Teaching and Doing Justice Globally
Eastern’s branch campus, approximately 2000 of Eastern University’s students (57 percent) are
adults.
CCGPS has found a niche among this adult-learner population for market and mission
reasons. National data suggest that approximately 6 million adult students, perhaps a majority of
all college students, are enrolled in US colleges and universities (). Further, at Eastern
University a majority of adult students are women and minorities. Approximately 63 percent are
female (Nursing, Counseling, Education and Health Administration programs are priorities for
women, especially, with a 2 to 1 female to male ration). Forty-five percent are people of color,
including 33 percent African-American. Thus, the average CCGPS student in the United States
is likely to be a woman, almost equally likely to be Caucasian or a person of color, she will be
approximately 31 year old, and married, living with dependents. However, to date Eastern
University has not yet collected similar data on its international students.
To meet the needs of the target adult-learner population, CCGPS insists upon flexibility
and creativity in delivering programs that value adult-learners’ work and life experiences and
focus on adult students as teachers as well as learners in their own right. This emphasis is
consistent with the literature on andragogy, the research and practice of adult teaching and
learning. Leading scholar of andragogy, Malcolm Knowles (1980, 43-44) identified four
assumptions and corresponding foundational practices of andragogy:
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Convention