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Vertical & Horizontal Support for Adult Learners

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Vertical & Horizontal Support for Adult Learners

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I found this recent article interesting because it shares about the importance of peer to peer support for our adult learners.
-Angela Bay

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More than 2 out of 3 college students today are not coming straight out of high school. Half are financially independent from their parents, and 1 in 4 are parents themselves.

David Scobey says that, as an American studies and history professor at the University of Michigan for decades, he was "clueless" about the needs of these adult students.

But then, in 2010, he became a dean at The New School, a private college in New York City, heading a division that included a bachelor's degree program designed specifically for adults and transfer students.

"Those students schooled me about their needs and how poorly they were supported by higher ed," he says. "I was inspired by their resilience."

You'll hear a reasonable amount of discussion about "new traditional" students today. But the common assumption - in Washington at least - seems to be that they require more vocational education to fill a "skills gap," particularly in STEM or technical fields. Or that they need quicker, cheaper paths to a degree.

Scobey's prescription is different. Since 2014, when he left The New School, he has been listening to adult learners to find out their aspirations. And what they've told him is that they tend to thrive on the same kinds of high-quality learning opportunities that all college students do: small seminars, capstone projects, internships, a broad liberal arts curriculum.

He argues that teaching adults this way might be the most practical approach, and that they are actually less expensive to serve than traditional students.

Now Scobey is helping to convene a national network of innovative colleges, both new and old, that serve adult learners with much success: He calls it the Great Colleges for the New Majority.

He spoke via email to NPR about where adult learners fit into "the democratic mission of higher education," and he included quotes from his ongoing interviews with some of these learners themselves. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
President Trump doesn't talk much about higher education, but when he does he endorses What's wrong with this thinking in your mind? What's missing? vocational education. In the words of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the field needs to evolve toward "industry-recognized certificates, two-year degrees, stackable credits, credentials and licensures, badges, micro-degrees, apprenticeships."
You've asked a complicated question here. Let me break it down into a couple of answers.

The first thing wrong with this thinking is that it prioritizes the (immediate, changing) needs of the labor market over the needs and aspirations of adult students themselves. But if you ask incoming adult community college students about their educational aspirations, more than 70 percent want to get a bachelor's or beyond.

But even setting aside the question of students' aspirations, something else is wrong with the "skills gap" model of workforce training.

The problem finding good hires is actually a jumble of different realities. In some sectors (for instance, advanced, digitally driven manufacturing), innovation has outpaced training, and there is truly a shortage of technically skilled workers. Higher ed needs to work with employers and government in these targeted sectors to fill a real "skills gap."
You talk about a "narrative of personal transformation" that's important to these students. Why?
In other sectors, employers complain they can't find workers with communications, problem-solving and other soft skills. The solution to that is more liberal learning, not more technical workforce training.

In still other sectors, employers can't meet their needs because of wage stagnation, part-timing, abusive scheduling and other workplace problems. Their "skills" gap is actually a "wage and workplace gap."

And lurking over all of this is the ongoing juggernaut of automation. Many of the jobs for which workplace training programs prepare adults will disappear in the next five to 10 years. Employers will replace them as soon as it makes financial sense.

Often workers and adult learners understand this perfectly. One UAW veteran told me - after attaining his bachelor's - that most of the retraining programs were a scam: "They train union members for fewer and fewer jobs. A couple years later, it's the same thing all over again."

As I noted above, job security and economic success are key goals of college for nearly all students, young and old. But students also see college as a journey of personal growth, a way of laying claim to their lives.
What reasons do people give for returning to college or beginning as an adult?
For most nontraditional students, this dimension of "self-authoring" (in the words of psychologist Marcia Baxter Magolda) is not less crucial, but even more. They often feel that they have failed in some way the customary narrative of high-school-to-college that defines successful adulthood.

"I always felt less-than," I was told by Wendy, a returning student in Washington State and a staffer at a wildlife center. "I feel like an impostor. Coming here has helped me find my voice. It helps me move through the world."

Melissa, a graduate of an adult bachelor's program in Rhode Island, also stresses the journey of personal transformation: "As a kid, no one ever even mentioned college in my world," she told me in an interview.

"... now I had my bachelor's degree, and it was like, 'Wow. Wait a minute. I have arrived.' But then I thought like, 'What did I arrive to?' This has been a lifelong journey for me. It was, like, to meet a long-term goal, that had never happened to me before."

Many of these narratives also have a redemptive arc. Talk about what some of the students you've spoken with have told you about the obstacles they have overcome to give college another try.
Adult learners are incredibly diverse: the Iraq War veteran, the office worker breaking through a glass ceiling, the 20-something barista or construction worker who wasn't ready for college the first time. The reasons they give are often a complicated mix.

Dorian, another Washington State adult student, told me:

"I came back to college because I felt like an angry underling. I had a good job, but I didn't get respect at work. I felt slapped, like I didn't amount to anything without that piece of paper. So I returned to school because of career goals. But my parents are gone, and I also came back for them."

What are "Great Colleges for the New Majority"? What do they have in common?
Policy-makers often try to separate out these motivations and prioritize the economic ones: "So I returned to school because of career goals." But what matters is precisely the jumbled, human mixture of motives.
Why is that horizontal support so important?
Let me briefly describe some of The New School students who cured me of my cluelessness about the nontraditional majority. There was Mui Ying, a 30-something from a Chinese immigrant family: She paid the rent as a technician for a pharmaceutical lab, but she had started a swimwear design business on the side, selling out of her car trunk while she finished school.
What about the argument that colleges can't afford to invest this much in adult learners?
There was Dave, an African-American veteran who got a business degree in community college but was committed to getting a liberal-arts BA. Jamara was a mom, a server at a restaurant and an aspiring spoken-word poet.

The obstacles they face are as diverse as their lives. But here's one key way of understanding what they share: Adult, nontraditional students have to fit their studies into complex lives with multiple roles and stressors, rather than being able to organize their work and social life around a central role as a college student.

The Great Colleges For the New Majority is a self-selected network of adult-serving bachelor's programs. They often have graduation rates of 80 percent or more. Their curricula have a wide range of structures, but all of them offer an education that is transformative, that enables students to lay claim to their own lives and define their own journey. All of them are characterized by cultures of strong support - both the "vertical support" of mentors, advisers and teachers, and the "horizontal support" of strong peer community.

As I have learned in my research and teaching, peer support turns out to be part of the secret sauce for adult success. The programs in the Great Colleges Network tend to nurture cultures of sustained peer-to-peer help; students simply won't let each other fail. This is a component of adult college-going that mass online completion colleges have trouble replicating. It's one reason for their lower rates of completion.

