Adult Learner Retention
Adult learner retention continues to hold the attention of adult educators in every type of program. Although the reasons students leave and the strategies for keeping them may differ from adult basic education (ABE) to higher education, the goal of retention is the same: to keep learners in programs until they achieve their goals (Tracy-Mumford et al. 1994). In any program, adults are largely voluntary participants, but the student role is just one of many roles and responsibilities competing for their time and attention. In fact, personal reasons such as family problems, lack of child care, and job demands are often cited as the cause of withdrawal. At the same time, adults usually have pragmatic, focused reasons for participating and will leave whenever they feel their goals have been met or if they feel the program will not satisfy their goals. Personal/job factors may seem to be beyond institutional control, whereas program satisfaction is something educators can improve. This Digest provides an updated look at research on retention in adult education and suggests effective practices for different settings.
Adult Basic Education
Repeatedly, attrition is described as the #1 problem in ABE. Attrition rates as high as 60-70% are reported in state and federal statistics (Quigley 1995). The raw numbers may be alarming, but they do not tell the whole story. Several studies show that noncompleters sometimes leave when they feel their goals were realized (Kambouri and Francis 1994; Perin and Greenberg 1994). The phenomenon of stopping out-one or more cycles of attending, withdrawing, and returning-is typical of adults who must place the student role on the back burner temporarily. Counting them as dr...
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As demonstrated by Cotten and Wilson, connecting with faculty members inside and outside the classroom positively affects students in a number of ways (21). The negative correlation between exposure to part-time faculty members and associate’s degree completion may indeed be related to the students’ sense that they receive little support and guidance from part-time faculty members, who may lack the time and perhaps the necessary knowledge needed to assist their students in navigating the academic terrain at their respective institutions.
How to attract and retain adult students is an enduring question for providers of adult education. Adult students must juggle competing demands on their time from study, family, work, and other commitments; their learning goals are often different from those of educational institutions and providers; and their needs and aspirations may change during the education process, sometimes as a result of it. This Brief reviews recent research related to adult student recruitment and retention and provides guidelines for recruiting and retaining adult learners.
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students: Volume 2, a third
Introduction Great Tread designs, markets, and manufactures custom safety floor matting from their corporate offices and manufacturing plant located in Tyler, Texas. Great Tread serves their national and international accounts and employs 875 people. The company garners a sizeable market share of this ever growing and demanding industry. Great Tread designs, manufactures, markets, and sells safety mats, anti-fatigue mats, logo mats, interlocking flooring tiles, and Waterhog™ mats, and bonded rubber mulch for their national and international clientele. Alpha Consulting Company is a company that improves the training and development process through analyzing the learning needs of the trainees and the systematic development of learning materials and products.
There is a shocking dropout rate among college freshmen due to persecution by professors and if the condition persists, America’s economy will be dangerously destabilized. Understanding that the future of the nation is dependent on the upcoming youth for leaders, colleges should want to provide educational opportunities that will insure steady economic growth and prosperity. Unfortunately, research provides evidence to the contrary. Research confirms that one out of every four freshmen drop out immediately after or during their first year in college (Whitborne 26). Some studies declare it is higher than that, probably as high as an appalling 50% in some institutions. These dropouts are not only goof-off, indifferent, and partying students; they are the academically serious students as well (Stephens et al. 5). With this in mind, many researchers are sounding an alarm that too many capable college freshmen are dropping out during their first year at college. Every parent, citizen, lawmaker, and educational institution should be concerned with this information. The antiquated culture of discouragement, in colleges and universities, contributes to the unprecedented dropout rate of capable college freshmen.
“A patent is an intellectual property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.” ("Patents," 2014) There are three types of patents, utility, design, and plant. Utility patents protect useful process, machines, article of manufacture, and composition of matter. Design patents pro...
In order to build any solid structure, a good foundation is required. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a foundation is “an underlying base or support, especially the whole substructure of a building, a body or ground upon which something is built” (www.m-w.com). Foundations must be durable to support the structure that is built above. For this reason, the Foundations of Adult Education course delves into various philosophical approaches to adult education and learning. Investigation of behavior theories helps the adult education instructor or trainer develop his or her approach to methods of instruction. In this foundational course on adult education, it is important to discuss the definition of what exactly is meant by ‘adult education’ as well as its purpose and how that has changed throughout its history.
Intellectual Property Law used to only protect art, music, and literature, but because of technological development, Intellectual Property Law now also protects a greater variety of innovations including designs, inventions, symbols, discoveries, and words. The phrase “intellectual property” was first known to be used in the late 1700’s; however, it was not widely talked about, nor was the Intellectual Property Law in actuality commonly implemented. Intellectual Property Rights slowly gained more attention by mid-1800’s after the Industrial Revolution had taken place: more companies were created, competition between corporations became fiercer, and owning unique innovations were crucial to winning the competition. However, as Intellectual Property
Intellectual property abounds in our society, it is the direct result of the expression of an idea or other intangible material (Zuber, 2014). Our laws provide rights which are specific to the owner of the intellectual property. Furthermore, intellectual property is protected by laws just like tangible property is protected (Lau & Johnson, 2014). The most widely known forms of intellectual property rights include: trade secrets for confidential information, patents for a process/invention, copyrights for creative items and trademarks for brands (Lau & Johnson, 2014). While these rights may appear very defined, there are times when questions
Tinto’s original theory involved five specific factors that contributed to student retention: (1) a student’s pre-entry attributes (prior schooling and family background); (2) goals and commitment (the student’s individual aspirations in the institution); (3) experience at the institution (academics and faculty and peer interactions); (4) external commitments while at the institution; (5) integration both academically and socially (Metz 4).
Around the world small, sweet, sugar filled candies bring enjoyment to those who consume them. What are these tiny, pleasure inducing sweets? The answer is jelly beans. Jelly beans are produced in numerous varieties and flavors; therefore, their story is just as diverse and colorful as they are.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson. Berger, J. B., & Milem, J. F. (1999). The role of student involvement and perceptions of integration in a casual model of student persistence. Research in Higher Education, 40, 641-664. Light, J. R. (2001).
Andragogy offers a medium through which adult learning can be facilitated. It is essentially a humanistic educational process that values the individual learner. The powerful relationship between the instructor and student does not compromise educational values and learning expectations. Andragogy adds to the cognitive, affective, interpersonal and psychomotor domains of adult learners in order to bring about transformation. Knowles's version of andragogy presents the individual learner as one who is autonomous, free, and growth-oriented; therefore andragogy is an important and potentially useful avenue for both instructors and learners. The purpose of this paper is to involve initial work toward comparing traditional and adult learning theories and models.
“The right to own one's genius is not a new concept. However, with the arrival of the digital age, it has become much harder to remain in control of one's intellectual property. Intellectual property has grown from the need to protect one's new invention, to the need to protect a slogan or a color. In other words, intellectual property rights no longer protect solely the interest of preserving a trade secret; it is now the interest to preserve one's monetary gain” (http://classes.soe.ucsc.edu/cmpe080e/Spring05/projects/ip/). This report will look at the pros and cons of intellectual property rights and the impact it has on society.
What if everyone sat alone for lunch, each company did not interact with other businesses, and everyone lived a life of solitude? During college, learning to interact with others plays a large role in shaping the individual. College life provides many opportunities for a student to become involved with others. This socialization can result in a person gaining many benefits, including preparation for the work world. Social development helps a student to meet new people as well as making a person aware of the diversity on a college campus like Saint Peter’s. Human traits have evolved because of the influence that our surroundings exert upon us. The manner in which a person socializes in his or her environment determines how a person develops. In the college environment, the process of socialization turns students into adults.