University of Maryland full-time undergraduate students who were 36 to 57 years old were compared to a random sample of younger students aged 18 to 35 years old on the 1970 University Student Census, an attitude and activities inventory. The older sample of 319 students was 50 percent male and 50 percent female, while the younger sample of 313…

The development of the higher adult education movement in the U.S. over the past century is reviewed in this book. Focus is on the cultural conditions that made it possible, the persons who played key roles, the characteristics that distinguished each period, and the trends that emerged and continue to the present day. An overview is first given…

This appendix gives a detailed explanation of how data was collected in a Florida statewide study designed primarily to determine the degree and type (or desired degree and type) of adult participation in learning activities. The sections in the report are descriptive in nature, and a major portion of the material is comprised of tables, interview…

Through support from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, a model for providing graduate programs to full-time employed adults residing in remote locations of southern West Virginia was designed by the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies, a college that does not have a campus. The essence of the delivery model was to…

This analysis of the curricular program for continuing general education of Montgomery College (MC) is presented in the context of the ongoing and increasing effort to provide continuing education to the nation's adult population. Section I discusses general education in the context of the public two-year college and its special curriculum.…

The national field study of women's re-entry programs in community colleges reported here was done to identify factors that impeded or facilitated the progress of these programs. After an introduction, the content is presented in three sections. The first section deals with perspective transformation, the adult development process occurring in the…

In an effort to re-examine the principles and rationale of community and adult education, this monograph first addresses the quandary of adult education--society's commitment to schooling for the young while paying little more than lip service to meeting the educational needs of the whole population. Continuing education staff are encouraged to…

This study was designed to outline possible forms of guided self-assessment in adult language learning and to suggest steps that might be taken in order to further develop methods judged to be suitable for use within the European unit/credit scheme for foreign language learning by adults. The report includes a review of relevant literature and…

Community colleges, facing a decline in the 18 to 24 year old college age population, should adopt the marketing philosophy of private enterprise to discover and meet the unsatisfied educational needs of non-traditional, though potential, clients. The adoption of this philosophy, while necessitating that colleges provide education on terms…

Results of a survey conducted in 1980 by the Women's Opportunities Network of the University of Georgia are presented. The survey was designed to identify the character'; characteristics and needs of nontraditional women students and to help guide the development of programs and activities that would benefit this group. In addition to providing…

In a second edition, this book reports on the Aquinas College, a Catholic, coeducational, liberal arts college in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The original text on the steps taken by the college to remain viable during the difficult circumstances of the seventies is supplemented by an epilogue in which the results of the Aquinas College reassessment of…

A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed to students in 38 community college evening classes in order to determine student characteristics and evaluate student satisfaction. The sample of 463 students had the following characteristics: 56% were male; the average age was 28; 75% were taking only evening classes; 54% were married, 13%…

Recent needs assessment studies are reviewed, with emphasis on the needs of adult learners and of needs assessors. Three general purposes of needs assessment are described: (1) providers of educational services are interested in what their market (adult population) wants; (2) public agencies are interested in whether or not all segments of the…

Extracts from a journal kept by a French-speaking adult student in an intensive German language class are presented here. It is a critique of the audio-visual method, texts, teaching techniques, and students' reactions during the two parts of the course at the University of Berne. The extracts deal particularly with a comparison of the texts used…

The four conference papers presented here examine specific strategies and programs by which colleges and universities can design and adapt programs for adult students. In "Strategies of Adaptation" Rosalind K. Loring notes six major types of adaptation to which traditional, four-year schools have resorted (flexible schedules, simulated…