Adult+Learners

This article describes the history of “andragogy” and how Malcom Knowles enhanced it with his own meaning. There are scholars who disagree with the term and definition of andragogy, however there seems to be a lack of understanding of Knowles definition. There are also scholars who believe andragogy is a proven theory which describes the learning and teaching needs of adult learners. Andragogy has seemed to be accepted by the majority of the educational community. Understanding the adult learner is pertinent to teaching an adult learner.
 * Henschke, J. A. (2011). Considerations Regarding the Future of Andragogy. //Adult Learning (22)34-37.//**

Increasing participation as well as access has been an increased agenda for many universities. This article focuses on a project called, Enterprise College Wales. This project was an open entry program that allowed students to enroll free of charge, as well as provide free internet access and were loaned a computer in exchange for participating in blended courses. This article defines blended learning as a combination of face-to-face learning with web-based online aspects, not simply adding technology to current teaching practices. It is understood that technology helped with the geographical accessibility it also can be a barrier if the student has limited technology skills. This project also allowed open entry/exit of the program. This was a problem for the current transcribing software, which follows an academic calendar and wouldn’t allow the open entry/exit. Many who participated in this project were in rural settings and wouldn’t have the ability to attend a higher educational school in a face-to-face setting.
 * Jones, N., & Lau, A. M. S. (2010). Blended learning: widening participation in higher education. //Innovations in Education and Teaching International (47),// 405-416.**

The purpose of this study was to explore Doctoral programs at a distance education university consist of faculty and students who were in their academic midlife stage. Academic midlife stage defined as students who were in between the completion of first-year tasks and the acceptance of a disseration proposal. Two data-collection techniques that were collected: Document analysis and key informant interviews. Thematic analysis was used to generate themes inductively fromt the raw information. According to the findings, there were three themes emerged from an analysis of learner focus group transcripts: (1) responsiveness to learners inquiries, (2) reassurance to learners that they can complete the program, and (3) respect for adult life situations.
 * Stein, D., & Glazer, H. R. (2003). Mentoring the Adult Learner in Academic Midlife at a Distance Education University. American Journal of Distance Education, 17(1), 7. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. **

This article explored the different dimensions of various aspects of learning styles/strategies to describe the individual differences of adult learners. The subjects were students from a large midwestern university representing different majors. There were a total of 325 students ( 159 males, 166 females) surveyed. There were two instruments were being administered, the inventory of learning processes-revised (ILP-R) and the the NEO-personality inventory (NEO-PI). There were two methods of analyses using exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The results confirmed from the previous findings that self-concept variables strongly moderate between the relationships and personality toward their learning style dimensions.
 * Geisler-Brentstein, E., Schmeck, R.R., & Hetherington, J. (1996). An Individual Difference Perspective on Student Diversity 17(1), 7-23.**

This study examined graduate students who were taking introductory educational research class during spring 1996 at a public state university. There were 168 divided into two groups that were randomly selected to either participated in an experimental or in a control group. Both groups were taught how to use e-mail, and both groups received a minimum of four messages from the researcher. At the beginning of the term, all students were given the Hardy Educational learning Profil instrument that evaluated learning profiles of interaction, approach, or information source for learning; preferred ways of gatherring information; and preferred ways of processing information. The experimental group received longer and more personal messages from the researcher; the control group receive messages that mainly contains just the general informations. Results indicated that student responded of type of personalized messages that were sent have significantly higher in the mentored group; and inner-directed students replied more often than outer-directed students.
 * Hubschman, B. (1999). How Do Different Types of Adult Learners Adapt to Distance Education?. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. **

In this study, adult distance learners were divided into different groups of multiple-goal learners, and the differences between them wer analysed in terms of learning strategies, learning-related beliefs, attitudes towards learning, and levels of achievement that pertains their courses. There were only 797 students responded out of a total of 1200 learners who were enrolled in distance learning who were undergraduate enrolled from different degree programmes at the Open University of Hong Kong. Two-stage cluster analyses found a group of single-goal learners (mastery focused) and three groups of multiple-goal learners with different focuses in their goal profiles: performance focus, work focus, and multiple focuses. These four clusters of learners differed in terms of use of learning strategies, regulatory strategies, motivational beliefs, and attitudes towards the course. Learners focusing on work-related goals or performance goals achieved better examination results than did those focusing than did those focusing on multiple goals or solely on mastery goals.
 * Ng, C. (2008). Multiple-Goal Learners and Their Differential Patterns of Learning. Educational Psychology, 28(4), 439-456. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. **

Although the number of adult learners who participate in online educational opportunities are rising, the dropout rate of this group of learners is quite high. A study was performed to target non-traditional adult learners who were enrolled in job-related online courses by a large Midwestern university. This study consisted of 147 participants in which 49 were dropouts (33.33%). Most participants were female, between the ages of 30 and 39, and had some college education. A look at both internal (self-motivation, self-esteem, etc.) as well as external factors (number of hours worked, family commitments, finances, family/work support, etc.) were analyzed. The study was to determine if there were differences between dropout students and those who completed a course; also to determine if there were factors that would help per-determine those students who would be dropping out. This study concluded that there were no consistent factors that would help determine the likelihood of a student dropping. A learner’s age, gender and educational level had no correlation with the dropout decision. The external factor of support does influence the decision by learners to continue or drop courses. Without the support system in place, learners are more likely to drop out of courses. Many U.S. colleges and universities are creating programs to attract adult learners. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) an adult learner is an individual who so aged 25 or older. Thirty-seven percent of undergraduate students enrolled in colleges and universities would be considered adult learners. Adult learners have many barriers that can make it difficult or impossible to enroll into a higher educational institution. Barriers can include geographic location, personal and family commitments, work and family activities, past experiences, lack of childcare, financial, and institutional barriers. There are things institutions can do to help alleviate some of these barriers, provide information regarding financial options for adult learners, hold face-to-face workshops, and create an online tutorial to better explain the options available. Institutions can also provide guides to help adult learners understand what they must do to complete a degree, having an active academic advisor will help adult students understand what their path is to obtain a degree. Other areas that institutions should review are; credit transfers as well as credit for prior learning. As adult learners become a larger portion of the student populations, institutions as well as policy makers must revisit these issues to help provide opportunities for adult learners.
 * Park, J.-H., & Choi, H. J. (2009). Factors Influencing Adult Learners’ Decision to Drop Out or Persist in Online learning. //Education Technology & Society, 12// (4), 207-217.**
 * Ritt, E. (2008). Redefining Tradition: Adult Learners and Higher Education. //Adult Learning, 19//, (1/2), 12-16.**