Perseverance

Start my doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
Francis of Assisi

The Trends and Roles assignment in PIDP 3100 includes an appointed learning partner to collaborate with in researching trends in adult education, and the roles of educators in relation to these trends.

The instant that something becomes a trend, and subsequently enjoys its 15 minutes of fame, it is soon replaced with another trend. After pouring over the textbook for PIDP 3100, Adult Learning – Linking Theory and Practice (2014), followed by a few hours of “surfing the net,” I learned that trends seem recurrent. For example, new technology is introduced into the classroom (onsite or online), only to be replaced by newer technology, and so on.

The constant trend that I did observe in my research was that the demographics of adult learners have shifted: traditional adult learners are 18-22 years old, while the non-traditional students are 25 and over. The interesting thing to me was that since 2007, non-traditional adult students have evolved into to the increasing majority of students enrolled in post secondary institutions.

While researching the topic for this assignment, my learning partner withdrew from the PID program. I decided to look into the reasons why non-traditional adult students resign; there are many conditions accountable for this phenomenon, paired with the fact that institutions are increasingly encountering this issue due to higher non-traditional student enrolment. I identified that this trend is certainly one worth exploring, especially considering my current circumstances.

On my PIDP 3100 page, my Trends and Roles paper gives a brief insight into the roles of adult educators in dealing with student retention in the 21st century, and how I can prepare to address this trend. I’ve also included some web articles that I stumbled upon (i.e. Googled), during my research; see my Links page for those.