Supporting the Success of “New Traditional” Students

The internet of things has brought a new dimension and approach into the education sector. The technology of things brought into the education sector is like a magnet to adults who have missed the opportunity for achieving degrees in their early years in life.

The category that we are focusing on is those known in higher education as nontraditional students that are fast metamorphosing into the new traditional students. They are mostly over the age bracket of 24 and have other responsibilities to cope with alongside the pursuit of education. 

The changes in a career today have given rise to the need for higher education. New traditional students are pursuing their quest for knowledge through different means most especially through online mode. How best can this category of students be handled to give full meaning to their quest for education?

Our focus shall be on three ways by which the progress of new traditional students can support them to achieve the best results that will be delivered to them with less stress. 

The relevance of the program

Some of the students in this category pursue higher education to enhance their interest in a particular field; the majority of actions seen in this regard are the ones that are based on career prospects. The need to climb up the ladder and earn a fat salary is the major reason why most students in this category are in pursuit of higher knowledge.

One of the less popular programs that students in this category opt for is the traditional credit hour based program. The real-life connections that are crucial to the success of the students are adopted in the curriculum that will deliver the results that mattered.

Several other approaches are used to achieve the results that mattered. These include prior learning assessments, project-based learning, internships, and field applications. We shall dwell on the more popular approach – the competency-based education (CBE).

The CBE involves an online learning process that has the input of the employers of the students. Here, the students will fall back on their on-the-job experiences to move through the program which will take less time to conclude because of the prior knowledge of the student.

The faculty engagement

The success of students in this category will be predicted on the level of relationship that exists between them and members of the class through the online classroom. The success or otherwise of these categories of students are based on how they manage the interactions with their online mates.

Three factors should be taken into reckoning here. Any student that comes to the party with the three attributes will make the expected headway in the classroom. 

There should be mutual respect and recognition of your colleague as an adult professional. 

You are expected to be responsive to the concerns of other students by giving prompt answers to questions as well as grading assignments promptly. This gives room for students to incorporate feedback into their next assignment.

The feedback that is given should provide positive engagement within the class.

Support Service

Another critical area that is instrumental to the success of this learning process is the quality of the support that comes the way of students. The majority of the students have left education for a long time and some of them are not even aware of the system from Adam.

It is therefore important to provide solid and active online support that will be there for the students. A lot is involved here since all the actions are conducted online. The best way to support payment of fees is not to direct the student to the bursar. Rather, the support system should explain how to pay the bills.

There should be the provision of multiple options for the student to access online support. Where there is a range of tools to help the students gather relevant information through the support tools, the success rate among the students will sky-rocket. When the emphasis is placed on giving real-time support to students, the results will be highly productive.

Final thought

The educational system is changing for the best with the online opportunity given to adults that missed the chance for education in their early years in life. The new traditional students will achieve greater success if the three lines of actions mentioned above will be taken into account.