Facilitating Veteran and Adult Students’ Learning and Retention in Engineering: Faculty-Student Partnership – A Model of an Evidence-based Practice

A model for facilitating veteran students' learning and retention is presented based on andragogy - the science of adult learning. Adults are independent self-directed learners who accept responsibility for their own learning. Adults can be skeptical and challenge new information but are particularly motivated when the information presented is applicable and relevant to their careers. With a growing number of veterans entering higher education and the challenges associated with retention, it is important to understand and incorporate the basics of andragogy in curriculum and course development to facilitate veteran and adult students' learning and degree completion. STEM education, and in particular engineering education, continues to be a major focus in K-12 and higher education. Funded by the NSF, this S-STEM project proposes interventions to retain and graduate students with academic promise and strong financial need. The researchers for this project seek to develop innovative, reliable, and replicable ways in which to affect the learning and retention of engineering students, with a focus on veteran students and adult learners. Drawing on the lessons of andragogy, in this paper, faculty share the processes implemented, content derived, and preliminary data from a faculty-student partnership in the development of a mid- to near-degree completion seminar as a model of an evidence-based practice that is affecting student learning and retention.