Adult Students: Recruitment and Retention :: Education Learning Essays

full-grown Students Recruitment and RetentionHow to attract and retain adult students is an enduring question for providers of adult education. Adult students must(prenominal) juggle competing demands on their time from study, family, work, and other commitments their learning goals are often different from those of educational institutions and providers and their needs and aspirations may change during the education offshoot, sometimes as a dissolver of it. This Brief reviews recent research related to adult student recruitment and retention and provides guidelines for recruiting and retaining adult learners. Adult Students and PersistenceAdult students interest and persistence in educational activities ranging from adult literacy to doctoral chopines is a complex phenomenon involving an array of factors. Adults are often affected by situational factors beyond their controljob, wellness problems, financial problems, level-headed problems, personal or family problems (Belzer 1998). Likewise, dispositional factors such as expectations, self-esteem, level of family support, and past educational experience, can be barriers to participation (Hubble 2000). Institutional factors such as red tape, architectural plan fees, scheduling, and procedures can either help or hinder participation (Quigley 1998). In fact, adult students who drop stunned are often really stopping outthat is, interrupting their studies but planning to return (Frank and Gaye 1997)or attending other institutions (Hoffman and Elias 1999). RecruitmentAdult participation is shaped by access to program nurture recruitment should be viewed as a multistep process of drawing people into programs rather than motivating them to sign up for a single style (Bond, Merrill, and Smith 1997). That process begins with promotional information to prompt participant contact it continues with a prompt response to initial contacts, providing details by phone or print, and inviting potential participants to a local anesthetic information session. Follow-up on initial contact is crucial one study of adults who contacted literacy programs found that the most common source for non enrolling was not getting a call back (Long 2001). Promotional materials should be inexpensive and eye-catching. They should provide basic information that speaks to potential participants--for example, Its fun, its free, its local and theres care with child bang (Bond, Merrill, and Smith 1997, p. 9) and they should stress the nonschool nature of programs. Program information can also be provided in face-to-face contacts-knocking on doors in local neighborhoods or staffing an information booth at a community fair (Lankard, Nixon-Ponder, and Imel 1995), on the shop floor (Hellman 1995), or in neighborhood churches, unions, or humankind services agencies (Gerardi and Smirni 1996).Adult Students Recruitment and Retention Education Learning EssaysAdult Students Recruitment and RetentionHow to attract and re tain adult students is an enduring question for providers of adult education. Adult students must juggle competing demands on their time from study, family, work, and other commitments their learning goals are often different from those of educational institutions and providers and their needs and aspirations may change during the education process, sometimes as a result of it. This Brief reviews recent research related to adult student recruitment and retention and provides guidelines for recruiting and retaining adult learners. Adult Students and PersistenceAdult students participation and persistence in educational activities ranging from adult literacy to doctoral programs is a complex phenomenon involving an array of factors. Adults are often affected by situational factors beyond their controljob, health problems, financial problems, legal problems, personal or family problems (Belzer 1998). Likewise, dispositional factors such as expectations, self-esteem, level of family sup port, and past educational experience, can be barriers to participation (Hubble 2000). Institutional factors such as red tape, program fees, scheduling, and procedures can either help or hinder participation (Quigley 1998). In fact, adult students who drop out are often actually stopping outthat is, interrupting their studies but planning to return (Frank and Gaye 1997)or attending other institutions (Hoffman and Elias 1999). RecruitmentAdult participation is shaped by access to program information recruitment should be viewed as a multistep process of drawing people into programs rather than motivating them to sign up for a single course (Bond, Merrill, and Smith 1997). That process begins with promotional information to prompt participant contact it continues with a prompt response to initial contacts, providing details by phone or print, and inviting potential participants to a local information session. Follow-up on initial contact is crucial one study of adults who contacted li teracy programs found that the most common reason for not enrolling was not getting a call back (Long 2001). Promotional materials should be inexpensive and eye-catching. They should provide basic information that speaks to potential participants--for example, Its fun, its free, its local and theres assistance with child care (Bond, Merrill, and Smith 1997, p. 9) and they should stress the nonschool nature of programs. Program information can also be provided in face-to-face contacts-knocking on doors in local neighborhoods or staffing an information booth at a community fair (Lankard, Nixon-Ponder, and Imel 1995), on the shop floor (Hellman 1995), or in neighborhood churches, unions, or human services agencies (Gerardi and Smirni 1996).