Persistence and the NonTraditional Student Jan I' Fox

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Persistence and the Non-Traditional StudentJan
I. Fox
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Non-Traditional Motivation

• 1) pressures from the environment, such as
  changes in employment, family, or economic
  situations.
• (2) pressures from the individual, such as
  changes linked to adult development or a search
  for satisfaction.

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Factors that Influence Persistence

• Creating conditions, including faculty
  development, that supports instructors who are
  excited and inquisitive about teaching and who
  engage students early into a life-long learning
  pattern.
• Including the value of the instructor as guide or
  facilitator as well as giver of information.
• Valuing a diversity of teaching styles on the
  part of the instructors.
• Including the value of collaborative learning in
  which the instructor manages the conditions as
  well as the content.

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Factors that Influence Persistence

• Using multiple formative and summative measures
  of teaching achievement.
• Utilizing multiple models for assessing student
  learning. Particularly, in distance education
  modalities that attract non-traditional students.
  
• Acknowledging that all learning is connected to
  previous experiences.
• Recognizing diverse student learning styles in
  non-traditional students.
• Valuing the non-traditional student and focusing
  on their unique needs.

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Factors that Influence Persistence

• Providing students with multiple opportunities to
  contribute to their learning and fostering an
  awareness that their contributions are valued.
• Approaching teaching as a collaborative effort
  among faculty members.
• Working toward an environment that helps all
  individuals reach their full potential.
• Incorporating institutional goals into specific
  practices.

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Campus Data Gathering

• developing a coherent plan for a data base,
• expanding the current data base to include
  variables not currently collected and reported
  that may affect persistence and graduation rates
  of non-traditional students,
• disseminating these data to appropriate groups in
  a timely manner,
• sharing resources (e.g., programs and analysis
  techniques), including information about student,
  family and alumni satisfaction in the data base,
• determining the impact of interventions to
  enhance persistence and attainment at the
  University, campus, school, division, and
  department levels.

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Campus Responsibility

• Configure Physical Surroundings
• Create the Appropriate Organizational Structures
• Adult and Extended Education
• Open After Traditional Office Hours and on
  Weekends
• Create Support Structures
• Create Policies and Practices

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The Campus Environment

• Review of the current degree to which human
  scaled environments are optimized,
• Development of additional resources to support
  students with child care and other family needs,
• Assessment of needs for additional physical
  resources to support such an environment,
  including a multi-purpose building, commuter
  areas, remote computer access, or a student
  center,
• Consideration of developing family housing on the
  currently commuter campuses,
• Consideration of altering organizational
  structures, policies and practices to support a
  human scaled environment.

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Technology

• Intranets
• Local and Network-Based Webs
• Distance Learning Networks
• Electronic Course Distribution
• Year-long Course Agreements
• Asynchronous Learning Environment
• 24-hour Access

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Model for Traditional Higher Education Fixed
Environment
Instructors
Course Materials
Textbooks
Students
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Infrastructure Prototype
Facilities
Individual Workstations
Materials Storage Digital Library
Training Center Video Conferencing
Team Study
Teaching
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Asynchronous Learning Education on Demand

• Individualized learning from home, work, or
  campus
• Self-pacing of instruction by student
• Interactive multimedia instruction
• Continuing assessment by faculty/
  assistant/student
• Based on open architecture and networking
• Library resources delivered to student
• Remote administrative resources