Browsing by Subject "Adult Students"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    2003-2004 Fall Training Evaluation For Graduate Assistants
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Robinson, Jennifer Lee
    The Literacy/Reading program for Graduate Assistants teaching developmental reading students at a large, state university currently provides one week of teacher training prior to the beginning of the Fall Semester. The small group of graduate assistants in this program (including the program coordinator) are primary instructors and teach one or two sections of developmental reading, test taking, time management, and learning strategies. The main purpose for evaluating the training program was to determine the effectiveness of the training. Data was collected through a Likert survey, which included some qualitative questions, and person-to-person interviews. The results of the Likert survey are that the high quality of the training sessions, the presenters, and the strategies that were presented helped graduate assistants to better do their jobs. The results of the qualitative questions and person-to-person interviews also conclude that the fall training was very helpful and should definitely be continued. However, the results of the qualitative portion of the study also yielded additional, unexpected insights into the perceptions of graduate assistants who feel they are marginalized graduate students, teaching marginalized college courses (Reading and Study Strategies), and serving a marginalized population of students—developmental university students.
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    Adults Learning To Reflect: A Study Of The Assessment Of Private Learning
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Geerling, Falinda; Dirkx, John M.
    Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is a process used by many postsecondary institutions to award academic credit to adult learners for knowledge derived from life experiences. For the most part, PLA has focused on occupational or work-related experiences. A few institutions have extended this assessment process to significant life experiences not related to work, such as divorce, job loss, or drug and alcohol recovery. However, we know relatively little about adult learners’ experiences in these programs. The life events that are often the focus of this process represent powerful, emotional experiences in the learners’ lives. For this reason, we sought to develop a deeper understanding of their experiences with such a process. In-depth interviews were conducted with six learners enrolled in an accelerated, degree-completion program at Covenant College. The adults’ experiences in the assessment module reflect a preoccupation with meeting its technical and instrumental challenges. While they describe strong emotions and feelings associated with this process, there is less evidence that the process facilitates a reworking of their prior experiences or greater self-awareness as learners.
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    The Culture Of Poverty And Adult Education: Challenges And Lessons Learned
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Perrin, Jean E.
    Abstract: This study explored the experiences of adult education students from poverty in a grant-funded project designed to train them in a quality early childhood education curriculum and the barriers and lessons learned from project beginning to implementation of the curriculum in their classrooms.
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    Experiences Of Undergraduate Reentry Males During Times Of Perceived Psychological Stress
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) West-Anderson, Elaine
    The research question that served as the basic guide for inquiry in this study was: How do undergraduate reentry males navigate through academic coursework, especially during times of perceived psychological stress? Using a semi-structured interview technique, eight Caucasian undergraduate male students, ages 43 – 52, were interviewed. Findings revealed three major themes: a) the psychological stress encountered did not emanate so much from the academic experience as it did from personal struggles, relationship and/or family obligations, and/or work demands; b) when discussing strategies utilized to facilitate engagement in academic coursework, the men reported use of goal setting/planning and seeking social assistance to regulate the academic environment to some extent and compartmentalization as a way of being able to focus on the learning task at hand; and c) for some men there was a perceived difference in self over time with regard to academic coursework. While it has been suggested (Home, 1997; Senter & Senter, 1998) that returning female students may experience more stress than do returning males, findings from this study have shown that some reentry men, report similar needs and concerns related to life demands while engaged in academic coursework.
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    GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCE AND THE PROBLEM OF IDENTITY IN THE ADULT EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLASSROOM
    (2005-11-21T21:29:27Z) Dirkx, John M
    Teachers and learners increasingly attribute classroom tensions and conflicts to sharp age differences among students. Supported in part by inter-generational research, I suggest that these tensions and conflicts may also reflect broader struggles for expression of identity and selfauthorship in an increasingly postmodern context, and a transition in how we think about the classroom itself.