From interviews with 90 adult students, five belief structures or "knowledge voices" were distilled: entry, outside, cynical, straddling, and inclusion. Each structure represents a particular construction of the learning environment, knowledge, and the relationship between the classroom and the worlds of work, family, self, and community.…

This paper presents a current synthesis of key research and new understandings of adult learners participation and involvement in undergraduate collegiate studies. It suggests that new theory and understandings are needed to provide broader and more complex frameworks for understanding and supportive adult student engagement in undergraduate…

The paper discusses how to empower adult undergraduate students by removing the slightly negative term of nontraditional student, treating them as equals, and insisting that colleges and universities reframe their sense of services and activities to respect all ages and life circumstances. (SM)

What is the nature of an adult student identity? Based in social constructivist theory, this study explored coconstructed understandings of culturally and socially mediated student identities through a select group of adult undergraduates in intergenerational community college classroom contexts. Key findings elaborated the coconstruction of two…

The Model of College Outcomes for Adults explains why adults might do as well as traditional students, despite limited participation and involvement in traditional residential learning experiences. The model's six components are prior experience and personal biographies; psychosocial and value orientation; adult cognition; life-world environment;…

Interviews with African-American adult students at four universities and four community colleges showed that past and current collegiate experiences and personal supports create congruence or lack of congruence between students and college cultures. Fragile and intermittent involvement, limited learning engagement, and cultural dissonance were…

This symposium paper reviews the literature on adult students in higher education and offers a model of their collegiate experiences. The review is organized according to the following themes: adults' experiences in higher education, social and psychological concerns, the role of the classroom, adult cognition, the adult-world surroundings, and…

This guide is intended for Adult Basic Education (ABE) practitioners, specifically Texas ABE cooperative directors, who wish to increase recruitment and attendance among undereducated older adults. General information may be used for all older adults, but two age categories (age 45-64 and age 65 and older) are distinguished in instances seemingly…

A qualitative case study explored the adult learner experience of pursuing an applied management degree in an accelerated degree completion program at a liberal arts institution. These three areas of research informed this study: intensity and time involvement of course learning; collegiate-based, time-compressed, intensive course formats; and…