Adult, Flexible Students' Approaches to Studying in Higher Education

A Norwegian translation of the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI-32) was administered to 1477 adult students attending flexible study programs in higher education in Norway (2004-05). The intention was to investigate their approaches to studying, taking into account their educational backgrounds and their present, challenging study conditions. The latter being characterized by off-campus studies and shortage of time due to working-life and family obligations. This article is concerned with two questions: (1) Is prior education correlated with approaches to learning among these students? and (2) To what extent are contextual constraints, personal effort, and self-efficacy associated with study approaches among these students? This study shows that adult, flexible students are primarily meaning oriented. The first-time students among them, however, are more reproducing oriented than students with prior higher education. Self-efficacy turned out to be more strongly associated with approaches than personal efforts. Obligations of everyday life, contrary to hypothesis, did not have the expected impact.