PUB TYPE Guides Non-Classroom (055) Reports Descriptive (141) Speeches/Meeting Papers (150)

This paper considers the body of research on adult learning and adult college experiences and outcomes that can inform the planning, development, and evaluation of accelerated degree programs. It addresses many of the issues confronting faculty and administrators as they design accelerated programs using a model of college outcomes developed to explain adult learners ' experiences in college. The model, which offers a way of describing and understanding the experience for adults and nontraditional students, consists of: (1) prior experience and personal biographies; (2) psychosocial and value orientations; (3) adult cognition; (4) the connecting classroom; (5) life-world experience; and (6) college outcomes. The model was supplemented by research that asked adult students to define success in learning and in college and to identify the factors that led to their perceived success. These findings were used to develop a set of principles to help college administrators design programs that foster the best results