place them in 'playpens' by providing recreation. . . while doing almost nothing to furnish them with the means to keep mentally alert" (London, 1970).

There are recent indications that things may be changing relative to programs and opportunities for the older person. For example, various national organizations are beginning to provide educational opportunities for the elderly. The National Institute for Senior Centers is working to upgrade senior center personnel so that better educational programs can be provided (National Council on Aging, 1974). In addition, the National Retired Teachers Association has initiated a program entitled "The Institute of Lifetime Learning," and the American Association of Retired Persons has developed an educational program entitled the "Herman L. Donovan Senior Citizen's Fellowship Program" (Kobasky, 1974).

De Crow (1974) completed a national study designed to uncover the extent of learning opportunity in a variety of agencies. Some 3,500 different programs were reported from all parts of the educational field and from a variety of nonschool organizations. Of the 3,500 reporting agencies, 58% had begun new activities within the year preceding the receipt of the questionnaire. Such findings suggest a rapid growth in learning opportunity for the older person. It is hoped that older people can be helped to take advantage of the opportunities and that such opportunities will be directed toward their crucial needs and goals.

Consequently, the problem for this study was to secure a better understanding of the learning activities of the older adult. It is anticipated that such information will help educators plan and implement better learning opportunities for the older person.

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METHOD

Subjects

The population for the study consisted of 214 adults, 55 and older, living in Nebraska. The entire sample consisted of 256 individuals. However, 42 did not provide answers on the amount of learning. Thus, the 214 figure includes those individuals with one or more projects.

They were selected randomly from the voter registration cards in two communities (one with a population of 160,000 and the other with a population of 3,000) and 18 rural townships, from the rolls of two residential complexes built especially for the elderly, and from the rolls of a Mexican-American community center. The sample consisted of 42% male, 59% urban, 87% white American, 90% married or widowed, 22% college-graduated, and 46% white-collar subjects. The average age was 68.11, with 58% of the sample over 64.

Procedure

An interview schedule, based on the work of Tough (1971), was used to determine the amount and type of learning activity in a year. In this study learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, or skills and the mastery of behavior in which facts, ideas, or concepts are made available for the individual’s use. Tough’s learning project notion was utilized to define a learning endeavor. A learning project is defined as a series of clearly related learning efforts adding to at least seven hours of effort within a six-month period. The 12 months preceding the day of the interview is the time period in which projects are examined. Deciding and planning, traveling time to a learning activity, and evaluating personal progress are also considered part of the learning-project time. However, the learning had to fit our definition. Thus, entertainment and recreation activities were not included, nor was any time not directly related to the learning activity.

The interviewing process involved one to two hours of probing questions with accompanying word or topic reminder sheets to ascertain the number of different learning projects, the types, the amount of time spent on each project, and information as to the nature of involvement in the learning activity. Seven trained interviewers were utilized. Copies of the interview materials and a description of the training process are available in Hiemstra (1975).

The instrument was pilot tested with four randomly selected

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individuals over the age of 55. Questions were checked for ambiguity, clarity, wording, and sequence. In addition, a minimal attempt was made to examine interviewer reliability: A telephone follow-up interview of one randomly selected respondent from each interviewer's group was conducted. No observable differences in the data reported over the phone and that collected by the interviewers were found.

The information on actual learning activity was also compared with the respondents' interest in participating in formal adult education courses. Interviewers read a list of courses and respondents said whether or not they would like to enroll in each course. Each course had been previously classified by a panel of judges as either instrumental or expressive in nature (Hiemstra, 1972). This reference describes the instrumental and expressive classification scheme. For the current study, 32 courses were selected from course catalogs and a panel of three judges classified 16 of them as instrumental and 16 as expressive.

The respondents were not aware of the classification scheme. The reported learning projects were also classified as either instrumental or expressive by the researcher and one independent judge. The total number of course selections in either instrumental or expressive categories was compared with the total number of learning projects in both categories. No significant differences were found, suggesting that respondents in this study were actually involved in the same type of learning activity as they said they would like to become involved with in the future.

Variables used to compare and describe the data consisted of subgroupings for nine sociodemographic characteristics:

1. Age: 55-64 and 65 and older
2. Community of residence: Urban (Lincoln) and rural
3. Gender: Male and female
4. Race: White American and other
5. Living arrangement: Apartment/house and other (institutional setting)
6. Social class: Lower/lower middle and upper middle/uppers

There are, of course, numerous difficulties in attempting to stratify an individual according to some scheme of social distinction. For the current study four groupings-lower, lower middle, upper middle, and upper-were discussed by the interviewers during their training sessions. Subsequently, the researcher felt that the interviewers were able to come to a unanimous agreement on how to classify a person based on their personal. Observations and the respondent's answers to other questions. However, It is recognized that an unknown amount of error is built into this variable.

