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New Teaching Methods for Nontraditional Students Essay

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New Teaching Methods for an Untraditional Audience

It is becoming more and more common to see older students, or nontraditional students (ages 24 and above), entering college campuses. "Nontraditional" students now make up 36% of the college population (Justice and Dornan, 1). Although some question older students ability to perform in a college setting, research has proven that nontraditional students actually perform better than the traditional students (18-22 year olds).

The significant differences between the traditional and nontraditional student has prompted the question whether institutions need to alter their teaching methods to fit the needs of the nontraditional student. As the population of 23+ years old …show more content…

The increasing numbers of these students raises a question of what the nontraditional students actual motivations are for going back to college. In an experiment conducted by Wolfgang and Dowling, data collected from “The Education Participation Scale, or EPS” suggests that older students are primarily motivated by cognitive factors (3). Unlike traditional students, the nontraditional students seem to have a drive for knowledge. In this survey, Wolfgang and Dowling reported that nontraditional students were more likely to answer questions such as: “To learn just for the sake of learning,” and “To seek knowledge for its own sake.” According to this research, the need for escape and stimulation, were another huge reason for attendance. The traditional student however, seems to be focused on attendance for social relationships, external expectations (e.g. family members), and for professional advancement (Wolfgang and Dowling, 3). Table 1 illustrates the statistical analysis of each factor between the traditional and nontraditional student.

TABLE 1:
(Wolfgang and Dowling, 5)

Another important aspect for the attendance of nontraditional students is the factors affecting their attendance. This can include things such as distance of the college, college tuition, and the type of college preferred. It seems as though older

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