Nontraditional College Experience

Being a non-traditional student, I have the opportunity to attend school while also pursuing a career in Information Technology (IT). Within the field of IT there are many avenues to explore ethics depending on the type of business that is being supported, or what the technical specialty may be. For instance, if the business operates in a medical environment that treats patients, there are privacy concerns, and ethical standards that must be followed. The same can be said for the financial community, and education. While the breadth of Information Technology and the available specializations are vast, perhaps even more impressive are the amount of trust and ethical burden placed on the Information Technology professional.

I have been involved with student learning for the past 14 years. I have experience with a wide spectrum of students in traditional and alternative settings. I have proven success engaging and teaching all types of students, particularly with at risk students.

College is an exciting time with plenty of challenges and difficulties. The ones who can overcome these challenges and difficulties will be the ones who get the most out of college and their degree. In my paper I will talk about what a degree means to me personally and professionally. I will also talk about different things I struggle with so far in college and different ways I can improve these difficulties, as well as how I feel about the CSI report that we took and how I believe it compares to me personally.

I choose these four articles below because either I could relate to them, in some form or fashion, or I gained knowledge of the events as well as people in the articles. The natural plumbing article I found insightful, how infrastructure has changed so much. The Anne Frank article I did not remember her story from childhood, through this article I have been encouraged to gain more knowledge about WWII and the concentration camps. Coronel Sanders and his celebrity reign with his franchise KFC encouraged me to stay focused and not give up. Hence why I am a non-traditional college student, I want to finish something I started years ago for self-gratification. The slave sold to save Georgetown I related to because of the similarity of recently finding out about my ancestry and who is in my family lineage.

The month after graduating from high school I watched six seasons of the CBS show “Survivor”. When my dad insisted I socialize with my friends, I invited them over and we all watched “Survivor” together. I was obsessed. Winning the game involves a certain finesse that changed from season to season, yet the key elements remained consistent. This show offered a new perspective on how to approach and adapt to challenges.

A non-traditional student is defined as a student that has one or more of the following qualities: delayed enrollment after high school, full-time employment, part-time college attendance, financial independence, and/or does not have a high school diploma (Cox 7). The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) estimated in a 1999 report that almost 75 percent of all undergraduates possessed one or more nontraditional characteristics. However, according to the 2012 studies of research studies in higher education, just 17 percent of college students are considered traditional (Harpe and Kaniuka 250). With the overwhelming amount of non-traditional undergraduates in America comes three major challenges: institutional, situational, and dispositional.

Being a non-traditional college student is hard for anyone, for someone who gets anxious easily it can be even harder. I remember my first day of college, I had spent the previous week sick and could barely talk because I still had a lingering cough. Pacing back and forth at home, I contemplated if it was too late to back out and quit school before I had even started. I changed my clothes several times and thought about giving up so much that I was nearly late to my first class. Additionally, in all the excitement I only took the time to know when my classes started and not where they were actually held. I had no idea why I was even here.

In the realm of the world we call college, there are many different paths one can take. When choosing the path of being an education major, one begins to see the benefits of their choice long before they see their degree. The field experience that is required with the courses one has to take for this major allow students to dip their toes into their field and get real life experience before entering the real world. This semester, I had the opportunity of working at Oasis Tutoring Center. While tutoring at this center, I was not only able to learn more about my ability to teach, but also connect these experiences to the psychology of education.

After working in and educational environment where the students are unemployed or underemployed, I went back to get a Psychology degree to see what made the students think and do as they did. Then after that, I wanted to obtain my masters in Adult Education, since I enjoyed facilitating adults for many years. I enrolled in Troy University in October, 2014. I chose curriculum and instruction because I wanted to become more equipped to effectively facilitate adults with the content that they need to learn. The more that I know about the subject, the better I will be to teach the students what they really need to learn on the topic. What makes me happy is when students enroll for the employment and job readiness course and come to class with the goal to help themselves. The show that they want to learn all that they can to better themselves by gaining more skills to enable them to better provide for their family. On the other hand, what makes me sad is when students enroll in the course because they are made to come and then once they come, they don’t try to get involved to better themselves, because they don’t want to be there to help themselves or their family in whatever situation they are currently in. I have a desire to be able to develop my very own curriculum of choice in the future. In the future, I would also like to move to another state and gain more experience with other cultures in an educational

Recent studies indicate an increase in the numbers of nontraditional students returning to colleges; the enrollment of students ages 25 and older rose by 13 percent between 1997 and 2007. NCES (2009) reported that from 2006 to 2017, there will be a continual increase in enrollment to nearly 20 percent for this age group (Bonner et al., 2015; Kenner & Weinerman, 2011; Ross-Gordon, 2011). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) there are 162.3 million people in the United States and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning claims that 38 million working adults 25 and older have taken some college courses but have not completed a degree (Bergman et al., 2014). Today, more

In recent years, United States universities have experienced a large influx of enrollees over the age of 25, a group referred to as non-traditional students. After America’s relatively recent economic troubles, nearly all citizens feel as though higher learning is an important tool for financial success. Many non-traditional students include first-time students, and more than half of the student body over the age of 25 consists of stay at home mom attending online classes.

Being a non-traditional student I have the opportunity to attend school while also pursuing a career in Information Technology (IT). Within the field of IT there are many avenues to explore ethics depending on the type of business that is being supported, or what the technical speciality may be. For instance, if the business operates in medical environment that treats patients, there are privacy concerns, and ethical standards that must be followed. The same can be said for the financial community, and education. While the breadth of Information Technology and the available specializations are vast, perhaps even more impressive is the amount of trust and ethical burden placed on the Information Technology professional.

In life everyone tells you to take every opportunity possible. In my life I take this very seriously. I believe it is important to utilize all of your resources. Deciding to attend Stokes Early College was one of my biggest decisions ever. When I began my early college experience, it started to shape my life in a different kind of way. Coming to early college allows for students to take college level courses at such a young age. Taking college level courses allow opportunity for students to mature.

College is a life changing experience for students. College is a new environment for most students and comes with lots of challenges. Things such as the increased difficulty of academic work and not being around the same social groups as a student was before college can make the transition very difficult. One of the best things a student can do to help with this transition is to live in a campus residence hall. Students should live in dorms because of the community that this creates. Students will gain many beneficial social interactions, will be able to better complete academic work, and will ease the adjustment to college life.

"Tomorrow is the first day of what I will become." I wrote this in my diary the night before my first day of college. I was anxious as I imagined the stereotypical college room: intellectual students, in-depth discussions about neat stuff, and of course, a casual professor sporting the tweed jacket with leather elbows. I was also ill as I foresaw myself drowning in a murky pool of reading assignments and finals, hearing a deep, depressing voice ask "What can you do with your life?" Since then, I've settled comfortably into the college "scene" and have treated myself to the myth that I'll hear my calling someday, and that my future will introduce itself to me with a hardy handshake. I can't completely rid my