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7. Marital status: married/widowed and not married
8. Educational level: college graduates and non-college graduates
9. Current or prior occupation: white collar and blue collar

White-collar occupations consisted of professionals, executives, administrative personnel, clerical workers, salespeople, and technicians. Blue collar people consisted of skilled manual workers, semiskilled workers, operatives, and unskilled workers. Homemakers were excluded for comparison on this variable (a lower total is shown on the corresponding tables) because of the difficulties in interpreting past job experiences or in assessing the impact of a spouse’s occupation.

The t test for significant differences between means of subgroups was utilized to compare the data. A 95% level of confidence and a table showing critical values of t for the two-tailed test were used.

RESULTS

As Table 1 shows, the amount of learning engaged in by the average person each year was nearly 325 hours. Although the average of 325 hours or 3.3 projects is considerably below Tough's (1971) 816 hours or 8.3 projects, it must be remembered that his population consisted mostly of individuals considerably younger than 68. Coolican (1974) studied a group of young mothers and found only 244 hours or 4.2 learning projects, indicating the wide diversity that will no doubt be found in the total adult population as more research of this nature is conducted. Peters and Gordon (1974) also found that the number of hours and projects decreased considerably when a large, relatively random sample was used.

As Table 2 shows, the older person planned most of his or her own learning, engaged in learning primarily for reasons of enjoyment, and did not very often use experts as a source of information or content.

Table 1. Older Adults' Learning Projects: General Description

Informational descriptor	Hours	Projects
Average per person per year	324.56	3.33
Standard deviation	296.05	1.95
Median	237.43	3.04
Range	12-2300	1-9

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Table 2. Learning Projects: Supportive Information

Informational descriptor	Number of projects	Percentage of projects
Current status of projects
Inactive	176	24.79
Active	534	75.21
Reason for doing project
To get credit	027	03.84
For a test or examination	009	01.28
For job improvement/acquisition	106	15.08
Enjoyment	485	68.99
Mixed reasons	076	10.81
Primary planner of project
A group or its leader/instructor	145	20.45
One person in one-to-one situation	073	10.30
Material/nonhuman resource	028	03.95
The learner him or herself	391	55.15
Mixed (no dominant type of planner)	072	10.16
Subject matter area^a
Occupational/vocational	115	16.17
Personal/family	144	20.25
Social/civic	067	09.42
Self-fulfillment	385	54.15
Source of information
Group/group instructor	086	12.11
Expert	032	04.51
Books, pamphlets, newspapers	222	31.27
Programmed materials	020	02.82
Television, radio, recordings	066	09.30
Displays, exhibits, museums, galleries	008	01.13
Friends, relatives, neighbors	053	07.47
Mixed sources	223	31.41

^aThe occupational/vocational area included any learning related to a job or in preparation for a job, including basic and literacy education. The personal/family area included parent education, learning related to marriage roles, and learning related to mental or physical health. Social/civic referred to an individual’s role as a responsible citizen. Self-fulfillment included efforts at learning for leisure, art, crafts, hobbies, music, theater, religion, ethics, etc.

In addition, greater than 50% of the learning activity centered around subject matter of a self-fulfillment nature. The picture is that of an active learner, frequently engaged in self-directed learning, and not very dependent on the traditional sources of information.

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As Table 3 shows, there were no significant differences among any of the subgroup comparisons when the number of hours spent annually in learning was examined. However, when the number of different learning projects was examined, three significant t-test differences were found. An examination of the data (see Table 4) reveals that upper-middle- and upper class, college-graduated, and white-collar people carried out more learning projects than their counterpart subgroups. The findings from both tables provide useful information for more research on learning projects.

A comparison of the study data with 1970 census data on Nebraska found few differences. The sample included more nonwhite, higher-educated, and urban people than would be expected in a truly random sample.

DISCUSSION

Older people can, want to, and do learn. This study provides a little more evidence to dispel some of the negative stereotypes about the elderly that have persisted in the minds of some over time and supports some contentions made by Saul (1974) regarding the learning potential of older persons. In addition, other stereotypes regarding the inability or assumed unwillingness of certain types of individuals to participate in education can be questioned. Minority, less educated, blue-collar, and lower-class persons in this study were all engaged in many hours of learning.

The older person belongs to the largest minority group in the United States, a group that is growing each year. Many current writers (Havighurst, 1972; Kimmel, 1974; Kobasky, 1974; Mason, 1974; McClusky, 1974) have suggested that this group could use additional educational opportunities in order to lead more satisfying and productive lives. However, available data (Oakes, 1971) show that few older people take advantage of the formal educational programs that are offered. If many older persons are engaged in hundreds of hours of learning each year for many different reasons and in various subject matter areas (see Table 2), the question for adult educators is why this includes such a small percentage of involvement in formal and traditional programs.

Perhaps the clearest implication from this study is that educators must learn how to remove their institutional blinders and recognize all the self-directed, independent learning going on and needed outside institutional structures. This will require educators to work in new roles, to make learning opportunities available in new settings, and to make available more and better resources for learning.

