In this video from our recent Graduation Ceremony, Ashworth College alumnae and Extreme Makeover star, Didiayer Snyder, surprises interior decorating graduate, Samantha Cruse, with an invitation to appear on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with her and the crew.  Congratulations Samantha!

Image courtesy of Cole Rise.

Adult learners enroll in colleges and universities for many reasons. The most common reason is to obtain a credential to assist them in attaining occupational goals. The second most common reason is simply to enhance self respect.

Probably the least likely reason for enrollment is to learn something new. Because of the most likely motivation of the students, learning is incidental to the achievement of the occupational goal or the feeling of personal satisfaction. While the more common goals of occupational advancement and simple self respect are valid and important, the resulting incidental learning is the most valuable since it also helps in attaining the other goals. My experience has been an example of this concept of incidental learning.

Since I had many years of experience in criminal justice and since I taught criminal justice classes at a large traditional university, I felt I needed to earn a graduate degree to keep up with my peers. I enrolled at Ashworth College with the intention of obtaining a masters degree as a credential. Ashworth College seemed to be a logical choice for graduate school since the learning was asynchronous and did not require cohort participation. I wanted to proceed at my own pace while attending to work and family requirements. Both the price and the fact that the college was nationally accredited were pluses.

I was not as concerned with the curriculum, but more with the time it would take me to finish the degree. I was concerned more with obtaining the credential than with learning anything new. After receiving the orientation course I realized that both effort and discipline would be required to complete this program. Since I am just an average computer user and also since I am not of the “computer generation”, the orientation course was a challenge. The curriculum and supporting materials were clearly written and concise. After completing the course, I realized that I had gained a new set of skills which were not only beneficial in the graduate program but which also were valuable in my work. I was now prepared to conduct internet based research and I could effectively use Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. My attitude started to change and I began to understand the concept of learning rather than merely seeking a degree.

After examining first academic course materials I realized the text and supporting material were from the same publishers of the texts I used in teaching college classes. After submitting my first written assignments and receiving feedback from the graders, I began to understand the academic rigor of the course. While the graders were very polite in their comments and were supportive, they did point out areas in which I could improve my work. After finishing the assignments I took the exam with some trepidation. After passing the exam on the first try I felt both relieved and empowered to continue with the next course. As I progressed through the curriculum, my writing and research skills began to improve.

The courses ranged from the expected such as Survey of Criminal Justice and Criminology to the unexpected including Investigating Difference and Organizational Management. While the expected courses were valuable because of the quality of the course content, the unexpected courses were more valuable because they were not just rehashing of material with which I had been familiar but were completely new topics to me. I started looking forward to learning new material rather than merely plodding through the assignments.

By the time I took the mid-course comprehensive exam I had adopted a completely different attitude. I developed a sense of satisfaction from passing tests and assignments on material which was new to me. I made everyone around me crazy by continually discussing these new topics and ideas. I was actually learning while progressing towards the completion of my degree.

I was nervous about a particular course, Research Methods, since it was basically statistics. I had heard several horror stories from colleagues about graduate level statistics courses. I read all of the lessons, submitted all of the material, passed the test, and earned an A in the course. More importantly, I actually learned how to compile and analyze statistical data. (more…)

Hi Everyone!

I have just finished the Gourmet Cooking and Catering program here at Ashworth College. It was great!

I want to invite everyone to visit my What’s Cookin’ With Doc Blog. Please stop by regularly as we update the site. I’d love to hear from my fellow classmates.

Cheers to all!

Doc

Image courtesy of Laura Glyphin.

Hi, my name is Lisa and I just wanted to let Ashworth High School know that I’m very thankful for the opportunity to fulfill my dream of graduating high school. I know that you probably hear that a lot, but I really can’t express how much this accomplishment means to me. You have helped me fill a void that I’ve been trying to fill for 10 years and this is the best feeling in the world.

I offer you thanks from the bottom of my heart. You will never know how you helped me not only gain wisdom and knowledge, but also how this experience gave me back the confidence that “I’ve still got it…”

Well, that was all I wanted to say—you all rock!

Thanks for helping me make my dream come true!

Lisa
Graduate
Ashworth High School

Kasey Pressley is a graduate of Ashworth’s High School program. In this video from Ashworth’s Graduation Ceremony, Kasey explains why Ashworth was a perfect fit for her as she balanced the challenges of school, work, and family.

Congratulations Kasey!