Teaching and Nurturing

the Adult Learner

Opening Address:
A Colloquium Challenge –
Exploring the Learning
Ecosystem
October 20-21, 2009

Dr. Bonnie B. Mullinix

Jacaranda Educational Development
Colloquium on Teaching
and Nurturing the Adult Entry Activity
Learner
Please Pick your Table according to the topic listed


on the table sign. Choose one that you are least

familiar with and/or would like to explore in greater
depth.
Once seated, please read through and complete the

“table talk” activity on the other side of the sign

with others at your table.

The Seven Principles of Good Practice in
Topics include: Undergraduate Education (Chickering & Gamson)
(2)
Andragogy – Pedagogy (Knowles) (2)
Cups of Directiveness* & Arrows of
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (2) Movement* (1)
The Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb) Sensory Memory & Squares of Participation*
(3) (1)
Stages of Cognitive and Ethical Development
Formal - Nonformal Education (Simkins) (1)
(Perry) (2)
* (Mullinix)

Slide 2
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Table Talk
Self-Refection on Learning
 Think back to a time in your life when you first
remember learning something.
◦ What was it that you learned?
◦ Why do you think this experience came to
mind?
◦ What was it about this experience that
promoted learning?


 Share your experience and thoughts with others

at your table and discuss what this says to us
about how learning happens and how we can best
support positive learning experiences for adult
learners.
Slide 3
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Opening Goal and Focus
 To pose our challenge, set the tone for the
colloquium… and start us on our way by:


 Conceptualizing the learning environment as

an Ecosystem…
 Considering some conceptual and

statistical visions of adult learners …

 Reviewing Colloquial challenges …

  Actively exploring learning theories



Slide 4
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Who Are Adult Learners?
Characteristics of “Non-Traditonal”
Learners
 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) uses seven
characteristics to identify non-traditional students. Adult
students most often:
◦ Have delayed enrollment into
postsecondary education
◦ Attend part-time
◦ Works full time
◦ Are financially independent of parents
◦ Work full-time while enrolled
◦ Have dependents other than a spouse
◦ Are a single parent
◦ Lack a standard high school diploma

Slide 5
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Who Are Adult Learners?
Characteristics of “Non-Traditonal”
Learners


 By using one or a combination of the above criteria,

NCES estimates:
 over 73% of students in U.S. higher education can
be characterized as non-traditional in 2002 , up
from 60% in 1996.


 Using only age to define "adult learner“:

 39% in 2002 and 43% (or 14 million in1996) of students
in U.S. higher education are 25 or older;
 65% increase in enrollments of students 35 years of
age and older (from 1.7 million to 2.9 million),
occurred between1985 and 1996
 (NCES, 1996 & 2002).

Slide 6
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Towards a Learning
Ecosystem
 In its original and broadest terms
an Ecosystem is:

 The combined physical and biological

components of an environment.
 Roy Clapham,1930

 The whole system,… including not only the

organism-complex, but also the whole
complex of physical factors forming what
we call the environment
 Arthur Tansley, 1936


 A system of interdependent organisms which

share the same habitat, in an area
functioning together with all of the physical
(abiotic) factors of the environment.
 Christopherson, 2008
 Slide 7
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Whether in Larger or Smaller
Conceptualizations…
 The Gaia Theory – The Earth as
Ecosystem - the biosphere and the physical
components of the Earth are closely integrated
to form a complex interacting system that
maintains the climatic and biogeochemical
conditions on Earth in a preferred homeostasis.
– James Lovelock, 1972

The Ea r t h a s Sin g le Ce ll- “…

Thinking of the Earth as… an organism…is a no
go… It is too big, too complex, with too man
working parts lacking visible connections… [rather]
it is most like a single cell” - Lewis Thomas, 1974

Slide 8
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Colloquium Guiding
Questions
What personal, professional and psychosocial needs

impact adults’ academic success?
i sm r  What do adult students bring to the classroom?
an ne
rg ear  How do we properly assess the learning that
O L
= students bring with them?
 What particular changes should be made to address
military students?
◦
 How do we build on their experiences and increase
ni g n =

active learning across the curriculum?

ar hin tio
Te ter c

ng /
Le ac ac
In oti

 How do we help faculty to become more adept with

Bi

new technologies that allow them to better

connect with the adult learner?

Slide 9
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Colloquium Guiding
Questions 

 How do we interest adult students in the university

as a whole?
 How do we make university events better meet
nt learner needs and schedules?
e
n m  How do we help adult learners with technology skill
i ro development and communication skills to better
nv
E achieve academic success?
 How do we determine appropriate university services
for adult students?
 How do we apply experiential learning to credits or
grades ?

