Student Success: Post-Traditional

A volume in Lifespan Learning The communication and technology revolution presents each age group of adults with new expectations for learning. This book describes how education for young adults (20 to 40 years of age), persons of middle age (40 to 60 years of age) and older adults (age 60 +) can be differentiated to fulfill changing role demands emerging in response to social transformation. Developmental tasks for a society of longevity are defined including why youth should be seen as essential sources of learning for adults. Themes for each generation are school, work, family, and personal identity. The way to ensure consideration of cultural evolution and cultural preservation is for intergenerational communication to become a common obligation. Reliance on age-segregated communication is popular and comfortable because peer conversations have greater agreement and less uncertainty. However, this practice prevents reflection on views regarded as important by other age groups. When greater amounts of time are devoted to intergenerational dialogue, the usual outcomes are reciprocal learning, mutual respect, and harmony. This book identifies and elaborates the conditions of learning needed to motivate an age-integrated society. This book is for several audiences. Faculty and students studying development will find insights on learning at successive ages. Counselors will learn about client needs across the full age range of adulthood. Social service providers will recognize transition in family relationships. Nurses and administrators will discover ways to help assisted living residents maintain mental abilities and build social networks. General readers will understand ways to improve life for relatives, friends, co-workers, and themselves.

The purpose of this book is to assist post-traditional students to achieve success in the Occupational, Workforce, and Leadership Studies (OWLS) Department and develop their individualized pathway to earn the interdisciplinary Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) degree at Texas State University. Applied baccalaureate degrees incorporate higher-order thinking skills and advanced technical knowledge and skills with applied coursework. BAAS students may also earn college-level credits through prior learning assessment (PLA), evaluating and credentialing knowledge and skills gained outside the classroom. The organization and content of this book provides adult degree program faculty and leaders an example of how one required textbook develops and supports the outcomes and activities in all the core courses of an interdisciplinary degree program designed for post-traditional adult learners. The majority of the students earning the BAAS degree are post-traditional students. They are often defined with some or all of these characteristics: over age 25 years old when starting or returning to college, may not have a traditional high school diploma, enroll part-time, work full-time, are financially independent, have dependents other than a spouse and may be a single parent. These students juggle multiple roles and responsibilities in the family, workplace, and community. Post-traditional students bring rich work/life experiences, may be experiencing personal and/or professional transitions, have clear career goals, and often finance their education. They seek flexible programs including online education, PLA, and accelerated course formats. Thus, post-traditional students want active, collaborative, and interactive learning relevant to career and other roles and goals.

Tells about what is required if you are returning to education as a mature student. This guide discusses various issues including what higher education involves, how to prepare for it and how to balance time and cheque book once you get there. It explains practical issues, and addresses your doubts and fears about higher education.

After fifteen years of teaching anthropology at a large university, Rebekah Nathan had become baffled by her own students. Their strange behavior-eating meals at their desks, not completing reading assignments, remaining silent through class discussions-made her feel as if she were dealing with a completely foreign culture. So Nathan decided to do what anthropologists do when confused by a different culture: Go live with them. She enrolled as a freshman, moved into the dorm, ate in the dining hall, and took a full load of courses. And she came to understand that being a student is a pretty difficult job, too. Her discoveries about contemporary undergraduate culture are surprising and her observations are invaluable, making My Freshman Year essential reading for students, parents, faculty, and anyone interested in educational policy.

A smart, snappy, and comprehensive guide for the millions of adults who are thinking about going--or going back--to college and want to know how to do it right.

The idea of reliving youth is a common fantasy, but who among us is actually courageous enough to try it? After surviving a deadly cancer against tremendous odds, college president Roger H. Martin did just that--he enrolled at St. John's College, the Great Books school in Annapolis, Maryland, as a sixty-one-year-old freshman. This engaging, often humorous memoir of his semester at St. John's tells of his journey of discovery as he falls in love again with Plato, Socrates, and Homer, improbably joins the college crew team, and negotiates friendships across generational divides. Along the way, Martin ponders one of the most pressing questions facing education today: do the liberal arts still have a role to play in a society that seems to value professional, vocational, and career training above all else? Elegantly weaving together the themes of the great works he reads with events that transpire on the water, in the coffee shop, and in the classroom, Martin finds that a liberal arts education may be more vital today than ever before. This is the moving story of a man who faces his fears, fully embraces his second chance, and in turn rediscovers the gifts of life and learning.