Topic: post-traditional students
Mapping the Ecosystem of Alternative Postsecondary Education Providers
Alternative providers are becoming a significant—if not yet indispensable—part of the U.S. higher education ecosystem. It’s essential to establish a taxonomy that helps colleges and universities make informed choices about how to work with these providers, writes Louis Soares.
Working Learners and Work Colleges: Innovating at the Intersection of Education and Life
For 72 million American workers without a college degree, blending education, work, and life can unlock high-paying jobs in the knowledge economy. Louis Soares and Vickie Choitz explore how “work colleges” offer a template for supporting these learners.
Virtual Learning Can Be a Gateway to Increasing Equity in Higher Education
Much remains uncertain about what the fall 2021 semester will bring, but it’s increasingly obvious that expanded online offerings will be a welcome development—both now and for many years to come. Read more from Joseph I. Castro, chancellor of The California State University.
Bringing Jobs and Workers Together in the New Skills Economy
Bridging the disconnect between learners and employers requires a new approach to help open opportunities for people who have historically been underserved by the current system. Can blockchain help fill these gaps?
Higher Education Will Be Forced to Do This Recession Differently, and That’s a Good Thing
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can expect a surge in demand for higher education that will disproportionately come from post-traditional students. To respond, colleges and universities must swiftly adapt by broadening their view of learning.
The Success of College Unbound
Four higher education leaders look at College Unbound’s learner-centered, student-driven approach to higher education and the institution’s 10-year journey through regional accreditation.
College Unbound and Education Reform
Johan E. Uvin, president of the Institute for Educational Leadership and former acting assistant secretary under the Obama administration for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, writes that College Unbound is likely going to be one of the few innovation breakthroughs in higher education.
A College Unbound
In 2015, Robert L. Carothers joined the board of College Unbound after stepping down from serving as the president at the University of Rhode Island for 18 years. Most of the students came thinking of themselves as having failed, he writes, but College Unbound “taught them to reframe failure and to see that their lives had been about learning, even if they could not see it.”
A Unique Experiment in Serving the Educationally Underserved
David A. Bergeron, senior fellow for postsecondary education policy at the Center for American Progress and formerly of the Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education, considers how College Unbound works to reconcile the goal of greater access for older adults with the lack of meaningful outcomes.
A College Unbound: Cohorts, Educational Trauma, and Micromodels as Catalysts for Innovation
The highly nontraditional model of College Unbound—a unique institution designed for low-income adults who have started college but not finished—presented regional accreditors with a challenge. Louis Soares and Ursula Gross look at the tensions between innovation and accreditation that such institutions present—and how they can be overcome.
Mental Health and Post-traditional Learners
Post-traditional learners are often expected to adjust their own lives and schedules to campus life and services, including in the area of mental health. But it is equally important that campus services and culture are adjusted to better serve this growing group of students and their unique needs.
Cuyahoga Community College Brings Class on Wheels to Working Professionals
Cuyahoga Community College, also known as Tri-C, is increasing workers’ access to skills training throughout Northeast Ohio’s manufacturing sector by bringing a mobile classroom directly to the workplace.