Short answer No. 1: Adult learners are actually less expensive to educate, because they don't need many of the resources that late-adolescent, residential students require. Adults don't need more resources; they need colleges and universities to redesign their resources in ways that meet adult students in their lives - for instance, by offering more flexible academic calendars.

Short answer No. 2: Colleges understand that they cannot afford not to invest in adult learners. Neither higher ed, nor the job market, nor our democracy can succeed if we don't do a better job of offering great, transformative opportunities to the millions of adults in college and the millions who seek to return to college.

Short answer No. 3: Let's not lowball the investment in adult students with cheap-and-dirty workforce training. Adult learners shouldn't be pushed to attain a credential simply to fulfill short-term labor market gaps or to boost policy-makers' completion goals. They should be educated because they deserve a great education.

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What Adult Learners Really Need (Hint: It's Not Just Job Skills)

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More than 2 out of 3 college students today are not coming straight out of high school. Half are financially independent from their parents, and 1 in 4 are parents themselves. David Scobey says that, as an American studies and history professor at the University of Michigan for decades, he was "clueless" about the needs of these adult students.

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Andragogy is the method and practice of teaching adult learners; adult education. I have never heard this word before. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the art and science of helping Adults Learn. There are two different links here.
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/andragogy/

- Irena Nikolayeva

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The Adult Learning Theory - Andragogy - of Malcolm Knowles

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Are you interested in Adult Learning Theory? Check the The Adult Learning Theory - Andragogy - of Malcolm Knowles to find out more.

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#1 Things you need to know about Adult Learning

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#1 Things you need to know about Adult Learning

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Here are some ideas that can help educators gain a basic understanding of adult learner characteristics.  It will help the adult educators understand adults students better.
It's important to know the reasons for Adult Learning, how to use some strategies to motivate Adult Learners, understanding learning style of AL, etc.

- Irena Nikolayeva

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The posting below, a bit longer than most, describes a dozen tips for working with adult learners. It is from Chapter 4 - A Dozen Things You Need to Know about Adult Learning, in the book, Teaching Adults: A Practical Guide for New Teachers, by Ralph G. Brocket. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company. One Montgomery Street, Suite 1200. San Francisco, CA 94104-4594 www.wiley.com All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Special Subscriber Discount: Get 25% off + free shipping* on any Jossey-Bass book! Use promo code TPN25 at: www.josseybass.com/highereducation

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Regards,

Rick Reis
reis@stanford.edu
UP NEXT: TBD

Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning

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A Dozen Things You Need to Know about Adult Learning
The second key to effective teaching is to know the adult learner. In 1928, E.L. Thorndike and his colleagues published an important study that showed adult learning ability is more stable than previously believed. Since then, educators and psychologists have been pushing back the frontiers of knowledge to the point where, today, we know much about cognitive and psychomotor processes in adulthood and have developed a vast range of theories designed to explain how adults learn. An in-depth discussion of theory and research is beyond the scope of this book. However, I would like to introduce you to some ideas that can help you gain a basic understanding of adult learner characteristics. In this chapter, I share a dozen points and some tips for each that you can use immediately to help you better understand the adults you are teaching.

1. Most Adults Are Actively Involved in Learning and Undertake at Least One Learning Project Every Year.

The number of adults who participate in adult education is quite amazing. Recent U.S. government surveys estimate that about 45 percent of all adults participate in some type of course during a given year. That's nearly half of all adults. And this counts only enrollments in classes, workshops, training programs, and the like. When you include self-directed learning activities, some estimates suggest that nine out of ten adults take on at least one learning project a year.

These adults come from nearly every segment of the population. In the past, the stereotype was that the typical adult learner was a white, middle-class, middle-aged person with at least one college degree. This has changed. Today, there is no stereotypical adult learner; participation cuts across gender, age groups, race, and income levels, although the popular belief that "education begets education" - those with previous education are more likely to seek out more education - still holds true. The evidence is clear, then, that there are a lot of people involved in doing what you do ... teaching adults!

Tips: Remember that in most cases, the adults you are teaching have chosen to be there. They want to learn. So most of the time, you have the learners on your side from the beginning. It is important to remember that your students will often come from very diverse backgrounds, and you must make a serious effort to get to know the learners. Of course, this is more practical with a small group than in a large lecture class. But even in the large class setting, you can demonstrate respect for all learners and show that you value their diverse backgrounds.

2. Adults Have the Ability to Learn Successfully Throughout Their Lives.

The old adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks just does not hold water. Or you could say, "that dog just doesn't hunt" (pun intended!). While it is true that adults experience decline in many functions, such as how quickly they can work, hearing loss, and changes in vision, there are things that you can do to compensate for these losses. Also, while there are declines in certain cognitive skills, older learners typically have the benefit of increased life experience and wisdom, which are resources they can use in lieu of other declines that are a normal part of the aging process. Finally, make sure you create a climate that shows you believe the adult student can learn effectively.

Tips: Try to adjust the pace of your teaching so that you are not putting older learners at a disadvantage. Make sure you have adequate lighting in the classroom. When possible, use visual aids like handouts or PowerPoint slides to accompany your presentations; this will help learners who have difficulty hearing.

3. Adult Learners Bring a Wealth of Experience to the Teaching-Learning Setting, and This Experience Can Be a Valuable Resource.

One characteristic that sets adults apart from younger learners is the vast wealth of experience that they have accumulated over the years. While they may have limited experience with the topic you are teaching, they nonetheless can often make connections from past experiences in order to help them learn new material. As you will see, learners' experience is one of the most important ideas that we will discuss in this book, and we will return to it time and again in the following chapters.

Tips: Use the learners' experience as a way to break the ice with a new group. Ask about their previous experiences and even consider using an activity that will allow them to share their experiences. Sometimes giving learners a chance to draw from their experiences will help the entire class by putting a "real life" perspective on your topic. In doing so, you have the potential to engage the learners more fully because the content takes on a personal meaning for the learners.

4. It Is Important to Recognize That Decisions You Make about How You Will Teach Are Based on Whether You Are Trying to Change Attitudes and Values, Skills and Performance, or Knowledge and Factual Information.

Certain teaching techniques work better depending on what you are trying to achieve. For example, if you need to convey a lot of information in a short time, then a lecture is probably the most efficient way to reach the learners. But if you are trying to teach skills, various "hands-on" techniques like demonstration or simulation will engage the learners more directly. Finally, if you are trying to address topics that connect with learners' values, attitudes, or feelings, then techniques like discussion, role playing, and critical incidents will help adults learn more effectively than content-centered techniques will.

