Work Full-Time vs Study Part-Time

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JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 85: 359–368, 2010

Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 0883-2323

DOI: 10.1080/08832320903449618

Learning: The Experiences of Adults Who Work

Full-Time While Attending Graduate SchoolPart-Time

Bridget N. O’Connor

New York University, New York, New York, USA

Robert Cordova

Robert Cordova Consulting, LLC, New York, New York, USA

The experiences of students who are working full-time and going to graduate school part-time were the focus of this phenomenological investigation. Data analysis showed that these

individuals, who reported high job involvement and strong career planning, were often stymied

when they attempted to apply new ideas to the workplace. Those with strong social and

family support reported feeling less stress than did those who did not, and preferred learning

experiences in which they were active learners. Results from this exploratory study show that

when individual characteristics, the academic environment, and the workplace environment

are in alignment, individuals are most supported in becoming all they can be.

Keywords: adult learning, professional graduate education, student experiences, transfer of

learning

Working adult students who return to the university part-

time for advanced professional degrees come with the ex-pectations that what they learn enhances their knowledge of

their field, the practices they see at their workplace, and their

own self-understanding in relation to society and the work

they have chosen to do. Sometimes, they return because they

must have a credential or degree to retain their present job

or obtain the job they want. However, even with this external

motivation, they are also intrinsically motivated to learn.

The definition of learning is evolving as researchers

come to better understand what learning is and what learn-

ing means to individuals. Mackeracker’s (2004) definition

was that learning is “a process of making sense of life’s

experiences. . .. Making choices and decisions as a means of

obtaining feedback to confirm or disconfirm meanings andchoices” (p. 8). Illeris (2004) said learning is a result of the

tension among cognitive, emotional, and societal processes.

Jarvis (2006) suggested that learning is:

Correspondence should be addressed to Bridget N. O’Connor, New

York University, Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technol-

ogy, 239 Greene Street, Suite 300, New York, NY 10003, USA. E-mail:

[email protected]

the combination of processes whereby the whole

person—body (genetic, physical and biological) and mind

(knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, emotions, beliefs and

senses): experiences a social situation, the perceived con-

tent of which is then transformed cognitively, emotively or

practically (or through any combination) and integrated into

the person’s individual biography resulting in a changed (or

more experienced) person (p. 13).

What these definitions have in common is the focus on the

individual and the understanding that adults’ choices and

perceptions of the value of learning and their resultant trans-

formation of experiences is the ultimate predictor of whether

or not learning happens.

Our purpose was to describe the learning experiences of adult part-time master’s students, who are rarely the focus of

research. It is anticipated that an understanding of their ex-

periences could be a contribution to the literature, providing

an example of a novel approach to not only describing what

happened, but also the perceived value of a graduate degree.

Findings could inform classroom practices and, at the same

time, provide a richer understanding of the personal lives and

work environments that impact learning and the transfer of

learning to the workplace of these part-time adult students.



360 B. N. O’CONNOR AND R. CORDOVA

Individual

Characteristics

The AcademicLearning

Environment

Becoming:Individual Change;

OrganizationalChange;

Effects on Curriculum

The WorkEnvironment

PersonalRelevance

ContentRelevance

Job

Involvement/

Engagement

FIGURE 1 The relationship of individual characteristics, the work environment, and the academic learning environment on the transfer of learning.

Individuals and their workplace managers, who often pay

tuition for graduate school, may be interested in the results

of this study as well as university program evaluators.

Related Literature

A literature review helped us identify variables related

to adult and workplace learning. Not all experiences

are learning experiences, yet those that are described as

classroom-based do not always get their intended results.

(O’Connor, Bronner, & Delaney, 2007). We organized vari-

ables that help to understand learning as those that address

the personal needs of the individual (helping the learner “be-

come”) and the job demand needs (helping the organization

“become”). These variables are directly related to the aca-

demic learning environment, including but not limited to

instructional design and the resultant feedback to curricu-

lum that provides the academic impetus for becoming orchanging.

