Adult learners coming back to school.
Students that have not been in school for more than 10 to 15 years have a hard time getting out of old habits and in the grove of new ones. What are some things that we can suggest to them for help?
I agree that older students are often the more successful. In the clinical setting their life experiences with dealing with others provides them the opportunity to show the younger students their own personal successes.
Hi Rodrigo,
Good point about how older students approach the classroom. Thank you for sharing your own life experience with us. This example reinforces how we need to support our adult learners.
Gary
Taking my own personal experience, I went back to get my second Masters after almost 20 years and even though I am quite confident in my knowledge, I was very apprehensive on how well I would integrate with the rest of the class. This apprehension, of course, diminished as the program moved on. But I disagree with the notion that “older students tend to have a lower confidenceâ€, because they have had much more experience in “life†than the others, in my opinion older students are apprehensive of the concept of “going back to school†when they have children of their own going to college, as was my case, and doing well in school, serving as an example to my kids.
Hi Cece,
When I have such situations I form learning groups composed of individuals from the different generations that are in the class. I use case studies and problem situations as the tool for them to work together to come up with solutions. They exchange information and in the process develop respect for what each person brings to the learning group as well as the class.
Gary
I have some adult learners who return to school for more advance degrees or for a career change. The adults are mixed in with the high school students that recently graduated but the maturity level is low and this annoys the adult learners. Any suggestions on how to handle this conflict with the adult learners verses high school graduates? Thanks for your feedback.
Cece
Some of my most successful students have been older students who have been out of school for ten or more years. I have found these students to be goal oriented, determined and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. They have also been good at solving their own problems.
Some of adult learners come back to school because they want. and they will work hard and get what they want and reach their goall. But some will come back because one in the family pushing them and we will have a hard time with them and they will lose their time and mony for nothing.
Hi Shannon,
Good approach in supporting your older students. They do need that support as they come back into the school setting after a period of years. They have forgotten some of their study skills and are not sure they can compete in the class. So by helping them to have early success you will build a higher level of confidence in their ability levels.
Gary
Older students tend to have a lower confidence level due to time out of school. I encourage my "mature" students by giving extra study sessions and always encouraging questions throughout the lecture. Most older students are very bright but will need extrea time and effort.
I agree completely with Dr. Meers. My classes are somewhat long, so on occasion depending on the diversity of my students I would give a small quiz at the end of my discussion. I would use that to see how the students would respond.
Hi Stacy,
To start with I like to do a first class meeting activity that gives them interaction with other students and success using their life experiences. Another is I use guided notes so they only have write down the key supporting points to the main points. This helps them refresh their note taking skills and shows them how to capture the key concepts. I try to give a quiz early on in the course that is very basic so they will be able to do well on it. This really helps to reduce test anxiety. With the above supports my long term out of school students really do well. The key is to reduce their fear of failure and they will really rally around you and the class plus they will respect you for doing it.
Gary