Tips: Make sure that you are clear about what you hope to accomplish and communicate this clearly to the learners. If they are expecting to learn practical skills, they may not respond well to long lectures. It is important to know and use a variety of teaching techniques, so that you can adapt what you do to what you are trying to accomplish.

5. Most Adult Learning Is Self-Directed.

Research has shown that 70 percent or more of all learning is self-directed, which means it is planned, carried out, and evaluated primarily by the learner. This does not mean that we, as educators, have nothing to do with all of these learning activities. Rather, it means that the more we can do to encourage and support self-directedness in our learners, the more in harmony we will be with their urge toward self-direction.

Tips: While most adults have a certain level of readiness for self-direction, don't assume that the learners you work with will start out at a high level of self-direction. Levels of self-directedness will vary considerably among learners, but there are many strategies you can use to help learners become more self-directed. We will discuss these in the next chapter.

6. The Need for Adult Learning Is Often Triggered by Some Kind of Developmental Transition or Crisis.

Quite often, adults will seek out learning opportunities when they experience some sort of change or crisis in their lives. Losing a job, being diagnosed with a chronic illness, becoming a parent, and ending a relationship with a spouse or partner are all examples of situations that might lead a person to seek out a learning opportunity. When I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 1995, I began a learning project consisting of individual education / counseling sessions, classes, and self-directed learning activities related to understanding and managing my diabetes; many of these continue to this day.

Tips: You will probably find it helpful to spend some time studying adult development theories and concepts. An understanding of the life cycle and the kinds of developmental transitions adults face can sometimes help you better understand the motives of your learners. Remember that empathy, authenticity, and respect, which were discussed in Chapter Two, involve getting to know the learner and trying to understand the whole person.

7. Adults Choose to Learn for Many Different Reasons, and You Need to Know What These Are.

In a classic study from 1961, Cyril Houle asked a group of adults about the motives behind their decision to engage in learning. Basically, he found that the learners fell into three groups: (1) Goal-oriented learners had a clear purpose in mind and thought of their participation in learning as a means to some other end, like a promotion, a career change, or a new skill that they could use; (2) Activity-oriented learners had very different motives. These learners became involved in a course or other type of learning because they enjoyed the activity itself, and they were mainly interested in meeting and interacting with others; (3) Learning-oriented learners were those who participated simply for the sake of learning. These are the people Houle described as having an "inquiring mind." They are the people who sign up for classes just for fun or because it sounds interesting. They also take on a large number of self-directed learning projects on things that interest them in any given year.

Of course, there are other motives for participating in adult learning. Some of these include a requirement or expectation from others, the desire to contribute to the community or to promote social change, and even the hope of meeting a potential spouse or partner.

Tips: While it is not always possible to know why someone has enrolled in your class, any information you can find about this will be helpful. If you know why learners are there, you can target your approach to better meeting their needs. For example, if you know that your participants are required to be there, you can anticipate that you may encounter some resistance. If they are there to meet a specific goal, you can help them become clearer about the goal and how they can best attain it. And if you know that some of the learners are there for social reasons, you can decide whether you wish to provide time and activities for socialization.

8. It Is Important to Understand Something about Motivation and How You Can Use Motivation Strategies to Help Excite the Learners about What You Are Teaching and, in Some Cases, to Help Break Down Learner Resistance.

Motivation is a tricky topic because we can't see it or touch it; we can only assume it is there and can infer it through different kinds of assessment. Yet a basic understanding of motivation will serve you well in knowing how best to meet the needs of your learners.

Tips: Knowing what motivates your learners can help you find ways to best evaluate whether they have learned successfully. If you know that they are motivated by external rewards, you can set up a schedule of reinforcements. But if the motivation is intrinsic, you can help learners decide how and when they have learned and help them see the inherent value of what they have learned. We will look more closely at motivation in Chapter Eleven.

9. Teachers of Adults Need to Understand the Many Kinds of Barriers That Can Limit Whether Adults Choose a Learning Activity or Stay with the Activity.

Many factors can keep adults from registering for or remaining in a learning activity. Many of these barriers have to do with situational factors or life circumstances, such as lack of time or money, health problems, work obligations, or lack of childcare. Other barriers have to do with institutional policies or practices that can limit adult participation. These include not scheduling courses at a convenient time (for instance, older adults typically do not like to go out at night, so a senior center is likely to have a better turnout if they schedule a genealogy class during the daytime), lack of support services (such as financial aid, bookstore hours, parking), and not providing adequate information to the target audience. Finally, many barriers have to do with dispositional, or attitudinal, factors. We know that adults are often scared and lack confidence when they first return to the classroom (for example, students in "Adult Basic Education" often face fears related to their previous negative experiences with schooling).

Tips: Sometimes, barriers will be beyond your control. Life circumstances or institutional policies may keep a person from enrolling in your class. But when the learners do overcome these barriers, it is important for you to do things that will keep them there. A welcoming attitude, a supportive climate, and an approach that helps build confidence and shows that the person can learn will go a long way toward increasing retention of participants.

10 Understanding Learning Style Is Important, but It Is Often Misunderstood and Misused.

I know you know this, but adults learn in different ways. There are many, many ways of defining and measuring learning styles, and each has certain strengths and limitations. In my view, it is fine to use learning style information to get a better understanding of individual learners. It is easy to misuse learning styles data, though, when teachers try to gather data and then adjust their classes in order to "teach to" the different styles. It's not as simple as "plug and play" to match styles with instruction, because the range of styles among your learners will vary considerably.

Tips: I suggest that you not reject learning styles information outright, but be careful not to oversimplify something complex by trying to be all things to all people. It's just not possible to do this. Rather, use learning styles information as a way to assess individuals and to help them find ways to maximize their own self-directed learning efforts. This can happen best in a climate in which learners are encouraged to support one another.

11. Most Successful Adult Learning Takes Place in a Collaborative or Cooperative Setting, Where Sharing and Synergy Are Crucial.

This is the question of climate. What kind of a learning climate do you want to create? In my seven words for "teacher," I emphasized the importance of trust and respect. It is vital to be able to trust that one can share ideas or perspectives without being attacked or humiliated by other students or by the teacher. Respect means that it is important to value differences among the learners in your class. In essence, the classroom needs to be a "safe" space where learners can explore and "try on" different perspectives without fear of reprisal from others.

Tips: Tell learners right up front what kind of learning climate you are striving to achieve. Make it clear that you believe the greatest chance for success in learning will come when group members work together and support one another. This does not mean that students can't disagree with or challenge each other. It does mean, however, that this must be done in a way that respects and values the person.

