The Crossroads of Change: Why Adult Learners Are So Important to the Future of Higher Education (and Vice Versa)

Update: An archive of the webinar now is available on Blackboard. A link to the accompanying PowerPoint presentation also is available.

The Crossroads of Change: Why Adult Learners Are So Important to the Future of Higher Education (and Vice Versa)," is the next of SUNY Empire State College’s “Re-visioning Adult Higher Education” series of free webinars.

David Scobey, director of Bringing Theory to Practice, Washington, D.C., a national project that advances holistic, transformative education for all college students through innovative practices and institutional change, will make the presentation.

Adult and other non traditional learners and adult- and non traditional-serving programs are key parts of Scobey’s webinar. The non traditional "new majority" of college students is an important and growing challenge; adult learners, and other non traditional student populations, still are marginalized in much of U.S. higher education.

Scobey’s crossroads of change webinar takes place from 1-2 p.m., Monday, Feb. 11, via Blackboard Collaborate.

The college’s re-visioning adult higher education series of free webinars promotes national and international conversations around key issues, challenges and possibilities for adults and other non traditional student populations in higher education.

No registration is required to participate. Simply join the webinar 10 minutes prior to the session. Running the audio setup wizard (Tools > Audio > Audio Setup Wizard) upon entering the Blackboard Collaborate room is recommended for all participants. The Blackboard Collaborate Launcher also may need to be downloaded before the event.

Webinar description: Higher education today exists in an era of tumult; a time of fiscal stress, demographic change and public skepticism about the value of college.

Student attainment and faculty careers have become uncertain and precarious.

Often taken for granted, the received forms of traditional undergraduate education – specialized majors, semester courses, credit hours – can seem like stale requirements rather than catalysts for transformative learning and scholarship.

And yet, the last 30 years have seen remarkable creativity.

New fields, new pedagogical practices, new technologies – frequently driven by demands of adult and other non traditional institutions of higher education – belie the stereotype of an academy stuck in stasis.

At the same time, some adult- and non traditional-serving programs have responded to their needs and aspirations with striking innovations.

Scobey will focus on the importance of non traditional and adult learners to change and creativity in higher education.

About David Scobey

Prior to directing Bringing Theory to Practice, Scobey served as senior scholar at The Graduate! Network, a national organization fostering college success for adult students.

Scobey’s also served as dean of The Schools of Public Engagement at The New School, New York City, and as director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.

From 1989 to 2005, he was a faculty member in history, American culture, and architecture at the University of Michigan. He is the author of “Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape” (Temple University Press, 2003) and other writings on American history and higher education.

The re-visioning adult higher education series is sponsored by the college’s Center for Mentoring, Learning and Academic Innovation and the office of the College Professor of Adult Learning and Mentoring. Contact Alan.Mandell@esc.edu, Shantih.Clemans@esc.edu or Karen.LaBarge@esc.edu with any questions about the webinars.