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Introduction
Many of
you have already faced students who are not like the typical
18-22 year old students we most often see in our classroom.
These students, known as non-traditional students, are those
that don’t fit the mold of the “regular” student
because they may be working full time, be married or a parent,
be older, poorer, have a disability, or come from a family that
has not experienced college before. Because they face different
issues than traditional students, this group is often identified
as non-traditional students, or “non-trads”.
The focus
of this discussion will be on the characteristics of non-trads
and how to work with them in your classrooms. One of the things
they face that traditional students don’t normally have
to face is the high demands of outside life in addition to college.
Working, parenting, or married students often face external
demands of their time that at times conflict with the academic
and social demands of college life. On a positive side, non-trads
bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the classroom
and can bring a real-world view to the often abstract information
they are learning.
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