Recently, I had a mother enroll with her 20 ear old daughter. It was her youngest, so when she left and went to school mom decided to go as well since it was a career school and they have a plan to go into business together.
For some it is something that they always wanted to do, to add value to their life. They understand that hey will be sharing what they are learning with other to make them happier in life.
Laura,
Thank you for this post. Which of the "motivations" you list above tend to produce the best students?
Jeffrey Schillinger
There are many different reasons, refreshing skills, learning new skills, honing skills, switching careers, loss of job and need a new skill, and they cannot preform current skills, so they need to learn a new trade. Also, many return to start a new career, or re-entering work force from taking time off, and increasing income.
Thank you for this post, Jo Ann. What are one or two of the things you do to leverage these motivations when you plan lessons?
Jeffrey Schillinger
In my experience, coming back to school as an adult is the first opportunity these students have had to go to school. Their motivations can typically be grouped into categories: advancement in their current employment, self-improvement, and career change.
Jean,
Thank you for this thoughtful response.
Jeffrey Schillinger
What are some of the motivating factors for adults to return to school?
Jeffrey, this is an excellent question as it has numerous answers. Much depends upon the program that you are teaching as well as the culture of the school and level of instruction. I say that because some Doctoral program classes that I teach have students who are scholar practitioners who want to contribute to their country. I have undergraduate students who just want to stay out of trouble. Believe me I have everything in between as well.
In general, adult learners are problem centered and seek educational solutions where they are compared to where they want to be in life. They are results orientated and have specific results in mind for education. They can also be skeptical about new information and they may want to try it before they accept it. In general they seek education that relates or applies directly to the perceived needs, that is timely and appropriate for their current lives. This would include career advancement, higher pay or salary increase, change of careers, a need to obtain rich life experiences and a need to learn real-life reasons.
Jean
Lauren,
We do the same thing. Thank you for sharing!
Jeffrey Schillinger
I don’t think there should be as much emphasize on apa because let’s face it, when they graduate and find a job in there career they are never going to have to write APA paper again. I wrote MLA and APA papers all throughout my education and never had to use it in my career once I graduated. I do think however citing references is important and knowing what copyrighting and plagiarism is extremely important. I have had students copy and paste from websites and didn’t think anything of it.
Now I spend a whole class teaching how to cite sources. I use turnitin.com to prevent plagiarism from happening.
Lauren,
We have had several APA discussions at my institution. Many have taken the position that APA style is not as important as we may be making it for students who are in associate degree programs who are not publishing research. The focus should be on writing well and knowing when to cite sources. What do you think of this position?
Jeffrey Schillinger
The research paper in the syllabus I am given to follow states that I should give them an APA paper. I am not sure how important they are, but it’s the policy. Being that I teach document processing I focus on APA style format in my classes because the majority of the teachers use APA.
Vanessa,
Thank you for this post. Is there a reason students return that tends to make them more difficult to teach than those with other motivations?
Jeffrey Schillinger
Adult learners return to school for a number of reasons. Given the push of today's society and the job market, many adults are returning to school to change careers, gain advance degrees for promotion, pursue on the job training, or simply to enhance life long learning.
Oscar,
Most career colleges do not have many adult students who are there for just a course of two. Do you find dealing with these students to be a challenge?
Jeffrey Schillinger
I agree that some adult learners go back to school to remain relevant with their significant others. Some adult take classes together as a way of spending valued time together.
Some adult leraners are motivated based on finaincial returns or promotion at work. As is the case in the military, most promotions are connected to the amount of civilian education you have attained.
I've noticed that adults are driven by different motivation than that of children. many adult learners are there because they want to be and not because someone mandated it. Usually, adult learnse are taking a particular class because they can equate completing the class with a reward. That reward could be in the form of a pay raise, promotion, or the gaining of knowledge to increase functionality in conversation.
Michael,
Good starting activity. It may be worth finding a way to share this information with your peers to help them know your students when they get to other classes.
Jeffrey Schillinger
On the first day of class, I hand out a "getting to know you sheet" that has a list of questions for the students to answer, one of which asks why the students decided to come to school. A common response is the student wishes to some day open their own bakery or become a pastry chef. I will then point out how the course content will cover the skills or knowledge needed by the student to realize these goals.
Lauren,
Your post raises a question. How important is APA style at your institution?
Jeffrey Schillinger
