Earning, Learning & Leisure - Achieving Work/Life Balance

 

Earning, Learning & Leisure:  Achieving Work/Life Balance

 

Dr. Diana K. Kelly

Keynote Address - FEDORA Conference, Odense, Denmark

May 27, 2003

 

Abstract:

The “Lifelong Learning University” is designed for changing life patterns, so busy adults can combine earning, learning and leisure for a balanced lifestyle.  In the current rigid structures of higher education, this blended life pattern is often not possible.  In the future, universities will need to become more learner-focused, using a new “Learning Paradigm” to encourage and facilitate lifelong learning. Universities must recognise that adults have integrated lifestyles, combining learning with work, family responsibilities, and leisure activities.  To become a “Lifelong Learning University” it will be necessary to develop a much greater focus on the needs of the learner, to facilitate access and success throughout the learners’ lives.

Lifelong Learning and Work-Life Balance

How is “Work-Life Balance” described?  According to Stephen Covey (1994) and Hyrum Smith (1994, 2000), it is important to consider how to balance your life, so that you spend time on the things you feel are most important.   More recently, the Department of Trade and Industry (UK) states that work-life balance is about adjusting working patterns to help people combine work with other responsibilities or aspirations.  Increasingly, employers are developing a wide range of work-life balance options, covering flexible working arrangements and flexible benefits packages. 

How has higher education addressed work-life balance?  Are institutions of higher education recognizing the needs of adults to lead an integrated and balanced life which combines learning with work and family? If businesses are starting to consider ways to make the workplace more family-friendly, through flexible working hours and working from home, is it time for higher education to also consider new structures and approaches which allow adults to realistically combine learning opportunities with the rest of their lives?

Changing Life Patterns

In the past, people had more predictable life patterns:  Education – Work – Retirement.  Compulsory education was the focus for those up to age 17 (or younger in some countries), and then selected young people continued immediately into higher education, which presumably provided educational preparation for the rest of their lives.  Following education, adults were focused on work until retirement age.  Life patterns were more predictable:  from education to work to retirement. 

However, times have changed.  Today adults, even young adults, have a blended life pattern which combines learning with work and leisure.  Young people begin to combine work with learning while in secondary school, and this pattern continues through third-level education.  Adults who are working full-time often need to dip into education over and over through their working careers.   In the future, it has been predicted that people will change careers (not jobs) several times.  For this reason there is a need for continual skills upgrade, but this must fit into the new life patterns of adults. A study in the U.S. (Quinley & Quinley, 1998) found that adults were often participating in higher education in multiple cycles to meet a wide variety of personal and professional needs.  Adults participate in formal  or informal learning, or in some cases self-directed learning.  People are now integrating leisure into their life patterns, taking gap years or sabbaticals and participating in leisure interests throughout their lives.

The New “Learning Age”

According to many reports, changes in society and rapid change are dramatically increasing the demand for lifelong learning opportunities.  Peter Drucker (2000) notes that online learning is a trigger for the growth in continuing education, but profound societal changes are increasing the demand for lifelong learning.  Unlike today’s higher education model in which students “come to the campus,” in the new Learning Age, learning opportunities will be “anytime, anywhere” through a combination of delivery modes:  distance and online learning, campus-based courses, corporate universities, and for-profit institutions.  If this is the new learning age, what prevents adults from participating in higher education to a greater extent?  Traditional higher education may need to change radically to be a part of the new Learning Age.

Barriers to participation in Lifelong Learning

There are three types of barriers that may prevent adults from coming to higher education.  First, there are dispositional barriers:  some adults feel that “higher education is for others – not for me.”  This is often the result of prior negative experiences in education or poor literacy skills.  Second, situational barriers are personal issues which may prevent participation in higher education.  These may include lack of time and money, work and family responsibilities, and lack of transportation or child care. 

Finally, institutional barriers are those which are unintentionally set in place by higher education institutions.  Because institutions were developed to meet the needs of more predictable life patterns, they now present institutional barriers to Lifelong Learners with blended life patterns.  What if an adult wants to enroll in a course in November?  He may be told that the only entry point of the year is September, so he will need to wait until next year.  What if an adult is only available to attend a course one evening per week?  She may be told that the course meets three evenings per week – it’s the only way it’s scheduled.  Scheduling, locations, admissions procedures, lack of support services, and lack of flexibility in course structures are institutional barriers which might prevent adults from participating in higher education.

A Learner-Centered Strategy for the future:  The “Lifelong Learning University”

Many European reports on lifelong learning have been issued in recent years, and they are all making the same recommendations.  To increase lifelong learning, higher education must do the following:  become more flexible through modularization of curriculum, make scheduling and location of courses convenient to adults, provide smooth transitions from various providers, recognize and accredit prior learning (including experiential learning), increase access for underrepresented groups, and increase opportunities for information and guidance prior to application.  By implementing these changes, we will create a truly “Lifelong Learning University.”

First, the Lifelong Learning University recognizes that today’s university students are rarely full-time students who are completely focused only on education.  Both younger students and adults are now more likely to have blended life patterns and multiple life roles.  They must fit education into their busy lives, and higher education must be re-structured to facilitate this. 

