The idea of the university has been a matter of intense debate for well over a century. The essential nature, role and purpose of the university have long been questioned. The debate has only intensified as universities have multiplied and expanded across the globe, and the demands made upon them by different stakeholders have grown and…

Emerging adult (EA; aged 18-29) military-connected students experience major developmental changes, often coupled with the transition into the civilian sector and higher education. This conglomeration may exacerbate anxiety, stress, and negative coping mechanisms, including substance use. Substance use rates are highest among EAs, across the…

Developmental complexity, in particular developing an internal voice, is one of the foundations of character development. Here the author describes developmental complexity, its evolution over adolescence and young adulthood, how it links to character development and the five strategies to promote it, and how learning partnerships are one form of…

Self-awareness is often seen as a critical component in leadership and career success, and has therefore become a feature in MBAs, leadership development, and management education. It has become a popular "buzzword" in management literature, yet when reviewing this literature, there appears to be no consistent definition of the…

The transition to college is a critical determinant of student success in higher education. Increasingly, students' parents play a key role in supporting their sons and daughters as they adjust to the academic and social demands of university. However, little research has been conducted into parents' experiences of their child's transition to…

Should unique adult higher education programs be preserved and even championed, or should such programs succumb to the pressures of the day and get folded into more conventional higher education? This essay argues that, in addressing such vital questions, we need to become more aware of the relationship between human development and college study,…

At the bachelor's level, there exist a number of former students who have successfully completed a considerable portion of their degree and have earned a significant number of credits. They have put a significant investment toward the earning of their degree and many have come within one semester of degree completion. As former students, they have…

Higher education students, formally adults, are nevertheless subject to adultism. The co-authors of this article--the director of the Students as Teachers and Learners (SaLT) program and three undergraduates who have worked in pedagogical partnership with faculty through SaLT--discuss how this program counters adultism on three levels:…

Internalized discourses of identity impact identity development, which in turn affects how one represents themselves in relation to their identity. This embodiment of language is a form of literacy and for those with minoritized identities of sexuality and gender, language can serve to validate or invalidate identities. We use grounded theory to…

Ellie Drago-Severson and Mary Antón have known each other for more than 20 years and have worked together in different capacities to support educators through the lens of adult development. They spoke with "The Learning Professional" about how coaching can help leaders at all levels navigate the COVID-19 crisis and grow in ways that will…

This chapter focuses on negotiating life transitions that facilitate positive adult development, and the importance of self-care for health professions educators.

Shadow work may result in increased awareness and emotional and behavioral changes that influence the quality of life in the adult student. Using a semi-clinical, semi-structured, qualitative interview with 20 adult learners, this study investigated the role of shadow work following Kegan and Lahey's (2009) Immunity to Change (ITC) process in…

Work hard in school, graduate from a top college, establish a high-paying professional career, enjoy the long-lasting reward of happiness. This is the American Dream--and yet basic questions at the heart of this competitive journey remain unanswered. Does competitive success, even rarified entry into the Ivy League and the top one percent of…

More young people with a diagnosis of autism are enrolling and successfully completing higher education courses than ever before and this is set to increase; however, while there is a burgeoning body of literature surrounding the transition into this stage of education, there is a paucity of research that investigates the transition as this…

In order to assist community college students in completing their program of study at a more rapid pace, this quantitative, correlational study examined the effectiveness of acceleration as a method to help community college students complete the developmental reading sequence quickly and more successfully. Acceleration is a curricular redesign…