Adult undergraduate students: Evaluating the appropriateness of a traditional model of academic performance

Adult learners (age 25 or older) now comprise approximately 40 percent of under-graduate enrollment. However, predictive models of undergraduate academic success are usually based on traditional young undergraduate students, presenting a problematic picture for the adult undergraduate population. Past research indicates that many older adult learners enter higher education from family backgrounds that tend to place them at an academic disadvantage, bring with them deficiencies in academic skills, and are less involved in academic and social aspects of campus life. Therefore, conventional wisdom would suggest that older students should have lower cumulative grade-point averages than younger students. However, past research on academic performance of adult undergraduates does not substantiate this prediction. This study focused on the validity of generalizing a traditional model of academic performance to older adult students. Results from this study indicate that a traditional model of academic performance prediction is inappropriate for use with older adult undergraduates. This research was supported in part by a grant from the Association for Continuing Higher Education.     

Literature of Behavioral Economics,Part 1: Introduction and Books

Behavioral economics, a blend of cognitive psychology and economics, is a new field that has attracted much attention, both from economists and from the general public. Behavioral economists have won Nobel Prizes and written books that became New York Times bestsellers. Unlike traditional economists, whose models are based on a perfect “rational man,” behavioral economists study ways that people actually make decisions and incorporate those findings into economic theory. This article presents an overview and history of the development of behavioral economics and a selective annotated bibliography of books in the field.     

Towards an ethical ecology of international service learning

International Service-Learning (ISL) is a pedagogical activity that seeks to blend student learning with community engagement overseas and the development of a more just society. ISL programmes have grown as educational institutions and non-governmental organizations have sought to achieve the goal of developing ‘global citizens’. However, Service Learning (SL) in general and International Service-Learning (ISL) in particular remain deeply under-theorized. These educational initiatives provide policy-makers with a practical response to their quest for a ‘Big Society’ and present alluring pedagogical approaches for Universities as they react to reforms in Higher Education and seek to enhance both the student learning experience and graduate employability. After outlining the development of ISL in policy and practice, this paper draws on the rich tradition of ISL at one British university to argue that ISL is a form of engagement that has the potential to be ethical in character, although a number of factors are identified that militate against this. The contention is that ISL which promotes rational and instrumental learning represents a deficit model and, therefore, ISL is conceptualized here as a transformative learning experience that evinces distinctly aesthetic and even spiritual dimensions. Upon this theoretical groundwork is laid the foundations for conceptualizing ISL in ways that ensure its ethical integrity.