This paper explores the impact of older students, the "new majority" participating in higher education, in terms of enrollment trends, their characteristics as learners and consumers of the college product, challenges they present to educational processes and institutions, and the concept of a "learning society" in which lifelong learning is the…

This study was an attempt to assess the general state of delivery of student development services to students 35 years old and older in Florida's community colleges. Its purpose was to locate areas of needed improvement, to identify innovative programs, and to provide an opportunity for thinking about this increasingly important area of community…

To determine the relationship between age and risk taking for community college students, 74 male and 72 female students, ranging from 18-79 years of age, took a vocabulary test in which six "nonsense" items were interspersed among 54 legitimate items (following Slakter's procedure). Test instructions explained a penalty would be levied for…

Demographic characteristics, psychological needs, and program needs of a random sample of returning women students at the University of Maryland, College Park, were assessed. The women students were 25 years old or older who had interrupted their studies for at least two years. Of the 288 students who were mailed an anonymous questionnaire,…

In recent years the American higher education enterprise has made a dramatic effort to attract the adult student. This effort has largely been based on economic necessity, since the numbers of traditionally aged college students (18-22) have fallen. Extension and continuing education for adult students is not completely new to higher education,…

Designed as a forum for the exchange of information among research and planning professionals, this journal presents articles on institutional research studies and practices. In "The President's Forum," Mantha Mehallis focuses on the changing role of research evaluation and planning in community colleges. Next, Linda Greer, in her article,…

After an examination of the "macro" research approach, which deals with a population of adults, and the "micro" approach, which begins with a population of adult students, the micro approach was selected to provide reliable statistical data regarding certain characteristics of University Extension, University of California,…

A research project sought to determine adult continuing education students' expectations of teachers. A total of 108 continuing education students from the Clearwater Campus of St. Petersburg Junior College responded to the Survey of Effective Teaching Behavior, which sought to determine criteria adult students use to measure an effective teacher.…

This is the second of a series of three reports geared to educator training and which encompass alternative approaches to collaboration and expert input, as well as a range of diverse topics related to adult learning. This particular document describes a symposium conducted by the Adult Learning Potential Institute in June, 1980. For the…

Educational psychologists have not been attending or responding to some changes occurring in American education, specifically, the increased number of adults who have become learners. Both developmental and learning research developed because of early school needs in addition to general experimental foci; adolescents and youth have long been the…

Information in these two booklets answers questions that administrators or potential students may have concerning adult education programs for persons with developmental disabilities. The first booklet, which is designed for administrators, answers 21 questions concerning the establishment, content, and promotion of these programs. The first nine…

The application of an approach to language and language learning to the design of an eight-week summer course in English for Saudi Arabian students is described. Given at the Institute of English Language Education in Lancaster, England, the course consisted of three introductory mini-units, each providing one day's material, and six main units,…

A handbook of practical advice is offered to adult women who are re-entering undergraduate and graduate programs at Northwestern University and similar institutions of higher education. Interviews with 60 "re-entry women" provide helpful suggestions for organizing time inside and outside the university while balancing other relationships…

To determine whether adults who were grouped according to selected variables differed in their reasons for participating in education programs, the Educational Participation Scale was administered to 322 part-time adult students. Focus was on age, sex, institution, level of educational attainment, and occupational groupings. The responses were…

Theories of adult development are reviewed and considered in relation to the role of higher education and the educational methods employed. The literature is divided according to two perspectives: issues and tasks that are characteristic of chronological periods in the adult life cycle; and developmental stages that have no strict relationship to…