Thoughts on Teaching Older Students

Today I officially start year three as a full-time faculty member at ASU. (Time flies.) I'll be swamped with preparing for a new course and won't have too much time to blog. Before I get knee-deep in the semester, though, I wanted to offer a few thoughts on something that most professors encounter at some point: teaching older students.

Because of FERPA, I am unable to access my students' ages—not that I really need to view that information. Especially in my in-person classes, I can tell which ones of my students have followed the traditional college path and which ones are returning to get their degrees. Although the vast majority of students fall into the former bucket, each semester a handful of students come to the table with significant work experience.

Here are a few thoughts on how to effectively handle them—and make the class as pleasant and valuable as possible for students lacking significant work experience.