Workforce pipelines are essential to sustain a productive workforce in an increasingly competitive, high-tech environment. Advanced automation, sensors, materials and data analytics will increase the need for highly skilled workers in the manufacturing (and manufactured construction) sector. Attracting and developing the next-generation workforce…

Arizona teacher education programs are largely concentrated in urban or suburban areas, with the majority of practicum experiences and student teaching placements located in the same metropolitan areas. However, in Arizona, 35% of K-12 students are served by the 135 school districts that qualify as "rural." In the extreme southwest…

Higher education institutions are continually seeking to recruit nontraditional adult students yet struggle at the same time to meet their needs effectively. The following case study offers strategies to address this situation by documenting the pedagogical design and initial outcomes of an interdisciplinary, nineteen-month leadership-themed…

The demand for culturally competent employees continues to increase both domestically in the United States and abroad. Educational institutions must be aware of the demand and make accommodations for this shift in employee requirements as well as the growing business needs of multinational corporations. Study abroad programs often emerge as the…

The national imperative to improve postsecondary degree completion has led to various innovations within colleges and universities to improve student retention and academic success, particularly of non-traditional learners. One innovation that has been in use since the 1970s, but is often under-promoted and under-utilized within institutions, is…

Dropping out of school is a universal problem, concerning fairly similar target groups in all countries. Several action plans to prevent dropping out and to activate the dropouts have been developed worldwide. The object of this study, the Activity School of East Finland, is an exceptionally comprehensive entity, within which alternative…

The Cognitive Project at Passaic County College (New Jersey) was designed to develop a curriculum that would give educationally underprepared, nontraditional students an opportunity to actively experience ways of acquiring, solidifying, and using knowledge while acquiring the basic skills necessary for college work. Student explorations were…

The GI Bill and armed services education programs during and following World War II provided a laboratory for adult education services that have since been initiated on campuses nationwide. These include counseling and career centers, program acceleration, and credit for experiential learning for the largely nontraditional veteran student…

A comprehensive study was undertaken of the effectiveness of an external degree program implemented in Illinois to meet the needs of adult students studying for the bachelor's degree. The rationale, history, structure, administration, and governance of the statewide program offered through five universities are described. The majority of students…

This paper explores two interrelated dimensions of access--opportunities for progression and educational orientation, and offers various insights into what has been termed the "democratic imperative" in American higher education. It also addressed the responsiveness of institutions and faculty in access and other programs to the needs and…

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota developed a new engineering design curriculum to meet the pedagogical needs of undergraduate and graduate engineering students and to excite and retain engineering students of both genders and from all backgrounds. The curriculum is based on a series of guided, hands-on…

This book, which is intended for academics, educators, educational managers, and policymakers concerned with higher education, examines how universities and colleges can prepare their students for lifelong learning through continuing education, specialized courses for adults, and mainstream teaching programs geared toward traditional students. The…