“Adults are busy people.”
Uhhhhh…No kidding. Merriam,Cafarella and Baumgartner remind us that
adults have full time jobs, families, friends (as though any of us needed reminding).
A juggling act, or too many irons in the fire, or sometimes it might
even feel more like juggling too many hot irons or actual fires… We
know how it feels because we are those
adults. We are the learners right now. Despite the fact that in our professional
lives we train, fundraise, coordinate, plan and teach, at the end of the day
(no…not the end of the work day—the end of the end of the day…after your
husband, kids, even your dog has already gone to sleep), we are students, and
this book is about us.
I love the community college as a concept because it is
the most inspiring place for learning to take place. People come to get better at something. They are more often here to learn a skill
than to sit around and philosophize, and they are most often sufferers of some
of life’s heaviest burdens. But they
come. They give up whatever they can
sacrifice to get better at something, only in hopes of their new skill
affording them the opportunity to get back everything they gave up, and then
some. The community college is full of
those “busy adults” that are referenced in The
Adult Learner.
Community college students aren't the only adult learners out there, (granted, they are the most relevant to not only this blog, but also to this CCA program, this chapter in The Adult Learner, and to us as professionals). We all get it. Anyone who has ever sat in a classroom (or professional development session, or CPR class, or...) can understand the concept that getting smart is hard work! Learning something, whether it's how to operate MasterCam or how to work with adult learners, is different once you have a little life experience under your belt. Needs change, attitudes change, and finances change. Suddenly there are infinitely more factors that impact your learning than there were in grade school.
Who are adult learners?
Who participates in this contradictory phenomenon that requires us to
break our necks for a better job, a raise, title change? Chapter 3 examines who, specifically, we
as Community College Administration students are learning for. And the answer, I think, is everyone. Demographics prove that people from all adult
age groups, races, sexes, educational attainment are going to school. So, fellow future community college
administrators, I think the real question that surrounds this week’s readings,
is what are we going to do about it? How
are we going to develop our colleges to meet the needs of this group of
learners who come from vastly different backgrounds, and with a variety of
needs?
Do you have ideas for innovation in the classroom? What about campus activities that keep adults
engaged? How is your college recognizing
the needs of its students?
If Being a Student Were Only So Easy
This week I have been tasked to be a “Searcher”, which means that I am to share at least one relevant online resource with my Community College Administration classmates. So with that in mind, I would like to bring your attention to The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5).
ReplyDeleteAs Ms. Dechant stated in her post, the real challenge for community college administrators, both in the present and future, is how do we develop our colleges to meet the needs of our students? How do we develop our colleges to meet the needs of students who come from vastly different backgrounds? Clearly there are several ideas and thoughts on the subject, so why not go to a resource that tries to provide this type of news and information for college administrators and faculty.
Based in Washington, D.C., The Chronicle has more than 70 writers, editors, and international correspondents and boasts a monthly readership of over 300,000. The writers and correspondents make a point to focus on areas of interest in the education community which, in turn, allows you to find information about a wide array of topics. These topics can range from new legislation or regulations being implemented, but also new instruction methods and technologies that colleges have found success with. In addition to the paper itself, The Chronicle's web site features the complete contents of the latest issue, daily news and advice columns from respected authors and writers, an archive of previously published content, discussion forums, career-building tools, and a “facts & figures” section that provides statistical data.
Most college administrators have probably heard of The Chronicle of Higher Education, but if you have not please let this be your first introduction. It is an excellent resource and it can certainly help you as an educator, regardless of your role.
Joey,
DeleteThe Chronicle is an awesome resource. They also publicize the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which provides great info as well. I subscribe to a publication they put out 8 times a year called Board Report. It's about working with nonprofit boards and usually has some helpful tips. For instance, this month's addition provided a focus on improving and managing endowed scholarship funds. If you are interested, the link is below:
https://boardreport.philanthropy.com/subfaq.aspx?PC=BT&AN=&Zp=&PK=MOTHPG
Emma,
ReplyDeleteUpon reflection of the questions you have presented for our group to consider, I’m struck by your statement that people come to community colleges to get better at something. I believe that this is an important theme to remember in the approach we take to tackling these questions. I’m assuming your questions were not rhetorical, so here is my best stab at trying to answer them:
How are we going to develop our colleges to meet the needs of this group of learners who come from vastly different backgrounds, and with a variety of needs?
I believe the first step is embracing, recognizing, and celebrating all types of learning. As you stated, people are here to get better at something, and we need to celebrate the commitment they make when they enter our doors. But acknowledgment and recognition of this can’t be the only form our celebrating takes. We need to celebrate by offering students the wide range of support systems they need to succeed...financial aid, counseling and advising, tutoring and mentoring, career placement, and opportunities for social and civic engagement.
Do you have ideas for innovation in the classroom?
As earlier chapters of Learning in Adulthood have stated, learning takes many shapes and forms. As you have pointed out, the community college body of students is as diverse as you’ll find anywhere. It’s very difficult for students to be insulated from real world experiences, because most of them are in fact living in the real world. I don’t have any instructional experience, but I know it must be a challenge to have to reach students in many different ways. I don’t know that there is anything innovative about it, but any approach I took would always draw on including the personal knowledge and experiences of students to add value to their learning.
What about campus activities that keep adults engaged?
I wonder if maybe a mistake we make sometimes is the need to segregate groups by age. For example, I’m amazed at the efforts in my community across so many different settings where there is a need to group “young adults” and “young professionals”. I find often times while these groups start with good intentions; they end up being watered-down or dumbed-down. I’ve found that I most enjoy being involved in activities and groups that include age diversity. Some examples for me have been church, Rotary, nonprofit groups, and most notably, my community college. I think we have to plan activities that do engage adults, but allow us to continue to embrace our greatest asset, which is diversity.
As an example, I attended an open-mic night earlier this week that was hosted by a student group on campus called the Phi Beat Coffee House. I was struck by the age diversity of the group. The participants ranged from high school students singing about teenage crushes to adults in their fifties and sixties lamenting about serious topics like divorce, unemployment, and the loss of a dog. To me, that’s a combination rarely found in other educational institutions, and I think it is one that needs to be embraced in our approach to teaching and learning.
How is your college recognizing the needs of its students?
I think we are doing this in a lot of the ways discussed above. To me, the biggest thing will be that we have to ask them. We need to continue to develop the skills of faculty and staff so they can both recognize needs the needs of students, but also help connect them with the resources they need.