| As the population ages, education in the post-retirement years will become an even more popular option and attention will need to be given to the contributions that older learners can make to our institutions and to our communities. This is a qualitative study of older learners who have enrolled at university for a degree. The case being studied is the Senior Citizen's Program at the University of Toronto, implemented in 1976. Since that date, several hundred older learners have completed their undergraduate programs.; The qualitative approach for this study relied on data collected from interviews during two phases of research. The first phase focused on twenty-six seniors who had graduated between 1996 and 2001. This was an exploratory stage to identify this group of learners' motives for enrolling at university during this stage of their life. The second phase of the study examined in more depth the learning experiences for five respondents. Additional data sources included interviews with university administrators, both retired and current, university coordinators, family members, and university professors. An archival search for documents on the history of this program was also conducted through the University of Toronto library system.; Current aging theory, adult learning principles, along with lifelong learning theory, were used as the conceptual frameworks and the lenses for the study. Six themes emerged from the case of the Seniors' Program: restitution for thwarted educational goals, the symbolic meaning of a degree, the importance of family and university support, struggles with the new technology, the importance of a mutually engaging teaching and learning environment, and benefits to the university and the older learners. This study addressed some of the limitations of existing research in this field as changing perspectives about the contributions that older learners can make needs to be addressed. Demographics indicate that more older learners will be accessing universities over the next decade and this study provides current information useful for future planning. What became apparent in this study is that older people have the capacity to contribute throughout the later years as part of their legacy of helping others. There are many healthy, active seniors who are an underused, untapped resource for our universities and the broader communities. |
