Participation of Older adults in Lifelong Learning via Open and Distance Learning

Malaysia’s older adult population aged 50 years and above has increased rapidly during the last twenty years, and this places a great demand on social and health care systems that needs to be paid for by the working age population. If the older adults can remain healthy, mentally active and productive, there is no reason why they cannot continue to contribute positively until the last years of life; undergoing what we call successful ageing. One approach to attain successful ageing is for older adults to be employed for as long as possible. To be employable, older adults would need to upgrade themselves with the relevant skills and knowledge that meet the requirements of new job activities. It is in this context that open and distance learning (ODL) can play a significant role. Presently there are six ODL institutions in Malaysia that offer various study programmes at the Diploma, Bachelors, Masters and Ph.D levels. This flexible education opportunity is not fully taken up by the older adult learners, and possible reasons could be that they are not aware that they are eligible and that they could participate in distance learning in ODL institutions. The purpose of this paper therefore, is to highlight the profile and the learning experiences of older adult learners in ODL institutions with the aim of encouraging others to enroll and study in relevant programmes