These variables are modeled in Figure 1. This is not a

model of how we learn; rather, this model shows the in-

terrelationship among variables that are known to impact

learning. Each circle in Figure 1 closely follows the cat-

egories of what Baldwin and Ford (1988) called training

input categories: individual characteristics, the work envi-

ronment, and the learning environment. A premise here is

that where there is synergy among these variables, learning

occurs, which results in the learner “becoming.” Learning

is organic; it is not the result of any one input and whether

or not learning is demonstrated is a product of the intersec-

tion of multiple variables. Of special interest is where the

variables overlap—personal relevance as a direct overlap be-tween individual and learning environment characteristics,

job involvement as the direct overlap with individual char-

acteristics and the work environment, and content relevance

as the overlap between the learning and organizational en-

vironments. In other words, when individual characteristics,

the classroom learning environment, and the workplace are

congruent, it is suggested that change is most apt to occur.

Personal Relevance

Guidelines for the transfer of training have been developed in

relation to learner characteristics. Cheng and Ho (1998) sug-

gested that locus of control and self-efficacy were vital to thetransfer of learning from organizational training programs.

They also found that individuals with high job involvement

and strong career planning were more likely to use what the

learned back on their jobs. In another study, it was a need

to know that led to individuals’ quest for applying what was

learned to the workplace, as well as a need to learn to per-

suade others to change (Lim & Johnson, 2002).

Adults come to the academic classroom with a wide vari-

ety of experiences that impact both their motivation to learn



WORKING FULL-TIME AND ATTENDING GRADUATE SCHOOL PART-TIME 361

as well as how they prefer to learn. Typically, motivation

to learn among adults in higher education is strong. They

typically have strong preferences as to what they want to

learn, how they want to learn, and appreciate those learning

environments in which the instructor treats them as adults, al-

lowing them opportunities to use and share their experiences

in problem analysis or by offering options as to assignments

and work-group composition (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2006).

Many researchers have explained the role of experience by

emphasizing the role of reflection in the learning process.

When adults reflect on their experiences, they are making

meaning of them. Experiences by themselves are not learn-

ing opportunities, unless we think about them and evaluate

them (Brookfield, 1987).

The academic learning environment has been defined

as the actual classroom facilities and technology support

(Chism, 2002; Mackeracher, 2004), but it is also includes the

campus itself—for example, its library, cultural, and recre-

ational facilities. Moreover, faculty as well as classmates

(McKeachie & Svinicki, 2006) and university support staff contribute to the overall learning experience.

Content Relevance

Content relevance means that what is being learned in the

classroom has relevancy back at the workplace. The curricu-

lum for the development of professionals must be relevant

to those who are learning, and there is a mutual dependency

(Lindell & Stenstrom, 2005). Moreover, the effectiveness of

a particular instructional technique is related to the content

being taught (Alvarez, Salas, & Garofano, 2004; Mathieu,

Martineau, & Tannenbaum, 1993). Information technology

practitioners who rated their organization as a learning or-

ganization were motivated to transfer their learning (Egan,

Yang, & Bartlett 2004). The most common reason for low

transfer has been no direct relationship of learning to jobs

and a lack of understanding of the content (Lim & Johnson,

2002).

Job Involvement

In one study, individuals with high job involvement and

strong career planning were more likely to use what they

learned back on their jobs (Cheng & Ho, 1998); in another

study of managers, however, thesocial systemat work played

a central role in whether learning was transferred (Tracey,

Tannenbaum, & Kavanagh, 1995). Etienne Wenger (2003)suggested that learning is a result of personal ability as well

as being able to position yourself within a community. In-

dividuals learn with and from members of their community.

Communities, he said, become stale when all they do is bump

up against each other (Wenger). Accepting this premise, the

question is how to apply what is being learned. Sometimes

dissonance occurs when what is being learned in the class-

room is not connected with organizational work practices or

individual values.

