Perceptions of nontraditional students and their instructors regarding the collaborative teaching and learning mode and the socialized expectations students bring from the workplace into the undergraduate classroom.

摘要

The number of undergraduate students who work full time has grown steadily over the last ten years. The proportion of undergraduates over age 25 rose from 28% in 1970 to 39% in 1999. During these same decades, the American workplace experienced tremendous change. Companies eliminated layers of management and pressed decision-making and accountability into every job description. Total quality management, reengineering, and downsizing challenge workers at all levels and create change throughout their companies. Nontraditional students who work met these challenges, adapted to dynamic environments, and performed in expanding roles.; Sixteen instructors and 133 students fully completed online surveys in the quantitative component of this study while 9 instructors participated in interviews and 21 students participated in focus groups in the qualitative component. The research used the PALS and APALS instruments to measure perceptions of instructors and students relative to the use of the collaborative teaching and learning mode (CT&LM).; Study results indicate that students perceive that their instructors use the CT&LM to a greater extent than do the instructors themselves. Undergraduate instructors and settings are conducive to students bringing forward their expectations, though they seldom do that. A key finding of this study was that nontraditional students do not want a more active role in the undergraduate classroom, a role any different from that of traditional students.