Research
We explore how adult education can be made inclusive, digital and effective.
Services
Digital tools, specialist portals and data – for teachers, researchers, students and interested parties.
Institute
We offer research, transfer and infrastructure for lifelong learning.
Using the crisis-ridden Afghanistan as an example the authors show the importance of adult und continuing education for the positive development of a conflict region. By strengthening the employability of young people in transition from school to university or professional life it helps preventing frustration, aggression and violence – and thus also the emergence of new conflicts.
Learning and acting - theses from the subject-orientated perspective It is sketched, by means of a few basic language-philosophical deliberations on the understanding and term of the acting subject, that the pre-assumption of a narrow connection of learning and application of the learnt in acting of the participants is not appropriate.
The high mortality rate among Lesotho’s younger generation, caused by disruptions such as chronic illnesses and other socio-economic and cultural changes, has led older adults to become caregivers. This paper reports on the experiences of older adults regarding their caregiving role during times of disruption. It further reveals how older adults have learned about their role as caregivers. Adult learning theories were reviewed and used to interpret the results of the study. The interpretive par…
Subjects move and act in spatial contexts and through their actions, they create spaces. This also applies to adult learning and to the professional practice of adult education, yet the systematic incorporation of spatial aspects into adult education research to date has remained marginal. This publication takes the category of space as a focal point, with the various chapters defining and honing its meaning for adult education. It brings together the relevant theoretical discourses, summarizes…
This article proposes two interpretational approaches which sociological transformation research offers to reflect on east German transformation processes after reunification. (1) Taking the concept of transformation as modernisation catching up, a picture is painted of a society going through inevitable modernisation processes with a time delay. (2) From the theoretical perspective of contextualisation, transformation is seen as an objectless, complex, conflict-prone process during which easte…
Students of German as a foreign and second language are often confronted with the problem that dialogues in textbooks rather resemble written than oral German. Oral language phenomena are neglected and generally not systematically presented. This also applies for recent online textbooks. It is a wasted opportunity since multimedia content may be easily used for contrasting formal and informal speech.
Using the documentary method according to Ralf Bohnsack, it is shown in this essay how memory in communicative processes with senior citizens develops. Amateur photographs were used to discuss with the seniors. The conversations took place in two small groups and were analyzed in comparison. Furthermore, the statements of the interviewees were evaluated and discussed in the light of relevant literature.
This article describes the benefits and forms of forgetting from a neuropsychological perspective. By the same token, Peter Gassner shows that forgetting is not only something negative, but rather that it is even a constitutive factor in people's learning abilities. Adult education specialists will find valuable suggestions in the article on how learners can counteract undesirable forms of forgetting, i.e. forgetfulness.
This article discusses the question how knowledge may be used for new or alternative learning decisions and in how far the post-modern understanding of “knowledge” is involved in this process. More precisely, it is discussed how organisations and individuals use knowledge as a result of learning in general and with respect to continuing learning decisions and how expectations and evaluations regarding the use of continuing education are placed in cultures of learning. The argument is based on l…
Dietrich, Stephan; Herr, Monika: Organisational development and new learning cultures The theme “new teaching and learning cultures” is a thematic focus in the professional discourse of adult education for a few years already. One consequence of the hightened attention is an increasingly differentiated understanding of what can be regarded as the ”new teaching and learning cultures”. It can be observed that the treatment of the theme does not allow a restriction on the questions of didactics…