Overall Research Questions

From the initial question of how these part-time students

described their lives while they were working full-time and

going to school part-time, we asked questions including the

following: How did these working adults manage their day-

to-day lives when they are studying? Were they able to adapt

and adopt what they are learning? What impact did they seetheir education having on their own personal growth as well

as their organization’s growth? What academic experiences

either aided or detracted from their learning? Did their aca-

demic experiences help them adapt to new circumstances and

result as catalysts for organizational learning? In other words,

what did it mean to be an adult learner—with a personal life

and a professional life—studying part-time for an advanced

degree?

METHOD

Because we wanted to understand the lives of these part-time

students from their own perspectives, we used a modified

phenomenological research approach. Used more frequently

in nursing than education, phenomenology helps researchers

explore experiences that cannot be captured quantitatively

and helps to make sense of a phenomenon (Creswell, 1998).

The phenomenon here was the overall experience of work-

ing full-time and studying part-time. We opted not to report

individual cases because we wanted to capture the overall

essence of the experience. Because participants were grad-

uates of a program in which one of us had taught and an-

other had graduated, we worked hard to ensure that we did

not impose our own ideas into the interviewees or into dataanalysis.

As their major advisor and classroom instructor, I (Re-

searcher 1) have for decades seen how my adult students

typically flourished in the graduate-level classroom despite

heavy workloads and (often) heavy family responsibilities.

As a graduate student, I had worked part-time and gone to

school full-time (the reverse situation of this group) and was

fortunate to have been teaching and studying in the same

institution at the same time. I have watched my extremely

busy students master an ability to excel in all areas of their

lives and have always wondered how they managed, and if

this management was as easy as they made it appear. I went

into this investigation truly wanting to know not only howthey did what they did, but also how they experienced their

academic lives and the impact that their studies had on their

work and personal lives.

As I (Researcher 2) interviewed the study participants,

I found my own experiences as a part-time student in the

program and working full-time coming to the surface, so I

worked to use our common knowledge and experiences as

a tool to assist me in hearing the interviewees as opposed

to coaching or leading them. I went into this investigation




realizing that each of us has an independent and unique grad-

uate experience and I was eager to hear about the intervie-

wees’ personal perspective and personal journey toward their

degree.

The interview protocol was based on the literature cited

previously. We did not go into this investigation knowing

nothing of how adults transferred learning outcomes from

organizational learning initiatives to the workplace, as quan-

titative literature existed. This literature was used to identify

questions that we could use to help participants reflect on

their experiences.

I (Researcher 1) e-mailed an invitation to participate to

individuals who met these criteria and who had graduated

within the past three years. Those interested in participating

were asked to return a short questionnaire, and I selected

six participants on the basis of obtaining a diverse group (di-

verse in terms of gender, age, race, and socioeconomic status,

marital status, and job levels). I gave each volunteer a $50

gift certificate from the University Bookstore. I (Researcher

2) conducted most interviews face to face; two were con-ducted via telephone. These interviews lasted approximately

90 min. I recorded and stored data on a digital recorder,

then downloaded data to a memory device. Later, with the

help of a graduate assistant, the recordings were transcribed

and subsequently reviewed by the participants for clarity and

completeness. Additionally, I (Researcher 2) wrote a detailed

reflective log after each interview.

Treatment of the data followed a modified approach de-

veloped by Colaizzi (1978). Individually, we carefully read

all transcripts several times, to ensure that we had a good

sense of each participant. Then, we each identified signifi-

cant statements and worked together to develop codes that

could be used to group the significant statements. A quali-tative software analysis tool, Atlas.ti, was used to sort and

network the coded statements. The next step was to trans-

late coded statements into meanings and then organize them

into themes. We complied with the strict requirements of the

University’s Committee on Human Subjects.

