The WAS's Attributes

Taken from http://evolllution.com/opinions/audio-catering-growing-group-adult-students/

The WAS's Attributes

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Friday, September 16, 2016

Post 293

Working Adult Students (WASs) are indeed an important target audience among all types of higher education learners that need to be comprehended in terms of the challenges and advantages they represent for the instructor. WASs’ attitudes can be subdivided into five different categories that need to be further explored: their knowledge and abilities that are brought in to the classroom, the self concept, their expectations in terms of their learning and of their search for work-family-study balance, and their needs and attitudes in learning.

To have a better understanding of what these challenges are the following chart has been created to give the reader the chance to see every piece of information that needs to be considered when teaching these groups of learners. In spite of the challenges presented here, there are advantages for the instructor to really profit from this population and to make the class much more interesting by bringing learners’ prior work experiences to the frontline of teaching and to have them perfect their practices by providing them with a more concrete and concise guidance or focus.

the was's attributes chart from jonacuso

          The higher education instructors who find WASs in their classrooms must be aware of these attributes to plan accordingly. A university term cannot be foreseen with the absence of these students; they are going to be present and willing to learn. What needs to be carefully considered by the faculty member is how to take advantage of the WASs’ attributes to potentiate the class members’ learning with their work experiences. Simultaneously, the professor must consider what strategies need to be used to help all students become part of the learning community in the classroom and learn the course content deeply.

References

Laureate Education. (2016a). Knowledge and abilities of the Working Adult Student. 

Laureate Education. (2016b). Self Concept of the Working Adult Student.

Laureate Education. (2016c). Expectations of the Working Adult Student.

Laureate Education. (2016d). Needs of the Working Adult Student.

Laureate Education. (2016e). Attitudes of the Working Adult Student.