Published: September 26, 2008 11:39 pm         

Adult students learning it’s never too late

Classes cover topics from hobbies to job training for all ages.

When you hear the words continuing education, what are your thoughts?

Do you think about lifelong learning? Do you think about credit-based classes at the college level? Or, do you think about non-credit, informal classes at the college level? What about on-the-job training? 

To Fred Hakes, continuing education “is a combination of any and all of the above.” Hakes has been the director of continuing education at Indiana University Kokomo since 2001. 

For Jan Hulet, continuing education is “generally non-credit, short-term classes that last anywhere from one hour to as many as 13 weeks.” Continuing education, she said, can be for professional development, personal enrichment or part of the Society of Resource Management.

“I think people are now looking at acquiring skills to improve their situation in the workplace,” she said. “People aren’t waiting for their employer to pay for a course. They see what’s happening to the job market and are wanting to get the skills for a more secure job or to move on.”

Hulet has been the continuing education coordinator for Ivy Tech’s Kokomo campus, which includes Cass and Fulton counties, for 5 1/2 years.

“SHRM is for people in the human resource area who want to improve their position and skills,” Hulet said. “Personal enrichment are classes like SAT prep, beginning Spanish, computers, Internet security, automotive maintenance, preserving family heritage.

“Everybody is a candidate for continuing education. We try to feed the needs that higher education or schools don’t. We are the vehicle for the group of people who want to learn, who want to enrich their lives or pursue different skills for the job.”

Technically, Ivy Tech offers continuing education classes for kids as young as 6 to adults as old as 97, according to Hulet.

“We try to open our doors to anyone,” she added. “We open our ears to the community and what they want.”

That includes certification for everything from food safety to serving alcoholic beverages (something the state will require soon).

Recently, Ivy Tech offered a basic computer class to several senior citizens living in a retirement home. Most of the students were in their 90s, according to Hulet.

“We give them a few skills,” she said. “They may only have one computer, but the Internet is a wonderful way for them to communicate long distance by sharing pictures ... and letters.”

The only courses that may require prerequisite classes are the SHRM classes. Those students, said Hulet, need to be in certain fields. Otherwise, there are no eligibility requirements.

“We’ve got 8-year-olds taking sign language with their parents,” she said. “And generally, those who take our adult computer classes are older, in their 40s and 50s.”

Ivy Tech also offers a variety of opportunities for an online education, said Hulet, everything from accounting to Web page design.

“People can take them when they want to,” she said. “If they want to take a class at midnight, they can take a class at midnight.”

According to a press release, the total number of students enrolled statewide for fall classes was up by almost 12 percent compared to last year, and each of the college’s 14 regions has experienced growth. However, because continuing education doesn’t necessarily follow traditional semesters, Hulet said she isn’t sure what the numbers are for this year’s enrollment.

IUK, on the other hand, no longer offers enrichment programs.

“We didn’t find there was a sufficient demand to make that available because the community offers such programs,” said Hakes.

Instead, continuing education on IU campuses is focused on Project Complete.

“We’ve reached out to 5,000 former students, not just at IUK but also at other campuses, writing follow-ups to see if they would like to return and finish their degree,” Hakes said. “So far, we’ve had 300 return with 60 percent of the early returners graduating.”

Hakes said experience had shown that “adults don’t just wake up and want to go to college. They tend to think about it two or three years to see how it will fit into their lives.”

He said the trend had seen more adults coming back to school to finish their degrees partially because of “structural changes in the economy.” He also said that more men were beginning to return to college but the majority tended to be women.

“And, more adult students return in the spring than in the fall because we let them know they can enroll in the spring. The mindset tends to be that they can only enroll in the fall. So, we send notices of spring registration, letting them know it’s not too late ... for the last three or four years, our spring enrollment has been higher than the fall.”

Project Complete, according to Hakes, has received state and national recognition. In the last three years, enrollment in the program has increased by 60 percent. “So, the students are responding,” he said. “And our largest audience is working adults.”

An accelerated program, Project Complete semesters are eight weeks long and meet in the evenings so that working adults are able to participate.

“We have a unique hybrid format,” Hakes said. “It’s called high touch and high tech, which combines face-to-face learning and over the Web and online.

“Students find it very appealing,” he added. “And the format is starting to be considered the best practice. Students prefer some face-to-face for at least a portion of the course.”

Deb Saine may be contacted via e-mail at ptnews@pharostribune.com



Ivy Tech online courses

• Education to Go: www.ed2go.com/ivytechkok

• Gatlin Educational Services: www.gatlineducation.com/ivytech/kokomo

• The eLearning Center: http://kokomo.theelearningcenter.com/

• American Home Inspectors Training Institute:www.ahit.com/affiliates/ivytechklw/index

• Growth Strategies: https://www.gsinet.org/partners/Ivy

 

Want more info?

For more on Project Complete, call (800) 991-1459 or visit www.iuk.edu/ses