This paper discusses the relationship between ageing and learning, previous literature having confirmed that participation in continued learning in old age contributes to good health, satisfaction with life, independence and self-esteem. Realising that learning is vital to active ageing, the Hong Kong government has implemented policies and programs to encourage continued learning among the elderly to help improve their health and quality of life as they age. Given the government commitment, it is essential that the policy and provision be critically reviewed for effectiveness to ensure that it is meeting the needs and expectations of older people and supporting providers in delivering high-quality programs to elders. In this light, this paper examines the role of government, providers and community agencies in developing policy and provision for elder learning in Hong Kong. It discusses the approach to elder learning in Hong Kong before and after 1997, which is marked by the establishment of the Hong Kong Elderly Commission. It investigates new directions in elder learning policy and provision and finally, it identifies the needs for future research and policy development of elder learning in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Studies in Continuing Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher’s website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2010.515573 ]

Learning plays a key role in ageing societies as it can help to address many of the related challenges and opportunities. Opportunities to learn should be given to senior citizens through appropriate local lifelong learning programmes. There is a need to improve research and development on learning tools and approaches designed to meet the different needs of older people. ICT has an important role to play in developing learning opportunities for older people both as a topic in its own right and as a means of learning in the so called knowledge society. This paper reports on a Hong Kong case survey understanding the role of ICT in lifelong learning for elderly and its impact of learning activity. The survey results suggest numbers of areas should be taken into consideration for older people as both learners and mentors.
[Copyright of International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning is the property of Kassel University Press GmbH.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.online-journals.org/i-jet]

The perceptions and beliefs about study strategies of Hong Kong university students in a self-access language centre were examined in this study. Twenty undergraduate students at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University were the main study participants. These students were interviewed in the investigation of how their perceptions and beliefs influenced their study strategies. Data were analysed using a qualitative approach. The emergent themes derived from the data show the study strategies employed by the students as in their different grouping orientations (individual learners versus group learners), their use of materials and tutor support. The findings give evidence that the majority of the students had a preference for group-learning activities. The results also show that group learners took the initiative in accessing tutor support while individual learners seemed reluctant. Interestingly, individual learners tended to use more materials, which perhaps reflects that they were more comfortable in using material support in substitution for peer/tutor support. Findings indicate a need to provide students with a learner-training programme so they can have a knowledge-base related to their self-access study. Providing such training may require more self-access trained tutors to better cater for the needs of students. There is also a need to change the physical design of a self-access centre, which is originally designed for individual-based learning, to better cater for both individual learning and group learning needs. Also, the notion of study strategies in the self-access contexts needs to be further explored.