Slide 10
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Listening to Learners - What They
Want:
Some Insights from a WSSU Student Panel early in 2009
 To be more highly engaged
 Team-based learning
 Practical focus acknowledging their experiences (frustration with
school, job loss, rearing families, etc)
 Less red tape that wastes their time
 Excellent services (e.g. WSSU library);
 Better technology help;
 Faculty who are skilled in teaching adults (currently experience
faculty as dismissive, unrealistic, inflexible, unaware of adult development
and not cognizant of the issues around adult learning)
 To improve their own communication skills to help navigate
their degree processes.
 Both face to face & online classes options;
 Grant money to travel to meetings etc.;
 Mentors to support, clarify, and mentor;
 For faculty to be aware of their challenges: Work, parenting, elder
care, etc.; Fear of not making it through, though they really want to
(this time around!)
◦
 Slide 11
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Principles of Effectiveness for Serving Adult
Learners The institution conducts its outreach to adult learners by overcoming barriers of time,
Outreach
place, and tradition in order to create lifelong access to educational opportunities.

Life & Career The institution addresses adult learners’ life and career goals before or at the onset of
Planning enrollment in order to assess and align its capacities to help learners reach their goals.

Financing The institution promotes choice using an array of payment options for adult learners in
order to expand equity and financial flexibility.
Assessment of The institution defines and assesses the knowledge, skills and competencies acquired
Learning Outcomes by adult learners both from the curriculum and from life/work experience in order to
assign credit and confer degrees with rigor.

Teaching-Learning The institution’s faculty uses multiple methods of instruction (including experiential and
Process problem-based methods) for adult learners in order to connect curricular concepts to
useful knowledge and skills.
Student Support The institution assists adult learners using comprehensive academic and student
Systems support systems in order to enhance students’ capacities to become self-directed,
lifelong learners.
Technology The institution uses information technology to provide relevant and timely information
and to enhance the learning experience.
Strategic The institution engages in strategic relationships, partnerships, and collaborations with
Partnerships employers and other organizations in order to develop and improve educational
opportunities for adult learners.

Council for Adult and ExperientialBonnie

Learning
Mullinix,
(CAEL) Slide 12
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Looking at North Carolina
projections indicate that
between 2004-05
and 2021-22, the number of
high school graduates will
grow by approximately
265,000, or 8.6%.

Before that, South grew by

23.5% (200… and is
expected to grow by 9% by
2014-15.

North Carolina growth

expected at 4% until 2014-
15 where it will rise again.
By 2017-18 NC is expected
to graduate a majority
minority class from public
High Schools

Knocking at the college door WCHE (2008).

Slide 13
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Challenges from A Woman’s
Nation
 Women as College Graduates and Decision Makers: Women are
more likely than men to graduate from college. Women get half of graduate
degrees. Women are running more than 10 million businesses with combined
annual sales of $1.1 trillion. Women are responsible for making 80% of
consumer buying decisions. Women have more power than ever before.

 Continued Barriers for Women as Earners and Leaders: But

women still earn only 77 cents for every $1 dollar men earn, and women are
less likely to be in leadership positions in corporate America. As of July 2008,
only 15 companies on the Fortune 500 list were run by female chief
executives.

 Women as Primary Care Givers: Women still overwhelmingly think

they have primary responsibility for their children and their sick or elderly
parents. Nearly 86% of women agree that women today still bear the primary
responsibility for caring for their sick and elderly parents. 85% of women
believe that where both partners have jobs, it is the woman who takes on
more responsibility for the home and family.

ht t p://www.awom ansnat ion.com /awn.php

Slide 14
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Slide 15
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Some Stats of Interest
 Women now receive about 57 percent of all
college degrees & outpace men in
receiving degrees (even though men and women
enter college after high school at ~ the same rate) … but
this is a more complex
 “Latecomers” or independent Learners are
the ones that tilt the final degree count (2-
to-1 of whom are women, some already with families) .
 One-third of African American women who
eventually graduate from college enroll
when they are age 25 or older.

Slide 16
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Shifting focus…Talking about
Learning
 Table Talk - What is your earliest
learning memory?
 What do we know about how learning
occurs?
 How can we use our knowledge of
learning theories/frameworks to
enhance our work with adult
learners
 But first… what we hope to improve on…

Slide 17
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 The 5 minute Unviersity
 Father Guido Sarducci's
Five Minute University


 In five minutes. Father Guido Sarducci

teaches what an average college graduate
remembers five years after graduation


 http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=kO8x8eoU3L4#t=69

Slide 18
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Some things we know
about
How People Learn
 1. Pre-Existing Knowledge: Students come to the
classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If
their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to
grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or
they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their
preconceptions outside the classroom.
2. Foundational Knowledge and Organizational
Frameworks: To develop competence in an area of inquiry,
students must: (a) have a deep foundation of factual
knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a
conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways
that facilitate retrieval and application.
3. Metacognition: A "metacognitive" approach to instruction
can help students learn to take control of their own learning
by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in
achieving them.
Bransford et al. (1999). How People Learn