12 The Ultimate Purpose of Adult Education Is to Help Learners Think for Themselves.

Many years ago, I was on a panel at a research conference sitting next to Jack Mezirow, a highly respected professor of adult education (now retired) at Teachers College, Columbia University. When he said this, it really resonated with me. It wasn't a new or original idea; it is something very basic in the world of adult learning. But when he said it, at that moment, in that context, that was a "teachable moment" for me. I believe that it is the essence of everything discussed in this chapter.

Tips: Remember that it's all about the learner. As teachers, we are there to provide information, facilitate learning and change, train people in new skills, or help people generate solutions to the problems they have identified. But we are only a means to help people learn. Ultimately, success is determined by how well the learner achieves what he or she has set out to learn. We are only with our learners for a short time, but if we can convey the idea of "thinking for yourself," then we have taught something far more profound than any content that we are teaching.

These twelve points are only a brief introduction to the exciting world of adult learning. Many books provide much more information about these and many other topics. Among these are Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice by Sharan B. Merriam and Laura L. Beirma; Learning in Adulthood (3rd ed.) by Merriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner; How We Learn by Knud Illeris; and Transformative Learning in Practice by Mezirow, Taylor, and Associates. Next, we are going to look at two more essential themes in adult learning - andragogy and self-directed learning.
Think About It
Identify and interview five adults about their activities as adult learners. You can choose family, friends, co-workers, or fellow students. Plan to spend about a half hour with them. Ask them the following:

How many different learning activities did you engage in over the past year?

What were the topics you studied?

Were the activities primarily self-directed, or did you enroll in some sort of class,

workshop, or training program?

How many of your projects were related to work? To personal interests or hobbies?

To dealing with issues going on in your life?

How do you believe you learn best?

Jot down some notes and compare these. Do you see any trends among the learners?

How about differences?

I use this activity when I teach my "Adult Learning" graduate class. The purpose is to give each person a chance to see how widespread learning is in most people's lives. Over the years, my students have been surprised by the responses they have received, especially from friends and relatives whom they know well.
Further Reading
Bjorklund, B.R., (2014). The journey of adulthood (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Houle, C.O. (1988). The inquiring mind (3rd ed.). Norman, OK: Oklahoma Research Center for Continuing Higher and Professional Education. (Originally published in 1961.)

Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn. London and New York: Routledge.

Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., III, & Swanson, R.A. (2011). The adult learner. Oxford, UK: Taylor & Francis.

Merriam, S.B., & Bierma, L.L. (2013). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S., & Baumgartner, L.M. (2007). Learning in adulthood (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Mezirow, J., Taylor, E.W., & Associates. (2009). Transformative learning in practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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A Dozen Things You Need to Know about Adult Learning

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The posting below, a bit longer than most, describes a dozen tips for working with adult learners. It is from Chapter 4 - A Dozen Things You Need to Know about Adult Learning, in the book, Teaching Adults: A Practical Guide for New Teachers, by Ralph G. Brocket. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

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How adults learn compared to other learners

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How adults learn compared to other learners

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Jazmine McDonald
Here is a article I found about understanding the way adults learn and also understanding what an adult learner is.

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Association of American Colleges & Universities

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Adult students have been a growing presence on college campuses during recent decades and there are numerous indicators that these students, often referred to as "nontraditional," constitute a significant proportion of the undergraduate student body. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data indicate that 38 percent of the 2007 enrollment of more than eighteen million college students were twenty-five years of age or older (NCES 2009). NCES projections of higher education enrollment from 2007-2018 suggest that the number of students over twenty-five will remain stable or increase during the current decade (Hussar and Bailey 2009). Although the focus of this issue of Peer Review and the remainder of this article will be on adults beginning or continuing their enrollment as college students at a later-than-typical age, a 2002 NCES report has frequently been cited as noting that when the term "nontraditional student" is defined more broadly to include seven characteristics not typically associated with participation in college, a full 73 percent of students may be viewed as nontraditional (Choy 2002, 1). These characteristics include

entry to college delayed by at least one year following high school,

having dependents,

being a single parent,

being employed full time,

being financially independent,

attending part time, and

not having a high school diploma.

K. Patricia Cross referred to some of the same student groups using the term "non-traditional" some twenty years ago (Cross 1981). The social and economic forces that have led to adults' increased participation of in higher education in the decades since Cross used this term are not likely to abate in the near future. These influences include an aging and increasingly diverse population, the rapid pace of technological change, and the constantly shifting demands of the workplace in this era of a global economy. Adult learners who experience academic success in higher education tend to gain economic and personal benefits, which most likely provide social, political, and economic benefits for the broader society (Ritt 2008).
Multiple Roles of Adult Learners
A key characteristic distinguishing reentry adults from other college students is the high likelihood that they are juggling other life roles while attending school, including those of worker, spouse or partner, parent, caregiver, and community member. These roles may be assets, both through the social supports they provide and through the rich life experiences that may help adult learners make meaning of theoretical constructs that may be purely abstract to younger learners. Yet more often, these multiple roles present challenges in students' allocation of time for both academic study and participation in campus-based organizations and activities. A 2003 NCES report titled Work First, Study Second indicated that at least 56 percent of students over age twenty-four who were included in the 1999-2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study saw themselves as workers first and students second, while 26 percent identified themselves as students who work. Only 18 percent did not work while enrolled (Berker and Horn 2003, 5). This report also noted that those students who considered themselves employees first were also more likely to be married, leaving them with at least three life roles to manage while attending school; this group was also less likely to complete a degree in six years.
Programmatic Responses to Adult Learners
Reentry adults' multiple roles and commitments increase the likelihood they will look for degree and certificate programs that provide them flexibility in time and locations for both course completion and for access to key student services. In recent decades, a number of institutions have been designed around the needs of adult students, such as Empire State University, Fielding Institute, Regis University, and, more recently, the University of Phoenix and many other institutions in the for-profit sector. Within the last decade, institutions and programs geared toward serving adult students have been profiled in a number of sources, including Lifelong Learning at Its Best: Innovative Practices in Adult Credit Programs (Maehl 2000) and volumes of New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, including one on accelerated learning (Wlodkowski and Kasworm 2003) and another on adult degree programs (Papas and Jerman 2004). The innovative student support and learning strategies described in these sources are rarely found in traditional university programs, but could provide useful models for adaptation. One example of this type of program is Empire State's faculty mentor model, which allows students to develop highly individualized programs of study. Other innovative adult learning practices-such as distance learning, accelerated course formats, and prior learning assessment-were previously uncommon in mainstream institutions or departments, but are increasingly commonplace today in traditional universities that range from small liberal arts institutions to large comprehensive and doctoral institutions.
Distance Education
NCES reported in 2008 that at least two-thirds of two-year and four-year Title IV degree-granting institutions offered online courses, blended/hybrid courses, or courses offered in other distance education formats for college-level credit (Parsad and Lewis 2008). The report, titled Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2006-2007, indicates that online courses were offered by 61 percent of institutions, blended/hybrid courses at 35 percent of institutions and other forms of distance education were offered at 26 percent of institutions. Thirty-two percent of all two-year and four-year institutions reported offering college-level degree or certificate programs delivered totally through distance education. The factor most commonly cited as affecting the decision to offer distance education courses or programs was meeting student demand for flexible schedules, as reported by 68 percent of responding institutions . Nearly two-thirds of institutions reported an interest in providing access to college for students who do not otherwise have access; only 45 percent of institutions reported an interest in increasing student enrollment as a key factor (Parsad and Lewis 2008).
Prior Learning Assessment
A 2006 study by the Council on Adult Experiential Learning (CAEL) on the use of assessment of prior college-level learning as a means of acquiring college credit found that 87 percent of responding institutions accepted College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams, 84 percent accepted Advanced Placement credits, 70 percent accepted credit for corporate or military training (evaluated by the American Council on Education), and 66 percent made provisions for faculty evaluation of student portfolios demonstrating prior college level learning (Klein-Collins and Hein 2009, 187). While portfolio evaluation was not the most common form of prior learning assessment (PLA), an increase in acceptance of this method can be seen when compared to previous studies conducted by CAEL in 1996 (when 55 percent of institutions reported use of portfolios) and in 1991 (when 50 percent of institutions reported use) (Klein-Collins and Hein 2009, 188).