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TABLE 3. t-Test Comparison of Various Demographic Variables with the Number of Hours Spent Annually in Learning

Comparison variable	Number in group	Number of hours - Mean	Number of hours - St. Dev.	t value (N.S.)
Age
55-64	091	336.74	315.81
65 and older	123	315.54	304.91	0.49
Community
Urban	126	352.11	310.95
Rural	88	285.10	303.68	1.57
Gender
Male	089	327.65	327.29
Female	125	322.35	296.68	0.12
Race
White American	185	333.52	320.40
Other	029	267.34	219.02	1.07
Social class
Lower/lower middle	099	287.21	314.00
Upper middle/upper	115	356.70	302.38	-1.64
Living arrangement
Institution	027	255.85	145.30
Apartment/House	187	334.48	325.01	-1.24
Marital Status^e
Married/widowed	191	318.18	295.77
Not married	023	277.48	407.23	-0.87
Education
College graduate	048	366.73	298.73
Non-college graduate	165	312.74	312.68	1.09
Occupation^d
Blue collar	049	314.86	407.19
White collar	098	339.93	262.71	0.45

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TABLE 4. t-Test Comparison of Various Demographic Variables with the Number of Annual Learning Projects

Comparison variable	Number in group	Number of projects - Mean	Number of projects - St. Dev.	t value	Significance
Age
55-64	091	3.43	2.10
65 and older	123	3.26	1.85	0.61	N.S.
Community
Urban	126	3.44	2.01
Rural	88	3.17	1.87	1.02	N.S.
Gender
Male	089	3.19	1.94
Female	125	3.43	1.97	-0.89	N.S.
Race
White American	185	3.29	2.04
Other	029	3.62	1.32	-0.85	N.S.
Social class
Lower/lower middle	099	2.96	1.92
Upper middle/upper	115	3.65	1.94	-2.62	< .01
Living arrangement
Institution	027	3.67	2.13
Apartment/House	187	3.28	1.93	0.88	N.S.
Marital Status^e
Married/widowed	191	3.27	1.86
Not married	023	3.87	2.62	-1.40	N.S.
Education
College graduate	048	4.00	2.13
Non-college graduate	165	3.15	1.87	2.51	< .02
Occupation^d
Blue collar	049	2.76	1.92
White collar	098	3.69	2.01	-2.75	< .01

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The study suggests, in conclusion, some philosophical and methodological questions that must be debated at national adult education and gerontology meetings and in the field's publications. How can the adult educator successfully intervene in self-directed, non-institutionally sponsored learning? Should such interventions take place? How can the self-directed learner be helped to become more efficient? What kinds of resources can be developed for use in self-directed, independent learning? The answers to these questions must come through future study, discussion, and experimentation.

REFERENCES

Coolican, P. (1974). Self-planned learning: Implications for the future of adult education. Syracuse, NY: Educational Policy Research Center, Syracuse University Research Corporation.

DeCrow, R. (1974). New learning for older Americans. Washington, DC: Adult Education Association of the USA.

Havighurst, R. J. (1972). Developmental tasks and education. New York: McKay.

Hiemstra, R. (1972). Continuing education for the aged: A survey of needs and interests of older people. Adult Education, 22, 100-109.

Hiemstra, R. (1975). The older adult and learning. Lincoln, NE.: University of Nebraska.

Kimmel, D. C (1974). Adulthood and aging. New York: Wiley.

Kobasky, M. G. (ca 1974). Educational opportunities for the elderly. In S. Grabowski & W. D. Mason (Eds.), Learning for aging. Washington, DC: Adult Education Association of the USA and ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Education.

London, J. (1970). The social setting for adult education. In R. M. Smith, G. F. Aker, & J. R. Kidd (Eds.), Handbook of adult education. London: Macmillan.

Mason, W. D. (1974). Aging and lifelong learning. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 7(4), 68-76.

McClusky, H. Y. (ca 1974). Education for aging: The scope of the field and perspectives for the future. In S. Grabowski & W. D. Mason (Eds.), Learning for aging. Washington, DC: Adult Education Association of the USA and ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Education.

National Council on Aging. (1973). Seminar on programming (National Institute of Senior Centers, Airlie, VA, December 9-12). Washington, DC: National Council on Aging.

Oakes, I. E. (1971). Participation in adult education (1969 Initial Report, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Center for Educational Statistics). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

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Peters, J. M., & Gordon, R. S. (1974). Adult learning projects: A study of adult learning in urban and rural Tennessee. Knoxville: University of Tennessee.

Saul, S. (1974). Aging: An album of people growing old. New York: Wiley.

Tough, A. (1971). The adult's learning projects (Research in Education Series No.1). Toronto: The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Woodruff, D. S., & Birren, J. E. (1972). Biofeedback conditioning of the EEG alpha rhythm in young and old subjects. Proceedings of the 80th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, 7, 673-674.

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