The WAS's Attributes

Taken from http://evolllution.com/opinions/audio-catering-growing-group-adult-students/

The WAS's Attributes

By Prof. Jonathan AcuĂąa-Solano, M. Ed. School of English Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Latina de Costa Rica Friday, September 16, 2016 Post 293

Working Adult Students (WASs) are indeed an important target audience among all types of higher education learners that need to be comprehended in terms of the challenges and advantages they represent for the instructor. WASs’ attitudes can be subdivided into five different categories that need to be further explored: their knowledge and abilities that are brought in to the classroom, the self concept, their expectations in terms of their learning and of their search for workfamily-study balance, and their needs and attitudes in learning.

To have a better understanding of what these challenges are the following chart has been created to give the reader the chance to see every piece of information that needs to be considered when teaching these groups of learners. In spite of the challenges presented here, there are advantages for the instructor to really profit from this population and to make the class much more interesting by bringing learners’ prior work experiences to the frontline of teaching and to have them perfect their practices by providing them with a more concrete and concise guidance or focus.

WAS’s Attitudes

Knowledge and Abilities

Self-Concept

Challenges

Advantages

Two challenges are stated by Laureate Education (2016a) that can become burdensome for the faculty member with a group of WASs: - Lack of a theoretical background of the knowledge and abilities required through practice at work.

- The lack of an organized structure of knowledge and abilities to perform work tasks.

However, this is the fun part of the course in which we instructors have to guide them to validate what they already know with the theoretical knowledge they are missing.

If “Self‐concept, as implied by the word itself, is the concept we have about ourselves, taking into account a set of characteristics and dimensions of the self” (Laureate Education, 2016b) it presents a challenge in itself with WASs, especially when they come back to study after a long interruption in their studies. They may find them “misfits” in a context where they coexist with young adult learners.

Working with WASs can also bring lots of advantages if compared to higher education learners who have no prior experience.

Working adults bring into the classroom: - Specific knowledge rooted in their work practice, and - Abilities based on previous experience.

Their empirical expertise can spice up the course especially while confronting the validity of theoretical knowledge and the suggested practices by the experts. They can enrich classroom discussion by bringing their experience to the frontline.

Since most of these learners are already self-motivated and decision-making-oriented, they come into our classrooms with a purpose in mind they are pursuing for various reasons.

Though they may lack the time that full time young adult learners have, they are willing to try to cope with the demands of academic life in their search for their academic validation of the knowledge acquired in their workplaces.

Expectations

Needs

WASs do have lots of expectations, as any other learners. The most challenging one is “an expectation of adaptation to the modality of study or to the suggested methodology, especially in cases where the new technologies are needed” (Laureate Education, 2016c).

Facing online, hybrid, blended education can be a real issue for many of them.

What can turn into challenges for the instructor is the WAS’ needs “for specific professional competences that can be applied to the work practice” and their need “to count on faculty support or guidance” (Laureate Education, 2016d).

As an instructor dealing with WASs, it is crucial to have a disposition to listen and to try to find ways to help them to advance in their course material understanding and course completion. All these information that can be provided to them will help them comprehend better their responsibilities at work and the ones that can come ahead of time if a promotion takes place since they are in search for it.

For WASs, there is a “hope that the study syllabus chosen really provides them with content or learning that is useful and easily transferable to the work or daily life context” (Laureate Education, 2016c). And since they come into the classroom with lots of prior knowledge and empirical expertise, their expectations can become really reflected by the course learning outcomes.

Intrinsic motivation is important in learning, but with many WASs, extrinsic motivation is the one that prevails. Since their needs for higher income and/or a job promotion is part of their encouragement to come back to college, these motivations can be used to trigger deep learning in many of them and to have them focused on what is really relevant for the course. Using this motivation can help the instructor to constantly re-focus learners to what is relevant for their learning especially when they have been heard and their needs have been incorporated into the class material to be covered and its continuum.

Attitudes

As we can face advantages in WAS’ higher education learning, we are bound to encounter very concrete challenges.

As Laureate Education (2016e) posits, WASs may have: - low disposition to “unlearning,” - the prejudice of learning from a younger person, - the resistance to change, fear of new dynamics and methodologies, - the physical tiredness as a product of many commitments, - and a focus on grading.

WASs are very highly motivated, and the instructor is bound to find: - high level of participation and communication, - clarity in study objectives, - experience acquired in the work area, - expressivity and spontaneity, - and practical use purpose.

All these can have a very positive impact on one’s course in spite of the challenges that were highlighted. Attitude needs to be used to really work in the consolidation of what WASs have been learning empirically.

Chart created by Prof. Jonathan Acuña based on the information provided by Laureate Faculty Development

The higher education instructors who find WASs in their classrooms must be aware of these attributes to plan accordingly. A university term cannot be foreseen with the absence of these students; they are going to be present and willing to learn. What needs to be carefully considered by the faculty member is how to take advantage of the WASs’ attributes to potentiate the class members’ learning with their work experiences. Simultaneously, the professor must consider what strategies need to be used to help all students become part of the learning community in the classroom and learn the course content deeply.

References Laureate Education. (2016a). Knowledge and abilities of the Working Adult Student.

Laureate Education. (2016b). Self Concept of the Working Adult Student.

Laureate Education. (2016c). Expectations of the Working Adult Student.

Laureate Education. (2016d). Needs of the Working Adult Student.

Laureate Education. (2016e). Attitudes of the Working Adult Student.