A more recent CAEL report, Fueling the Race to Postsecondary Success: A 48-Instution Study of Prior Learning Assessment and Adult Student Outcomes (Klein-Collins 2010), addresses faculty concerns about adult students getting "credit for life experience" by focusing on a study conducted by CAEL on student outcomes. Based on over 62,000 academic records of adult students from a geographically diverse institutional sample from forty-six percent public institutions, the study showed that 50 percent private of nonprofit institutions and 4 percent of for-profit institutions describe several positive outcomes for students who earned credit through prior learning assessment, when compared with students who did not make use of PLA (6-7, 12). Adult students who earned credit for prior learning were more likely to earn a bachelor's degree within seven years-43 percent-in comparison to 15 percent of non-PLA students (7). Focusing only on the approximately 50 percent of students who matriculated in pursuit of a bachelor's degree, the study found that 58 percent of PLA students were successful in achieving that goal, compared to only 27 percent of non-PLA students (35).

Differences in degree completion between PLA and non-PLA students were also found when controlling for GPA-66 percent of PLA students with GPAs of 3.0 or above completed degrees, compared to 35 percent of non-PLA students with similar GPAs (37). Furthermore, dramatic differences in graduation rates were reported between PLA and non-PLA students for both Hispanic and black students, with 40 percent of black PLA students completing bachelor's degrees compared to 17 percent of black non-PLA students, and 47 percent of Hispanic PLA students completing bachelor's degrees compared to 6 percent of Hispanic non-PLA students (50). These CAEL report findings suggest that providing opportunities for prior learning assessment may have a substantial effect on adult student persistence.
Accelerated Course Formats
Courses, certificates, and degrees designed to be completed in a shorter time frame and in which either course duration or contact hours may be modified are learning formats that tend to be more responsive to adult learners' lives (Wlodkowski 2003). Although these intensive learning experiences are sometimes criticized as formats that prioritize convenience over rigor and sacrifice breadth and depth, a number of studies indicate that adult learning in accelerated courses is comparable to or better than that of younger students enrolled in conventional courses. For instance, Wlodkowski reports a qualitative study indicating that intensive courses "became rewarding and powerful learning experiences when certain attributes were present...These attributes included instructor enthusiasm and expertise (usually gained through experience), active learning, classroom interaction, good course organization, student input, a collegial classroom atmosphere, and a relaxed environment" (9) When adult students in accelerated courses are compared with younger students in conventional versions of the same types of courses, both groups of students generally have shown positive and similar attitudes toward their courses. Finally, when attitudes of alumni toward accelerated courses in management, human resource management, and corporate finance were assessed, their perceptions were nearly as positive as current students who responded to the same survey (10).
Theories of Adult Learning
While much of what is written about adapting to adult learners within higher education focuses on ways in which institutions and programs can modify student services and course delivery formats and systems to accommodate the needs of reentry students, adult education research also provides insight into understanding the characteristics of these learners within the classroom or distance education environment (Ross-Gordon 2003).
Frameworks for Understanding Adult Learning
In recent decades, several theoretical approaches to adult learning have served as useful lenses for research on adult learners; these frameworks help researchers think about practices across various contexts of adult learning, including the college classroom. Andragogy is arguably the best-known of these theoretical approaches. Malcolm Knowles is credited with bringing this framework to attention in North America, although he acknowledged its previous European origins (Knowles 1980). According to this framework, adults are assumed to

prefer self-direction in learning,

bring a vast reservoir of experience that should be considered in planning learning experience,

exhibit a readiness to learn that is based on a need to know something or do something,

exhibit an orientation to learning that is task- or problem-centered rather than subject-centered, and

exhibit a relatively high degree of internal motivation.

While andragogy has been widely debated by scholars, who note the situational variables that influence the degree to which adults exhibit these characteristics, this framework is one of the most enduring and widely cited theories of adult learning (Merriam 2001).

Other adult learning theories center on self-directed learning (SDL), a key assumption of andragogy and itself the focus of numerous professional conferences and papers. One SDL theory posited that educational goals within formal education could be supported by using teaching methods and assignments designed to increase learner control of the learning process relative to that of instructors (Candy 1991). Other theories suggest that self-directed learning can be situational and may be exhibited at different levels among college students of various ages as they encounter different learning environments (Grow 1991).