Second, the Lifelong Learning University acknowledges the variety of skills and competencies that learners bring, in addition to the traditional formal qualifications earned upon completion of secondary school.  Assessment of Prior (Experiential) Learning takes into account the life experiences and other educational experiences that are valuable to the background of incoming learners.  When prospective students do not have the necessary competencies in mathematics, for instance, to be successful in the chosen course, rather than turning these prospective students away they are provided with opportunities through foundation courses or tutoring  to gain the necessary skills prior to starting the course. 

Third, a traditional model of higher education is classroom based, following an Academic Year schedule in which courses begin in September and end in May or June.  A Lifelong Learning University provides courses in many different delivery modes, locations, and scheduling configurations.  It is flexible, with a modular approach to allow entry at many points throughout the year. And the learning strategies include opportunities for online learning, self-directed learning, and problem-based learning.

Fourth, the Lifelong Learning University recognizes that each learner has individual learning goals and needs, and offers ways for the learner to design a course or program to meet these needs.  A traditional institution has a more highly structured approach in which learners must complete the course or program designed by others, without any choices or areas which may be emphasized.

Fifth, the Lifelong Learning University provides services needed by adults, including career and academic advisement prior to enrolment, child care arrangements, financial aid advice, opportunities to brush up on academic skills as needed, and learning support while participating in higher education. 

The New “Learning Paradigm”  

The principles of the “Learning Paradigm” may be used to develop a model “Lifelong Learning University.”  In 1995 Dr. Robert Barr and Mr. John Tagg, proposed a new “Learning Paradigm” in an article written for Change magazine, a publication of the American Association of Higher Education.  As Barr and Tagg outline, most higher education institutions operate under the “Instruction Paradigm:”  their mission is to deliver instruction, transfer knowledge from professor to student, and offer courses and programs.  Measurement of success is often based on inputs:  the qualifications of the incoming students, the degrees held by academic staff, the number of publications by academics, number of books in the library, research output, and other resources.

However, under the “Learning Paradigm,” the institutional focus is on learners and learning (see chart below).  The mission of the institution is to produce learning, to create powerful learning environments, and to elicit student discovery and construction of knowledge.  Success is measured by student learning and success outcomes:   learning growth, and the quality of exiting students.  The barriers to successful learning and participation in learning are removed by paying close attention to the needs of the learners.  The focus of everyone at the institution, academic staff, managers, administrative staff and others, is on providing excellent services to help facilitate learning.

 

Comparing Educational Paradigms (Barr & Tagg, 1995)

The Instruction Paradigm		The Learning Paradigm
Mission and Purposes
·	Provide/deliver instruction	·	Produce learning
·	Transfer knowledge from faculty to students	·	Elicit student discovery and construction of  knowledge
·	Offer courses and programs	·	Create powerful learning environments
·	Improve the quality of instruction	·	Improve the quality of learning
·	Achieve access for diverse students	·	Achieve success for diverse students
Criteria for Success
·	Inputs, resources	·	Learning and student-success outcomes
·	Quality of entering students	·	Quality of exiting students
·	Curriculum development, expansion	·	Learning technologies development, expansion
·	Quantity and quality of resources	·	Quantity and quality of outcomes
·	Enrollment, revenue growth	·	Aggregate learning growth, efficiency
·	Quality of faculty, instruction	·	Quality of students, learning
Teaching/Learning Structures
·	Atomistic; parts prior to whole	·	Holistic; whole prior to parts
·	Time held constant, learning varies	·	Learning held constant, time varies
·	50-minute lecture, 3-unit course	·	Learning environments
·	Classes start/end at same time	·	Environment ready when student is
·	One teacher, one classroom	·	Whatever learning experience works
·	Independent disciplines, departments	·	Cross discipline/department collaboration
·	Covering material	·	Specified learning results
·	End-of-course assessment	·	Pre/during/post assessments
·	Grading within classes by instructors	·	External evaluations of learning
·	Private assessment	·	Public assessment
·	Degree equals accumulated credit hours	·	Degree equals demonstrated knowledge and skills
Learning Theory
·	Knowledge exists "out there"	·	Knowledge exists in each person's mind and is shaped by individual experience
·	Knowledge comes in "chunks" and "bits" delivered	·	Knowledge is constructed, created, and "gotten" by instructors
·	Learning is cumulative and linear	·	Learning is a nesting and interacting of frameworks
·	Fits the storehouse of knowledge metaphor	·	Fits learning how to ride a bicycle metaphor
·	Learning is teacher centered and controlled	·	Learning is student centered and controlled
·	"Live" teacher, "live" students required	·	"Active" learner required, but not "live" teacher
·	The classroom and learning are competitive and individualistic	·	Learning environments and learning are cooperative, collaborative, and supportive
·	Talent and ability are rare	·	Talent and ability are abundant
Nature of Roles
·	Faculty are primarily lecturers	·	Faculty are primarily designers of learning methods and environments
·	Faculty and students act independently	·	Faculty and students work in teams with each other and other staff
·	Teachers classify and sort students	·	Teachers develop every student's talents & abilities
·	Staff serve/support faculty and the process of instruction	·	All staff are educators who produce student learning and success
·	Any expert can teach	·	Empowering learning is challenging and complex

 Learning Paradigm Model:  Access, Progress, and Return

A learning paradigm model includes all three elements of lifelong learning:  Access to higher education, Progress to achieve the learning goal, and Return to learning as needed throughout one’s life.

