The Student Customer Phenomenon

Abstract

Demands for adult education represent a billion dollar industry in the United States. Competition for the adult education business continues to expand among community colleges, trade schools. Accommodating non-traditional lifestyles is a trend that extends into the realms of higher education in the forms of learning on demand. The discussion begins with a description of the “first wave” of historical foundations of teaching with the guided nature of pedagogy. The “second wave” shifts towards the practice of andragogy. The “third wave” represents advances in adult learning theory introducing dominating perspectives in transformative and transformational learning and the “fourth wave” in the evolution of higher education and degrees on demand.