Sydney Richardson

Wishes of Adult Women Learners: My Quest for Meaning Sydney Richardson

This qualitative study uses narrative research to examine how adult women college students process their collegiate experiences. Often, colleges and universities create programs for adult learners without recognizing that this population is not a homogenous group. Therefore, the needs of adult students, along with policies and programs that follow as a result, do not take into consideration the difference in learners. Although race, gender, class, religion and other characteristics are deemed important in various disciplines, including andragogy, those characteristics are not always given close attention. As a result, adult learners, especially women learners, continue to enroll in adult education programs that do not fully recognize their differences. By collecting the life stories of six women who are completing their bachelor degrees for the first time at four-year colleges and universities, this study looks at the differences women learners face educationally. As a result, it was learned that a student?s past and how she addresses it, can deeply impact how she will process her collegiate experience.