Open AccessAge-Related Needs of Community College Students
Author(s) -
Laurence E. Devlin,
Pádraig Gallagher
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
canadian journal of higher education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2293-6602
pISSN - 0316-1218
DOI - 10.47678/cjhe.v12i2.182854
Subject(s) - set (abstract data type) , psychology , higher education , population , community college , mathematics education , age groups , orientation (vector space) , needs assessment , medical education , gerontology , developmental psychology , social psychology , demography , sociology , medicine , political science , social science , computer science , geometry , mathematics , law , programming language
The literature of adult education commonly suggests that older learners have a distinct set of needs and a unique mode of learning that ought to be honoured by educational institutions; other observers note that education is a process whose generic elements are not age-related. Capilano College, with a strong com- mitment to mature learners as part of its community orientation, surveyed its student population by age grouping to determine the extent to which significant, substantive differences in the self-perceived needs of different age groupings were evident. The survey revealed that, although there were several distinguishing characteristics between students below and above age 25, younger and older students share a large common set of needs; older students seem to have a greater number of needs and appear to feel them more acutely.