Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning
NELLL is the research institute of the Open Universiteit specializing in research on lifelong learning. The institute wants to develop into a world-class institute in the field of lifelong learning and focusses on fundamental, application-oriented and innovative research.
Mission
NeLLL has been founded to achieve two related aims, namely:
- to create a research focus within the OU on lifelong learning linked to the various disciplines that are explored
- to create mass in the research on lifelong learning both in terms of capacity and a broad but coherent scope.
NeLLL adopts a focus-and-mass approach to complement OUs reputation of a high quality teaching/education institution with a profile of a key actor and indispensable partner to cooperate with in the national and international research field of lifelong learning in the knowledge-based society.
NeLLL provides a fertile context for starting and conducting high-quality research contributing to the development of theories, concepts, models, instruments and tools that help to understand, facilitate, and realize lifelong learning.
To fulfill its mission, NeLLL will conduct research on lifelong learning in its broadest sense, that is, on formal, non-formal, and informal learning across the lifespan. This provides opportunities to conduct interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, building on the expertise of the different schools and expertise centers of the OU.
Six program lines
In the short term, six program lines representing four different perspectives on lifelong learning are foreseen:
- Cognitive-educational perspective
- Learning-technologies perspective
- Personal and professional development
- Socio-economic perspective
- The teacher perspective
- The learning media perspective
Participation
The schools of the Open Universiteit, the Ruud de Moor Centrum, and the Educational Technology Expertise Centre participate in the programmes of NeLLL. The programmes have a strong interdisciplinary character and will result in applicable knowledge for the field of education, the professional world and governmental organisations.
More information about NeLLL can be read in the start document.