Slide 19
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Some things we know about how
to

Help People Learn
1. Build on pre-existing knowledge - Draw out
and work with the preexisting understandings that
students bring with them.
2. Focus on Foundational Concepts - Teach
some subject matter in depth, providing many
examples in which the same concept is at work
and provide a firm foundation of factual
knowledge.
3. Develop Metacognitive Awareness – Help
learners reflect on their learning and develop
metacognitive skills in a variety of subject areas
and integrated into and across the curriculum.
Bransford et al. (1999). How People Learn

Slide 20
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Some Things We Know about
Designing Learning
Environments
Learning environments have the following foci to balance in their
design:
 


1. Learner-centered: Learners need connection with
the content, and approaches that match their interest/needs.
2. Knowledge-centered: Attention should be given to what
is taught (information, subject matter), why it is taught
(understanding), and what competence or mastery looks like.
3. Assessment-centered: Formative assessments offer
powerful insights into learning and help both teachers and
students monitor progress; they let teachers view learner
preconceptions and developmental stage and design/redesign
instruction accordingly.
4. Community-centered: This requires the development of
norms for the classroom and school, as well as connections to
the outside world, that support core learning values.
Bransford et al. (1999). How People Learn

Slide 21
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
 Learning Theory Construction:
A Matching Game in Small Groups
 In this activity you will re-construct one adult
learning theory/framework: (# of tables)
 Andragogy – Pedagogy (Knowles) (2)
 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (2)
 The Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb) (3)
 Stages of Cognitive and Ethical Development (Perry) (2)
 The Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate
Education (Chickering & Gamson) (2)
 Cups of Directiveness* & Arrows of Movement* (1)
 Sensory Memory & Squares of Participation* (1)
 Formal - Nonformal Education (Simkins) (1)
 * (Mullinix)

Slide 22
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Theory Construction: A Matching
Game in Small Groups Task
Sheet
1.Take the cards out of the envelopes (and distribute
them among group members);
2.Work together to arrange them in the orientation that
makes the most sense to you;
3.When you have agreed on how they are arranged, ask
a facilitator for an “answer sheet”;
4.Review the sheet and briefly discuss:
◦ How did your arrangement differ?
◦ How this theory associated with adult learning
inform your teaching practice and work with
adult learners?


You have 10 minutes to complete this activity.



 Note: We will not have time to share now… but bring your
understanding of these theories and frameworks into the panel and
roundtable discussions… and add your own to enrich our learning over
the coming days.
Slide 23
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
References
Angelo, T. and Cross, P. (1993).
Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Belenky, M., Clichy, B., Goldberger, N., & Tarule, J. (1986). Women’s ways

of knowing: The development of self, voice and mind. New York: Basic
Books.
Bransford, J. D., A.L. Brown and R.R. Cocking (eds). (1999). How People

Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School. Washington, DC: National

Academy Press. Available online at:
http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/notice.html.
Chickering, A. W. and Gamson, Z. F. (1987). "Seven Principles for Good

Practice in Undergraduate Education." AAHE Bulletin, 1987, 39 (7), 3-7.

Christopherson, R.W. (2008). Geosystems:An Introduction to Physical

Geography. Prentice Hall.

Fleming, N. VARK (Learning Styles Inventory). Online at:

www.vark-learn.com.
Lovelock, J.E.; Margulis, L. (1974). "Atmospheric homeostasis by and for

the biosphere- The Gaia hypothesis". Tellus 26 (1): 2–10.

Slide 24
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
References
Mullinix, B. B. (2002). Nurturing Participation: A Facilitator's Introduction to
NonFormal Education and Participatory Training. Amherst, MA: Center for
International Education, University of Massachusetts.
Perry, W. Cognitive and Ethical Growth in Chickering, A. W., & Associates (Eds.).

(1981). The modern American college: Responding to the new realities of

diverse students and a changing society. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Shriver, M & and the Center for American Progress (2009) A Woman’s Nation.

Available: http://www.awomansnation.com/awn.php
Tansley, A.G. (1935) The use and abuse of vegetational terms and concepts.

Ecology 16, 284-307.

Thomas, L (1974). The Lives of a Cell. Bantam Books.

Teaching Goals Inventory. Online version available at:

http://centeach.uiowa.edu/tools.shtml
U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

(2002). Nontraditional Undergraduates: Findings from "The Condition of

Education” Available: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/2002012.pdf
Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (2008). Knocking at the

college door. Available:

www.wiche.edu/policy/knocking/1992-2022/knocking_complete_book.pdf.

Slide 25
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009
Let’s go forth and explore
together!

 Bonnie Mullinix bbmullinix@gmail.com

 Jacaranda Educational Development

 Greenville, SC

 www.jacarandaeducation.net

TLT Group

www.tltgroup.org (mullinix@tltgroup.org)


Slide 26
Bonnie Mullinix,
Jacaranda Educational Development October 2009