In the past twenty years, transformative learning (TL) has become one of the most prominent and debated theories in adult learning research, with the version of TL proposed by Jack Mezirow (2000) receiving perhaps the greatest attention. Mezirow and others view transformational learning as involving fundamental transformation of the adults' core frames of reference, often in response to disorienting dilemmas-situations that challenge adults' previous ways of thinking about the world and prompt them to reflect critically on previously held assumptions. While much of the research on transformational learned has focused on TL that occurs both in higher education and naturally as an outgrowth of adult life situations, some have also proposed that educators can help stimulate transformative learning by using teaching methods that foster critical reflection (Cranton 1994).
Research on Adult Learners in College Classrooms
A number of studies have explored the characteristics of adult learners in the college classroom, providing substantial but not unqualified support for the assumptions linked to the theoretical frameworks of adult learning and development described above. My own chapter in a 2003 volume of New Directions for Student Services focusing on the needs of adult students reviews in greater detail than possible here the numerous studies that substantiate adult students' preferences for active learning strategies that support cognitive growth and transformational learning, along with their desires for immediate application of knowledge and opportunities for self-direction. Yet, this same body of research also points to the lack of self-confidence often exhibited by adults upon reentry to college and their frequent desire for highly structured learning experiences that provide a clear roadmap of teacher expectations This body of research suggests that while adult learners desire flexibility, they also often desire structure. They also exhibit varied learning styles and preferences influenced in part by their past encounters with higher education as well as by their social and cultural backgrounds, and are best not seen as a monolithic group. This is especially true when considering subpopulations of adult learners who have not consistently been included in the large body of literature on adult students, including students of color (Ross-Gordon 2005), veterans (Rumann and Hamrick 2010), and adults with disabilities (Rocco 2001).
Conclusion
"Reentry adults" appear to be a student population that is here to stay. Increasingly, higher education institutions have attempted to create programs and services that are responsive to adults' life and learning preferences. This effort has challenged college faculty and administrators to think beyond traditional ways of teaching and delivering educational programs. A large number of institutions or program units have a long history of adaptation to the adult learner student population. For other institutions or programs this effort is more recent. Yet much can be learned from existing program's experiences with various modes of distance learning, prior learning assessment, and intensive courses, some of which are profiled in other articles within this issue. Faculty can play an important role as change agents in creating supportive learning environments for adult learners both by incorporating theory and research on adult learners into their own classrooms and by advocating for adult-oriented programs and services on their campuses (Blair 2010). The design and delivery of these programs are key to successful undergraduate experiences for reentry adult students.
References
Berker, Ali, and Laura Horn. 2003. Adult Undergraduates Who Combine Employment and Postsecondary Enrollment. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2003167

Blair, Anthony. 2010. "In From the Margins: The Essential Role of Faculty in Transforming a Professional Studies Unit into an Academic Department." Journal of Continuing Higher Education 58(1): 31-39.

Candy, Philip. C. 1991. Self-direction for Lifelong Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Choy, Susan. 2002. Findings from the Condition of Education 2002: Nontraditional Undergraduates. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2002/analyses/nontraditional/index.asp

Cranton, Patricia. 1994. Understanding and Promoting Transformative Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Cross, K. Patricia. 1981. Adults as Learners: Increasing Participation and Facilitating Learning. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Grow, Gerald.1991. "Teaching Learners to Be Self-Directed: A Stage Approach." Adult Education Quarterly 44 (2): 109-114.

Hussar, W., and T. M. Bailey. 2009. Projections of Education Statistics to 2018. Table 3: Actual and Middle Alternative Projected Numbers for College Enrollment Rates, by Sex, Attendance Status, and Age: Fall 2007, 2013, and 2018. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/projections2018/.

Klein-Collins, Becky, and Patrick Hein. 2009. "Prior Learning Assessment: How Institutions Use portfolio Assessments." The Journal of Continuing Higher Education 57: 187-189.

Klein-Collins, Rebecca. 2010. Fueling the Race to Postsecondary Success: A 48-Institution Study of a Prior Learning Assessment and Adult Learner Outcomes. Chicago: Council for Adult and Experiential Education. http://www.cael.org/pla.htm

Knowles, Malcolm S. 1980. The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge Books.

Maehl, William. 2000. Lifelong Learning at its Best: Innovative Practices in Adult Credit Programs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Merriam, Sharan B. 2001. "Andragogy and Self-directed Learning: Pillars of Adult Learning Theory." In The New Update on Adult Learning Theory: New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education no.89, edited by Sharan B. Merriman, 3-13. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Mezirow, Jack D., and Associates. 2000. Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

National Center for Education Statistics. 2009. Digest of Educational Statistics 2009. Table 192. Total fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions by control and type of institution, age, and attendance status of student: 2007). http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/dt09_192.asp?referrer=list

Pappas, James, and Jerry Jerman, eds. 2004. Developing and Delivering Adult Degree Programs: New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education no. 103. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Parsad, Basmat, and Laurie Lewis. 2008. Distance Education at Degree-granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2006-07. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009044.

Ritt, Elizabeth. 2008. "Redefining Tradition: Adult Learners and Higher Education." Adult Learning 19 (1/2): 12-16.

Rocco, Tonette. 2001. "Helping Adult Educators Understand Disability Disclosure." Adult Learning 12 (2): 10-12.

Ross-Gordon, Jovita M. 2003. "Adult Learners in the Classroom." In "Meeting the Special Needs of Adult Students," edited by Deborah Kilgore and Penny J. Rice, special issue, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 102: 43-52.

------ 2005. "The Adult Learner of Color: An Overlooked College Student Population." The Journal of Continuing Higher Education 53 (2): 2-11.

Rumann, Corey B., and Florence A. Hamrick. 2010. "Student Veterans in Transition: Re-Enrolling after War Zone Deployments." Journal of Higher Education 81: 431-458.

Wlodkowski, Raymond J. 2003. "Accelerated Learning in Colleges and Universities." In "Accelerated Learning for Adults: The Promise and Practice of Intensive Educational Formats," edited.by R. J. Wlodkowski and C. Kasworm, special issue, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 97: 5-15.

Wlodkowski, Raymond J., and Carol. E. Kasworm. 2003. "Accelerated Learning for Adults: The Promise and Practices of Intensive Educational Formats." Special issue, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 97.

Jovita M. Ross-Gordon is aprofessor in the department of leadership, counseling, adult education, and school psychology at Texas State University; and coeditor-in-chief of the New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education sourcebook series.

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Research on Adult Learners: Supporting the Needs of a Student Population that Is No Longer Nontraditional

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Adult students have been a growing presence on college campuses during recent decades and there are numerous indicators that these students, often referred to as "nontraditional," constitute a significant proportion of the undergraduate student body.

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TECHNIQUES to AVOID Like Toxic Waste!!!!

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TECHNIQUES to AVOID Like Toxic Waste!!!!

