Underrepresented Adult Learners and the Enduring Pursuit of Workplace Readiness: Achieving Postponed Career Aspirations & Dreams Through Enhanced Self-Efficacy

Hands-on learning experiences support workplace readiness. This paper presents preliminary results of a study that examines impacts of a technology-based experiential learning activity on career aspirations of underrepresented adult learners

Promoting Learning and Upskilling for Success (PLUS): An Inclusive Excellence Framework to Facilitate Workplace Readiness of Underrepresented Adult Learners (UALs)

We propose Promoting Learning and Upskilling for Success, an inclusive excellence framework developed to help underrepresented adult learners gain the knowledge and competence needed for the modern workplace

Patrick Guilbaud

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Faculty Development and Student-Centered Online Learning: Issues, Perspectives and Lessons Learned from Integrating an Exemplary Course Program

During the spring of 2017, Winthrop University rolled-out a new faculty training and development program, called Winthrop Exemplary Online Course (WEOC), to increase the number and diversity of online course offerings at the school during the summer sessions. Grounded in andragogical principles, the WEOC program also had the aim of providing participating faculty members with the requisite skills to develop more student-centered, engaging, and user-friendly online courses. Preliminary results indicate that the WEOC program achieved its key goals and objectives. Moreover, faculty participants noted that the program stands to build upon existing teaching and learning efforts and approaches at the University to foster increased levels of students’ achievement, retention, and persistence. In this paper, we present the development, design, and roll-out of the WEOC program. We will also highlight educational outcomes, faculty reactions, and lessons learned from integrating the exemplary online course program at the University

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All Aboard, All Attuned and All Involved: Fostering Learner Engagement and Teamwork with Clickers in an Introductory Computer Science Course at Winthrop University

Modern education technology tools and learning systems provide the means for faculty to develop courses that offer connected and engaging learning opportunities. However, many courses, particularly those in the sciences and engineering disciplines, are not often designed to encourage collaboration, cooperation and teamwork. Given the presence of a global and interconnected economy, it is critical for students to interact with classmates who hold diverse perspectives, experiences and opinions. Moreover, research shows that students who have had the opportunity to participate in learning activities with heterogeneous teams --early in their college life-- are more likely to develop lasting relationships with classmates with backgrounds that are different than their own. In the past few years, there has been a wide variety of exploratory uses of student response systems, such as clickers, to facilitate classroom interaction and collaboration in large and introductory college courses. From a pedagogical standpoint, research shows that the purposeful integration of clickers in classroom activities can help improve learner’s engagement and peer-to-peer interactions in high enrolment courses, i.e., those with 20 or more students. CSCI 101 is an introductory computer course at Winthrop University. With enrollment levels that range from 25 to 45 students, CSCI 101 is a general education course taken by students at the University who are majoring in a wide variety of disciplines. We decided to use three sections of CSCI 101 to study team learning with clickers. More specifically, we are examining through the study, whether focused use of clickers in the classroom by the students improve contents understanding, engaged teamwork and collaborative learning. In this session, we report preliminary results of the CSCI 101 with clickers study. We also discuss instructional design strategies and pedagogic approaches that can be used to foster learner engagement and collaboration in large classes

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Credits Earned, Credits Due: Forging New Degree Completion Pathways for Post-Traditional Students with the Aid of Prior Learning Assessment Portfolios

In recent years, there has been a surge in the number of adult students who have expressed interest in returning back to school to complete their undergraduate degrees. Research, however, shows that many adult students who start degree completion programs do not complete them. An oft-cited roadblock to degree completion by adult students is lack of recognition of prior learning obtained on the job or through other means. As a result, prior learning assessment (PLA) has now become an important tool used by colleges and universities to facilitate access to higher education by adult students. The Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL) has developed a set of PLA standards to award course credit for significant life or career experiences. Based on those standards, an individual with extensive experience in accounting might well have already mastered the knowledge required to satisfy learning outcomes for an elementary accounting course; or again, an experienced journalist might have experience that satisfies learning outcomes in an elementary writing course. Colleges and universities across the US are using a wide variety of PLA approaches to validate mastery of college-level material. More recently, the PLA portfolio model, which is a process that allow students to document college-level learning experiences for course credit, has received widespread acceptance. Through the use of the PLA portfolio, many colleges and universities now provide a new degree completion pathway, allowing adult learners to complete their programs within a reasonable amount of time. In this session, we describe some recent PLA practices and consider how they might be implemented here at Winthrop. We will discuss and review some PLA standards that might correlate to certain standard courses here at Winthrop. And we will consider the primary model for PLA, the PLA-portfolio constructed by students seeking PLA course-credit

Global Learners – Local Adjustments: Examining the Impact of Culture and Education Backgrounds on Academic Readiness, Adaptation and Success of a Cohort of Chinese MBA Students

Adult global learners (AGLs), particularly those with lack of knowledge or understanding of American culture, often have a difficult time adjusting to academic life in the US. We report on a study conducted to determine impacts of focused interventions to facilitate adaptation and resilience of a cohort of 28 Chinese MBA AGLs at Winthrop University, a Master’s Comprehensive Public University in the Southeastern region of the US. The AGLs were middle and senior managers from the city of Liuzhou, China. Targeted interventions were made to help the Liuzhou AGLs adapt to the rigors, challenge and demands both academically and socially of completing their degree at the University. Preliminary results show that a few key factors influence the academic performance, cultural adaptation, and educational experience of the Liuzhou AGLs. Moreover, the data shows the Liuzhou AGLs have benefited from the tailored intervention program that was implemented by the University to help them gain the most out of their time studying in the US