A Study on the Sustainable Development for Senior Learners

• Main Authors: Zne-Jung Lee, Hsiang Huang, Chou-Yuan Lee, Yi-Huo Jiang, Chun-Yen Chang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-11-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: sustainable development; senior learners; statistical analysis; random forest; decision making
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6338

In an aging population with a changing demographic structure, the government aims to ensure that elderly people receive care. In the concept of lifelong learning, education opportunities are available to senior learners, not just children and young people. The sustainable development for senior learners becomes a very important issue because it promotes a variety of learning activities for senior learners. Many universities have started to offer education for senior learners in Taiwan. Positive experiences for senior learners in senior universities can be fostered by ensuring the sustainable development of senior education. In this paper, a study on sustainable development for senior learners is proposed. This study aims to explore potential tools or approaches in evaluating the sustainable development for senior learners for decision making. In this study, two approaches are applied to analyze the sustainable development for senior learners. The first is a statistical analysis, and the second is the random forest model. The methodology of statistical analysis focuses on three aspects such as social assistance, inspiration, and the learning fulfillment for senior learners in senior universities. The random forest model is used to generate decision rules to support decision making. The random forest in this study obtained 22 decision rules. The results suggest that the items in the questionnaire and the decision rules from random forest could provide useful information that allows decision-makers to analyze the sustainable development of senior learners.