Many students return to graduate programs as experts in their prior fields. "Returners," as they are commonly termed, have undergraduate degrees and have worked five or more years before returning for a graduate degree. While there is a significant body of literature on graduate students in general, there is less research on students…

The definition of education and learning has been changing in recent years, as the field experienced, and is still experiencing, many changes. One of those changes is a rise in adult learners in higher education. In order to cope with this particular change and set their classrooms up for success, it is vital for educators to be aware of and…

The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has come to stay as an alternative mode to meet the higher educational requirements of diverse groups. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), a system leader in India, plays a major role in giving access and equity, besides maintaining and coordinating standards of distance education in the country.…

Adult students are more anxious about writing for school, less familiar with academic conventions, and more likely to drop out than younger students. For students learning to move between personal, work, and academic discourse communities, the ongoing and explicit writing instruction argued for in the research of Sternglass, Herrington and Curtis,…

The authors teach upper-level science courses in cell biology, genetics, and biochemistry at a public, four-year "community university" that serves a demographically diverse population of traditional and nontraditional students. In this article, they describe some of the issues they have found to be particularly significant at their "community…

This article is concerned with the effects that growing numbers of mature students have on the pedagogical practices of lecturing staff in the Institutes of Technology in Ireland. It is predicted by the Commission on the Points System and Mature Students that mature student enrolment may reach 15% by 2006, increasing to 25% by 2015. Lecturers in…

Reports a study of the influence of prior experiences on traditional and nontraditional preservice teachers' personal constructs of teaching and pedagogical development. Results of anthropological, stimulated recall, and concept map think-aloud interviews revealed many categories of prior experiences that significantly influenced preservice…

Analyzes teacher educators' experiences using storytelling about teaching to prepare second-career teacher candidates to critically reflect on their practice and teach for diversity. Using stories, prospective teachers developed retrospective explanations and justifications for their teaching practices, constructing platforms from which to launch…

Findings are presented of a study of some of the characteristics of nontraditional students in an undergraduate social work program, as compared to the characteristics of traditional students. Curriculum and service changes that social work programs can implement to accommodate some of the special needs of nontraditional students are also…

A study researched the impact of the portfolio development process as an instructional strategy that promotes increased critical thinking, organization, communication, and self-reflection abilities. The inquiry began with a case study of eight adult learners representative of the student population of a nontraditional undergraduate program with a…

Alternative approaches to learning are the subject of these approximately 50 papers on non-traditional and interdisciplinary programs in higher education. The first set of papers addresses adult learning, including possible teaching and learning strategies, and ways to develop faculty and student performance through college fairs for adults, adult…

This document contains 43 papers from a conference on researching inclusion. The following are among the papers included: "Include Me Out: Critique and Contradiction in Thinking about Social Exclusion and Lifelong Learning" (Paul Armstrong); "The Linking of Work and Education To Enable Social Inclusion" (Dave Beck);…