Limitations

We realize this study does not meet the strict guidelines of

phenomenological research in that a considerable number

of prior studies in a related field (Learning and Develop-

ment) were available to help us frame the research ques-tions. Moreover, we were concerned that these interviewees

would be reluctant to express any negative experiences be-

cause they knew one of us quite well. That said, in reviewing

the transcripts, neither of us had any inkling of hesitancy

to report dissatisfaction on the part of the interviewees. In

fact, I (Researcher 2), found that they saw me as a confed-

erate. In preinterview discussions, I set expectations for a

clear and detailed account of their experiences. All candi-

dates acknowledged and respected the value of this research

as professionals, which allowed them to be frank and candid

in their responses.

Participants

Six graduates who had studied part-time for either an MA in

Business Education or an Advanced Certificate in Work-

place Learning while working in full-time jobs were thefocus of this study. Situated in a school of education, this

MA is a 36-credit degree, and the Postbaccalaureate Ad-

vanced Certificate consists of 18 credits that could also be

applied toward an MA. The curriculum is aimed at under-

standing and supporting adult learning in both academic and

organizational settings. Students take course coursework in

research techniques, instructional design, curriculum devel-

opment, instructional strategies, and evaluation of learning.

Supplementing thesespecialization courses are courses in ed-

ucational foundations and advanced content areas. Advanced

content courses are typically taken in the school of business

(O’Connor, 2004).

Four women and two men between the ages of 29 and 51(at graduation, M age = 36) agreed to be interviewed. Of the

six, three had been working directly in positions related to

their major—as an educational specialist, a technical trainer,

and as a college instructor; the other three were in market-

ing related positions—marketing (general), product manager,

and as a vice president of sales. Of note, each participant had

either changed jobs—or added a job (the vice president of

sales became an adjunct professor)—while studying. Two

married while studying; two were single, two were in com-

mitted relationships; and none had children. One was Asian

American; others were White, with one participant an inter-

national student from South Africa.

RESULTS

We have organized the findings around nine central themes,

relating these individuals’ experiences to taking a journey.

These themes and their context are discussed in this section.

Theme 1: Why I Embarked on the Journey: AGraduate Degree = Career Development

Several participants suggested that they began studying to

obtain the position they wanted, and two commented they

believed they were hired in their present positions because of

their pursuit of the degree. The general consensus was thatthey, as individuals, wanted this particular degree as a means

for career development.

Knowing that I didn’t have a master’s degree, she [the hiring

Program Director] suggested that if I wanted to continue this

[adjuncting], that I probably should get a master’s degree.

I was having a really hard time getting a job at the level I

wanted so I looked into going back to school, which is when

I decided to do my master’s part-time.




For these individuals, going back to school had

meaning—they wanted to expand their knowledge of their

field so as to have a useful credential and at the same time

were excited about doing so. As the following section shows,

these individuals were quite confident of their abilities.

Theme 2: I’m the Driver: I Can Do It!

No participant doubted his or her ability to succeed in grad-

uate school. Although several expressed math, writing, or

test-taking phobias, all were confident from the start that

they would succeed. This confidence was a result of past aca-

demic experiences and feedback they had received through

their workplace.

I do well in a work setting. If you give me something to do,

if you give me deadline, give me timeframe I do it you know

no matter what.

A lotof it[goingbackto school]hadto dowithmy confidence

in my ability really to know that I could go back to school do

really well.

From these quotations, it is clear that any obstacle to complet-

ing their degree was not a result of their own ability to excel

in an academic environment. However, they all reported they

needed support from friends and family, as reported below.

Theme 3: Roadside Support: I Had Help!

Participants who were in committed relationships had an

easier time balancing work, life, and school issues than the

two single (and not engaged) women in the study. Here’s

how two of those in committed relationships described the

support they received:

My family andmy husband wasa tremendous support, and so

were my friendsand family, youknow, extremely patient. My

husband values education highly. All those weekends when

I was working seeing him very little. He always encouraged

me, and so did my family.

I know my partner, you know, was working full-time while I

was in school. So even though I was paying for tuition with

loans. . .. There were a lot of [sic] other expenses, food, just

general expenses that were, fell more to him during those

periods.

