Abstract
This chapter chronicles the story of the author's degree completion path as a nontraditional student and how that evolved into the author becoming an instructor for this same subsegment of the post-secondary student population. The return to teach happened following completion of a Master's degree. Returning to teach nontraditional students effectively and successfully has proven to be an undertaking the author finds rewarding as it provides ample opportunity for the needs of current and future nontraditional students to benefit from the combination of education and lived experiences of a nontraditional student returning to teach nontraditional students.
TopHigher education in the United States can be a unique experience for individuals (re)entering the institution as nontraditional students—defined by Kenner and Weinerman (2011) as “entry-level adult learners who are between the ages of 25 and 50, have a high school diploma or a GED, are financially independent, and have one semester or less of college-level coursework” (p. 88). As a nontraditional student, I possess an intrinsic understanding of this specific group of learners. The journey from nontraditional student to teacher of nontraditional students came unexpectedly. Soon after earning a master’s degree in Human Resource Development, while researching adult experiential learning, I secured a teaching position at a four-year university. After five years of teaching, I find reaching this destination as satisfying as the journey that led me here. During this time, the insight I have gained about/from teaching nontraditional students is invaluable. Putting my direct lived experiences to the service of facilitating students’ personal growth is rewarding beyond measure.
Following through on the decision to re-enter school at the post-secondary level after an almost ten-year gap in formal education took a lot of courage. Being in my late 20s before entering college for the first time, I was categorized as a “nontraditional student.” Some of the new identifiers used with this term include an adult over 25 who is working while attending school. In my current teaching practices, I rely on my direct lived experiences to apply a general framework to support all students. Earning my Master of Arts was accomplished through a graduate research assistantship. As a student in graduate school, one of the courses required that I create organizational training for adult learners. My employment at the time was as a graduate assistant researching adult experiential learning. Specifically, my research focused on portfolios of prior learning for which students earn credit by assessment to apply toward degree completion. According to Leiste and Jensen (2011), Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) students can shy away from pursuing PLA opportunities due to a general perception of the undertaking being high-risk. It was my vision to identify a way to help students overcome this perception.
Thus, in this chapter, I examine the ways that my experiences as a nontraditional student are inextricably intertwined in my teaching philosophy and andragogy as a current university instructor for this student group. Principally, I discuss how the unexpected emergence of my roles as a graduate student, curriculum designer, and university faculty shape why and how I teach. Furthermore, I explore salient differences between nontraditional and traditional college students and how those differences influence their academic performance. Lastly, I advance practical suggestions for more effective curriculum development and implementation tailored to nontraditional students.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Pedagogy: How an educator approaches transfer of knowledge in the academic setting.
Didactic Pedagogy: Teacher-centric with a focus on lecture assessed through a typical question and answer format with a strong tendency to rely on a multiple-choice format.
Constructivism: The process by which one makes meaning of new knowledge through social activity and experience (past experience + current situation = current experience).
Knowledge Hegemony: The perspective that any one practice or specific set of theories involving learning is more valuable or viable than another.
Prior Learning Assessment: Assessing the validity of an adult’s experiential learning as compared to an academic subject of the same topical nature.
Curriculum Design: Designing learning frameworks to guide students through a process designed in the spirit of knowledge transfer.
Nontraditional College Student: A student (25 years or older) who did not complete a traditional high school to college degree path seamlessly; returned to college following a gap of any length (even if only a semester or two); is employed while attending school at least part-time and providing the funding for their own education.
Adult Experiential Learning: The process of learning through direct experience undertaken by adults as a means of fulfilling a need related to career endeavors, personal situations, or pursuits of choice such as hobbies or volunteer efforts.
Andragogy: Theories attached to adult learning generally thought of as applicable in the organizational or workplace setting.
Radical Constructivism: Turning the process of constructivism completely into the hands of the learner; causing the learner to recognize their learning processes taking active control over how learning is incorporated.