Best Practices in Adult Learning

Institutions of academia are experiencing a schism when it comes to adult learners―some recognize and foster the dynamism of this student population while others harbor animosity and frenetic attitudes toward adult learners. There is a compelling need to find benchmarks against which to compare and improve programs, while still maintaining the fast-paced competition for adult learners. This book identifies the best practices necessary to bring adult learning programs to a new level―especially as the stakes among competitors continue to rise.

Best Practices in Adult Learning sets the stage by addressing institutional vision, asking the question “What do I want my program to contain or deliver?” It then provides a hands-on set of applications that are designed to strengthen daily practices, while underscoring the importance of faculty development to maintaining the health and vitality of successful adult programs. Next it presents straightforward, diverse, and immediate technological applications for adult learning programs, and finally it gives special attention to the increasing importance of senior learners―the fastest growing demographic in America today.

This book is written for faculty and administrators already committed to adult learners but looking for that focused, hands-on guidance and applications for implementing principles of best practices in an adult learner–focused unit or institution. Rather than a cookie-cutter approach, these are the lessons learned over time from some of the most experienced practitioners in the field.

Lee Bash is dean of graduate and professional studies at Averett University, a program with four regional centers and more than 25 satellite sites serving more than two-thirds of the a school’s total enrollment. Since the publication of his previous book, Adult Learners in the Academy (Anker, 2003), he has consulted and presented on the unique and special issues associated with adult learners. He was recently asked by the American Council on Education to serve as resident scholar for 2004-2005 on a task force focusing on the topic of adult learners in 21st-century higher education.