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I found this blurb on the "Answer Sheet" column of The Washington Post December 19, 2014, Columnist Valerie Strauss.  Ms Strauss paraphrases information from a comprehensive blog written by Ellie Herman, a celebrated film editor and movie producer who left her career and became a high school teacher in inner-city Los Angeles. Of course, this information in context applied to padogogy--the teaching of youths--but because of that applies even more to adult education, as adults tend to have more highly formed barriers of prejudice and pre-conceived notions than do young persons. Ms. Herman essentially listed five characteristics that were common to educators she considered "terrible."  Columnist Strauss paraphrased the Herman blog and I, in turn, will paraphrase her paraphrase for purposes of relative brevity.  Herman challenged readers (her readership being teachers) to self-evaluate to determine if they are indeed "terrible" teachers. The criteria is as follows:
1. Do we (as educators) dislike students?  It is inevitable that teachers will like some students more than others, but do we dislike students as a general group?;
2.  Do we find our subject matter dull?  If we are asked "Why do we have to learn this?  The "terrible teacher's first reaction will be 'because it's on the test!.', destroying any applicability that might exist;  3.  Do we as teachers know what we are talking about?  (I have a personal experience in this; one of my elementary teachers stated that any number divided by Zero is Zero, which almost anyone, including elementary students that are fed this, know that dividing by Zero is undefined and impossible.  This teacher stuck to her incompetence on this issue.;  4. Do we as teachers ignore most of our students, with the exception of a few smiling eager students that seem to be invariably in every class? Again, a guarantee that the class is well on its way to being lost; and, 5. Are we TOTALLY disengaged to the whole setting?  The preceding are a composite guarantee that such a teacher should be in another (nearly ANY other) profession besides educating. Ms. Herman then reassured any who may have found themselves on the wrong answer side of these questions that they are NOT bad teachers. BAD teachers would not have considered the entire list nor read to the end of the article. The readers thus cared about reaching students as a teacher, for which there are remedies and opportunities for improvement available.  This sort of seems like stating "a keen grasp of the obvious" but some of these attitudes can appear without our anticipation.. I though it was interesting piece of writing.---

Clif DeWitt, Renton Technical College

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As I was reading about Knowles' principles of adult learning, I was struck by how it alighs with Guided Pathways- especially the first principle of adult learners wanting to know why they are learning and how it will apply to their lives. One of the guiding principles of GP is to clearly articulate pathways of courses to degrees to careers so that students have access to the information they need to make informed decisions about their own pathways.

Laura Knight

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I found this article so interest to discuss adult learning theory.

https://www.learnupon.com/blog/adult-learning-theory/

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This article aligns with the information we were reading about in the week one module. Has great tips on traching adults. 

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This article aligns with the information we were reading about in the week one module. Has great tips on traching adults. 

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https://www.pacer.org/publications/fasttraining/Other/teachingadults-whattrainersneedtoknow.pdf

Tara Murphy

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What adult learners really need
Hi guys I'm Aaron Barquet.
I just read this article in the NPR higher ed blog. I found it perfectly relevant for our course.
Often times I hear the phrase "what the industry needs." I do understand that we train adults to become workers in our industry, that's evident, but is that all we can and should provide our adult students with?
This article explores that grey area, the other part that, I feel, often times we tend to assume is there, but we don't really seem to pay attention to, our students dreams. I mean, not only children have dreams, adults still dream, they do have big dreams and not only financial ones. They want to explore and find the inner voices and full fill a lot of personal goals and dreams. Some of them want to continue learning and get a bachelor's degree and masters. Some want to become entrepreneurs and succeed in the world of business. Others just love learning and want to continue cultivating their minds. How are we making sure we also serve them in these areas? Is the role of the community or technical college to do that? I think it is, but why? For a very simple reason, our adult students deserve the greatest education we can possibly offer.

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I've been thinking about mixing some elements of the Socratic Method into my discussions with students. I found this link interesting. https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/should-educators-use-the-socratic-method-of-teaching/

-Matt Ziels

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Hi, I'm Maria deCorpo. As a CTE (Career & Technical Education) teacher I'm always looking at ways to get students engaged and excited about the Lecture/Theory portions of the curriculum and not just the hands-on Labs.  This handbook gives some great suggestions - some I already use, but many I am eager to try out.

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Jennifer Whipple
This is a link to a short article about bringing authenticity to the classroom. This goes along with the concepts of andragogy vs. pedagogy. Bringing real work into the classroom.

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How to Bring Authenticity to Learning that Happens in School | KQED

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The argument goes like this: Let students do something big and useful, from start to finish — perhaps a simplified version, but keep it intact. Give them extra help and lower stakes and they’ll work harder, learn more and come up with creative applications and solutions that adults couldn’t imagine.

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Hi, this is David Uryash and I wanted to share this short tutorial on how to create a Kahoot! quiz. I was shown this game by my IBEST Instructor and have become a fan. Kahoot is a connected quiz qame you build and play in class in real time. Students use their devices or a computer to join the game and answer questions. It was very effective for me to get my students engaged in a review session and I will be doing them often!

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessments

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessments

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by Karlee Sorensen
I found this useful because I am finding that using different formats for assessments, challenges for test reviews and students engagement enables me to capture and maintain student excitement for class content.

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom

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We’ve compiled an extensive list of 75 digital tools that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.

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Strategies to demystify the  learning process for struggling adults.

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Strategies to demystify the  learning process for struggling adults.

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Jillian Lalli
This article was useful to me. My students many times are coming back to school as adults and have been out of the education system for many years!

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/49697/5-strategies-to-demystify-the-learning-process-for-struggling-students

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Teaching Critical Thinking - Felicia Dennis

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Teaching Critical Thinking - Felicia Dennis

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I found this article to be so relevant to understanding why critical thinking is so important and how our learning environment influences our ability to develop good critical thinking skills.

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connecting with other educators  submitted by Melissa Siedlicki

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connecting with other educators  submitted by Melissa Siedlicki

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https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/becoming-a-critical-educator-critical-pedagogy-in-community-colleges-b51523bcffe8
I found this article interesting because it really speaks to how some students feel about 'not enough time for discussion or dialogue".  every Tuesday (Monday is our online day) I have a 7 minute brain dump - where the students have to write out everything they remember from the online lecture/power point.  then they break into groups and collaborate then into class and discuss as a group.  Lots of questions are answered in this manner and the students have more control over the outcomes of their learning

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The information in this article/video is fantastic.  For me the dominoes in my head began falling in the right place to make things all connect from student to instructor POV's.
-Jenn Phillips

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Oakley recognizes that "many educators are not at all comfortable with or trained in neuroscience," so she breaks down a few key principles that teachers can use in the classroom and share with students to help them demystify the learning process.
1. The Hiker Brain vs. The Race Car Brain
Start by teaching students the difference between focused and diffused thinking, says Oakley. When the brain is in focused mode, you can get started on the task at hand. But deep understanding is not fully accomplished in this mode.