 1.  Access.  Adults have convenient access to learning opportunities throughout their lives:  anytime, anywhere.  Courses may be scheduled in formats which enhance learning while also providing convenient access for adults, through modes such as online learning, accelerated courses, and “Weekend College” (Kelly, 1998).

This also means that universities may need to develop stronger linkages with other educational providers to facilitate access of non-traditional students.  Access Courses can also provide greater opportunities for those with limited academic skills.  And, most importantly, guidance services must be provided to adults who are thinking about returning to education. 

Research on student retention indicates that poor course choice is one of the leading causes of drop out.  Adults who are balancing learning with work and family responsibilities want to ensure that their precious time is used in pursuing the right course that will result in the learning the need. Assistance with career counselling, course selection, Assessment of Prior (Experiential) Learning, and application information must be provided to adults well in advance of their decision to come into a university. A welcoming “One Stop Centre” (Kelly, 2001) in a convenient community or downtown location is the ideal solution to ensure that adults have all of the information  and services they need to successfully access higher education.

2.  Progress.  Learners progress to achieve their learning goals, with necessary supports as needed.  This means that the learning and teaching methods are those which are learner-centered, promoting active learning and problem-solving.  Learners work together with peers and teacher to achieve their learning goals.  Continuous assessments include formative assessments which let the learner know how well they are doing prior to the summative assessments.  Peer and self assessments are used to monitor learning achievements.  On-going supports for learning are provided for those who need extra help or individualized tutoring.

3.  Return.  Learners return to learning as needed or desired throughout their lives. Universities are in touch with former students and graduates to invite them back to participate in learning activities.  Adults may need to upgrade their qualifications or learn new technology skills.  Career enhancement may be gained through CPD courses providing updates on the latest trends and developments in their field.  Adults are also interested in participating in learning activities for pleasure.  Whatever the reason, universities should encourage the on-going participation of their former students for their lifelong learning needs and desires.

Concluding Thoughts:

What will happen in the future if higher education does not change to a Lifelong Learning Model which promotes Work-Life Balance?  In 1994 James Botkin and Stan Davis published a book called “The Monster Under the Bed.”  This book outlines the history of higher education, pointing out that higher education was originally controlled and funded by the church, then gradually the control and funding shifted to the government.  Today another shift may be starting to occur – a shift to control and funding of higher education by business.  Some of the wealthiest institutions of higher education are funded partially through research done for business.  Some of the newest higher education institutions are operated as businesses.  The University of Phoenix in North America is a good example of a Lifelong Learning University which provides high quality education for adults and uses most of the principles of the Learning Paradigm.  They currently have over 150,000 students, and have started world wide operations.  Unless state-funded universities make changes to a Lifelong Learning Model, it is possible that gradually, over time, the higher education institutions that are most successful at attracting adults to lifelong learning will be those that are funded and controlled by business as Lifelong Learning Universities.

Universities should consider the importance of using the “Learning Paradigm” to adapt the institutions to the need for Lifelong Learning.  By focusing on learners and learners needs, universities will achieve success as Lifelong Learning Universities.  If they do not, other institutions are likely to take their place to serve the lifelong learning needs in the future.

Resources

Work-Life Balance

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Covey, S. (1994)  First Things First:  To Live, To Love, To Learn, To Leave a Legacy.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.

Department of Trade and Industry, UK:  http://164.36.164.20/work-lifebalance.

EQUAL Community Initiative, Ireland:  Work Life Balance Network:  www.equal-ci.ie/proj/en.html

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Irish Congress of Trade Unions:  www.ictu.ie/html/services/projects/family_friendly.htm

OECD (2001)  “Balancing Work and Family Life:  Helping Parents into Paid Employment.”  In OECD Employment Outlook 2001, Chapter 4.  Paris:  OECD.  www.oecd.org/pdf/M0028000/Mooo28055.pdf

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Smith, H. (2000)  What Matters Most:  The Power of Living Your Values.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.

 

Lifelong Learning

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Kelly, D. (2001).  “One Stop Centre for Adult and Lifelong Learning.”  NCGE News, National Centre for Guidance in Education (Ireland), Winter 2001, p. 9.

Kelly, D. (1998).  “Weekend College:  Learning Paradigm for Adult Learners.”  The Catalyst, Journal of the National Council for Continuing Education and Training (NCCET – USA), Vol. XXVII, No. 2, pp. 3-5.

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University of Phoenix website:  http://www.phoenix.edu/

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Wagner, A. (2000).  Who Participates?  New Groups and New Pathways in Tertiary Education in OECD Countries.  Conference Proceedings:  A Vision for Higher Education – Challenges for The Millenium, May, 2000.  Cork:  University College Cork.  http://www.ucc.ie/ucc/units/equality/pubs/Millennium/whoparticipates.htm

Learning Paradigm

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