This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts five MotherScholars, mothers and scholars blending their maternal and academic identities, through the use of interactive interviewing, autoethnography, and narrative. The narratives are presented from four distinct times during the first 10-months of the COVID-19 pandemic: beginning (March…

Marginalization of women in academia can lead to feelings of isolation, questioning of legitimacy, and cultural taxation. As women of color at a predominantly White institution we have engaged in duoethnography to analyze and understand these experiences, and to ask whether the COVID-19 pandemic and #BlackLivesMatter protests of 2020 have…

Despite some notable voices clamouring for a shift in attitudes (Brookfield, 2011, 2014, 2017; Procknow, 2017; Fernando, 2017), little appears to have changed in the world of adult education when it comes to mental disorders. Particularly notable is the absence of first-hand accounts by adult educators struggling with these conditions, in our…

"Troubled-persons industries" have been created to ensure that troubled people (to themselves or others) are brought into "the stream of 'adjusted citizens'" (Gusfield, [Gusfield, J. R., 1989], p. 433). At the crossroad is Mad Studies. This article seeks to resolve the inner tension felt by one troubled-persons-industry…

This article is about teaching the first university credit course devoted to Mad People's History. The focus is on situating the course within the academy and community, curriculum development and pedagogical controversies.

This study explored factors that predicted learners' transformative learning in an online employee training program in a higher education institution in the U.S. A multivariate multiple regression analysis was conducted with a sample of 74 adult learners on their learning of a new learning management system. Four types of participants' behaviors…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have rapidly emerged as a new platform for online learning. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) must now determine if MOOC courses should be accepted as course credit. The authors propose a framework for determining if a MOOC course helps students develop the 21st century skills promoted through global…

Well-reasoned leadership theories are described in many academic books, yet they may not apply specifically to practices in higher education. In higher education, the absence of tailored leadership theories is compounded by the lack of technical skills or leadership ethics, resulting in leadership issues that impact the organization. To illustrate…

Within the contemporary landscape of higher education, adult education programs are generally housed, academically and organizationally, within Colleges and Schools of Education. Given the breadth of programs offered, it is perhaps not surprising when faculty are unaware of what those in adjacent programs are doing, but this segregation may make…

While many educators in higher education are using technologies in their teaching, their use of technology is generally restricted to meeting purposes of convenience and efficiency. Rarely are the affordances of technology being exploited by educators in higher education in order to develop teaching strategies that truly engage students, and help…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the motivational orientations of non-traditional adult students to enroll in a degree-seeking program based on their academic goal. The Education Participation Scale (EPS) was used to measure the motivational orientations of participants. Professional advancement, cognitive interest, and educational…

Higher education is going through a time of change. The United States federal government and its Department of Education are calling for reform as student debt has increased and the cost of college tuition has risen steadily to unattainable levels. In the next decade, the number of jobs requiring a college degree will increase to 70% of all new…

As baby boomers approach the age of retirement, they are increasingly returning to higher education to pursue degrees for encore careers. Academic planners must pay careful attention to the specific concerns of this population to help ease their transition to a university setting after decades of absence. This qualitative study investigated the…

The purpose of this study was to explore opportunity costs of postsecondary education in the U.S. in the past three decades (1975-2005), as a measure to support investment decisions at national levels and as experienced by individuals deciding on pursuing further education. Based on human capital theory and inspired by a set of studies aiming at…

While the GI bill after WWII encouraged education for the older students, the combination of baby boomers and the rise of feminism have prompted a new wave of returning students to academia. The nontraditional student since the 1970s has often been an older female returning for a graduate degree. Making the decision to return has not been easy,…