Diffused thinking occurs when you allow your mind to wander, to imagine and to daydream. In this mode, the brain is still working -- consolidating information and "making sense of what you are trying to learn," says Oakley. If a concept is easy for you to grasp right off, the focused mode might be sufficient, but if a new skill or concept "takes consideration, you have to toggle back and forth between these two modes of thinking as you get to true understanding of the material -- and this doesn't happen quickly."

Because toggling is essential to learning, teachers and students need to build downtime into their day -- time when learning can "happen on background" as you play a game, go on a walk or color a picture. It's also one reason why sleep is so vital to healthy cognitive development.

Since students tend to equate speed with smarts, Oakley suggests sharing this metaphor: "There's a race car brain and a hiker brain. They both get to the finish line, but not at the same time. The race car brain gets there really fast, but everything goes by in a blur. The hiker brain takes time. It hears birds singing, sees the rabbit trails, feels the leaves. It's a very different experience and, in some ways, much richer and deeper. You don't need to be a super swift learner. In fact, sometimes you can learn more deeply by going slowly."
2. Chains and Chunks
In cognitive psychology, "chunking" refers to the well-practiced mental patterns that are essential to developing expertise in a topic. Oakley prefers the image of a "chain" when she explains this to students.

Learning is all about developing strong chains. For example, says Oakley, when you are first learning how to back up a car, you have to consciously think about each step, from how to turn the steering wheel to how to use your mirrors. But "once that process is chained, it's easy" -- it becomes automatic. Similarly, once solving certain equations becomes automatic in math, students can apply these equations to more complex problems.

Teachers can help students identify the procedures in a unit of study that they to master in order to take their learning to the next level -- from the steps of the scientific method to fundamental drawing techniques.

"Any type of mastery involves the development of chains of procedural fluency. Then you can get into more complex areas of fluency," says Oakley. Here's another way to think about it. We all have about four slots of working memory that we can use to problem-solve in the moment. One of those slots can be filled with an procedural chain -- and then you can put new information in the other slots.
3. The Power of Metaphor
"Metaphor and analogy are extraordinarily powerful teaching tools and very often underused," says Oakley. "When you are trying to learn something new, the best way to learn it is to connect it with something you already know."

The formal term for this is " neural reuse " -- the idea that metaphors use the same neural pathways as the concept a metaphor is describing. So familiar metaphors allow a learner to draw on a concept they have already mastered and apply it to a new situation. Or as Oakley says, metaphors "rapidly on-board" new ideas. For example, says Oakley, comparing the flow of electrons to the flow of water is a way to "jump-start students' thinking."

As part of her research, Oakley reached out to thousands of professors who are considered top teachers in their fields. "Many of these professors had a secret that they used in their teaching: metaphor and analogy. It was like a secret shared handshake." Oakley encourages teachers to not only use metaphor but to challenge students to develop their own metaphors as a study strategy.
4. The Problem of Procrastination
Oakley says that procrastination is the number one challenge facing most learners. To train the brain to systematically focus and relax -- to -- she recommends the "Pomodoro Technique."

Developed by Francesco Cirillo, this strategy uses a timer to help the learner work and break at set intervals. First, choose a task to accomplish. Then, set a timer for 25 minutes and work until the timer goes off. At that point, take a five-minute break: stand up, walk around, take a drink of water, etc. After three or four 25-minute intervals, take a longer break (15 - 30 minutes) to recharge. This technique "trains your ability to focus and reinforces that relaxing at the end is critical to the process of learning," says Oakley. Teachers and administrators can build a similar rhythm into the schoolday, providing brain breaks and movement time to help students toggle between focused and diffused thinking.
5. Expanding Possibilities

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5 Strategies to Demystify the Learning Process for Struggling Students | KQED

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Oakley recognizes that "many educators are not at all comfortable with or trained in neuroscience," so she breaks down a few key principles that teachers can use in the classroom and share with students to help them demystify the learning process. 1. The Hiker Brain vs.

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Remembering to Reach to the Whole Student

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Remembering to Reach to the Whole Student

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Chelsea Good. I really liked this article about one student's experience in higher education and the struggles he faced to make it through school. Though his experience is set at a university, it reminded me of many of RTC's students experiences. It's important as an instructor to remember that adult learners are not one-dimensional beings, coming to the classroom just to learn. They have complex lives often with strengths and barriers that can be used to help them develop their skills as adult learners.

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I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’t the Hard Part. - The New York Times

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I found a few quick articles related to time management for adult learners. I think time management is often the biggest hurdle as our students need to wear multiple hats in their personal/professional lives while focusing on school as well.
- Bradley Lee

Links:
https://parttime.syr.edu/2016/12/15/8-time-management-tips-adult-college-students/

https://success.oregonstate.edu/learning/stop-procrastinating

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Jake Heare
There have been many suggested changes to how we teaching science to undergraduate students. This guide was developed to help instructors design courses around core competencies that students should get from the course. Many of the competencies are applicable to other topics and courses.

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Version doi:10.25334/3MNW-KJ05 - 4.0 - published on 30 Sep 2019 cite this

Licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International according to these terms

Description

To excel in modern STEM careers, biology majors need training in a range of transferrable skills, yet skills training is often a relatively underdeveloped facet of the undergraduate curriculum. To address this discrepancy, we have elaborated the core competency framework from Vision and Change into measurable learning outcomes which can be more easily interpreted and implemented by faculty. The resulting resource, called the BioSkills Guide, was developed and then validated using input from over 600 college biology faculty from a range of institution types, biology subdisciplines, and course levels.

Note: for best results, print the BioSkills Guide brochure on legal-sized (8.5"x13") paper.

For additional information and links to related resources, visit the BioSkills group page.

Cite this work

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Notes

Formatting changes. Some language updated on the brochure. No changes to the learning outcomes.

Core Competencies for Undergraduate Biology

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quantitative undergraduate biology education and synthesis

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Version doi:10.25334/3MNW-KJ05 - 4.0 - published on 30 Sep 2019 cite this Licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International according to these terms Description To excel in modern STEM careers, biology majors need training in a range of transferrable skills, yet skills training is often a relatively underdeveloped facet of the undergraduate curriculum.

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Donna Maher
I think late work is the bane of grading. This podcast gives some ideas to deal with late work grading.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/late-work/

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Terry Haws.  Found this article that, in my opinion talks about some of the very things that we learned about in various videos in this section.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016/august/flight-training/instructor-report

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Hi, I am Punam Dalai.
Here, I have attached a link to a vedio that provides more details on adult learning. What are principles, benefits and differneces from child learning or pedagogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsvgMSGn3rY

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Malcolm Knowles Adult Learning Theory - Andragogy

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Remember to include your name!