College or university is a central institution of the current post-industrial society. Therefore, the effect of aging on the adult learner and implications for educators will be examined in that context. The focus here is on the adult that has had life experiences and has often been referred to as a non-traditional student in the higher education setting. The age range for this type of student is extremely wide and, for the most part, includes adults over age 25. Demand for adult education is supported by research that suggests a twenty year old today can expect to make six to seven job changes over the course of a working career. Often, these vocational changes lead to additional adult learning out of necessity. Several times public policy does not adequately address the needs of older, working students. Public policies on higher education are established to serve the younger student, who comes directly to a university after high school and studies full-time

- Adults Motivated to Return to College
- Adult Learning Styles - Patterns in Adult Learning - How Adults Learn
- Principles of Adult Learning
- The Role of Aging in Adult Learning: Implications for Instructors in Higher Education
- We can do Better at Helping Working Adults Continue their Education

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Adults are going back to school. About.com and Adult Student Center feature several stories from these adult learners.

Online Education Database has published a list of resources for adult learners in ten categories to develop a self-directed toolbox that can lead, the lifelong learner, to other resources that they may need to meet personal goals.

A variety of sources provides us with a body of fairly reliable knowledge about adult learning. This knowledge might be divided into three basic divisions: things we know about adult learners and their motivation, things we know about designing curriculum for adults, and things we know about working with adults in the classroom.

Source: Honolulu Community College

Even though seniors’ use of the Internet is more limited than use by their younger cohorts, the rapid growth, along with the inevitable effect of younger users aging, suggests that the majority of seniors will be using the Internet for ever-widening purposes within the decade. With greater Internet penetration among the elderly, the opportunity for seniors to take advantage of formal or informal online learning likewise increases.

eLearn Magazine

The purpose of this research was to examine the reasons why so-called baby boomers are returning to college at record-breaking rates. A questionnaire was distributed to a group of students whose ages were apportioned to the 18-year Boomer birth time period. Respondents were asked a series of questions directly related to reasons for abstaining from or returning to college.

Source: About.com

This Digest investigates ways in which the learning characteristics of the young adults classified as Generation X reflect the need for the new teaching and learning strategies promoted by cognitive scientists, such as learning in context, cooperative learning, and real-world application of knowledge.

Source: ERIC Digest