The single participants were more challenged, although not

for the same reasons:

And my parents are traditional, you know. They really don’t

see a woman, you know, going so far, you know going out

with schooling, you know, for years. Their goal for me is to

get married and settle down, that’s it. So I didn’t really get

more support from my family.

I remember my friend commenting, because I was stressed

out about something. . .. “Howdo youmanagea full-timejob,

go to graduate school, have this new boyfriend, host parties,

and something else. . . oh work out. . . .” So yeah, I realized

I did have a lot going on. Yeah, I was a deacon at church as

well. So I was really involved in my church community, so

there was a lot. There was a lot.

It is important to point out here that despite time demand

issues, all participants coped. Following is how they de-

scribed problems related to balancing their personal, work,

and school lives.

Theme 3: Detours: A Search for Balance

World events, demanding jobs, and demanding schoolwork

all competed for their time and energies. One of the inter-

viewees had begun her MA the semester of 9/11. She sub-

sequently took a semester off to cope with her overwhelm-

ing sadness, but did return. When she did return, she and

one other interviewee typically enrolled in only one class a

semester. Here’s what she said:

I lost a bunch of people (during 9/11). People coming up

to you and reminding you of it all the time . . . . I had just

moved; there were lots of changes in my life at that time. I

thought about quitting like, almost every semester. I thought

like, Why am I doing this? It was really hard. It was really

hard for me. It was hard to go to school, go to work, to have

relationships, and deal with 9/11 and all this stuff going on.

I took a semester off after that first semester. I had taken an

extension. That first semester back at [company] was really

difficult for me—how difficult it would be to be back at

[company] with 9/11 in your face.

Others simply described challenges in finding enough timein the day to do what needed to be done:

I think that it was demanding. Because at the end of the day,

the last thing I wanted to do was come home and do reading

or whatever or spending my weekends doing homework. But

that was at a time in my life when it was rewarding and

satisfying, and I liked it.

I don’t know how I did but managed to go through all the

paper writing, all the reading I had to do for school. I am

amazed how I did it.

Theme 4: Potholes: Limited Workplace Support

These part-time students faced unexpected challenges in the

workplace. Sometimes they reported their peers simply dis-

missed the value of their graduate work and other times

their supervisors downplayed the value of their studying.

That said, four had financial support from their employers,

including half tuition, a set dollar amount, and complete

reimbursement. Only two were responsible for their own tu-

ition, often taking out student loans or tapping their 401Ks

to pay tuition. One respondent, interestingly enough, found




emotional support outside of her immediate group, but not

within it.

I think the work that I did was valued if I kept it to . . . yeah,

I’d say it was more outside of my group; it was valued by

the business, by the people outside of my group who were

directly affected by my work. I’ve always gotten great kudos

from project managers.

It [a graduate degree] wasn’t a priority to my supervisor.

Because, again, I was working in those positions where a

degree wasn’t required. This latest position, I think, it was

one of the reasons why they were interested in hiring me. So

that, so they were more supportive.

I’m not goingto thrive in this place. Because they really don’t

appreciate higher education. I kinda thought that I would be

asked to, “[name], we know you’re taking this class. . . let’s

maybe do a lunch and learn—we’d love to hear more about

evaluation, how we can incorporate that into [company].

We’d love to. . . However, when I brought up Kirkpatrick,

I was told to stuff it down. I was not supposed to use that

verbiage. Adult learning and education and that everyoneshould know. I wasn’t trying to boast; I was trying to share

and those are things we don’t know we don’t want to hear it.

Life and jobs havea way of changing, and those who reported

an ability to apply what they were learning on thejob reported

the highest job satisfaction. As noted previously, everyone

interviewed either changed jobs or added a job while they

were studying—usually they wanted more opportunities to

apply what they were learning,and when they found positions

that provided that, they switched jobs; when transferred to

areas in their organizations that were more unrelated, they

were not happy. Overall, these individuals were incredibly

agile, adept, and confident that they knew what they wanted.

I think the reason why I like my work so much is that it mat-

ters. It matters to the individuals who want to do something

better in their in their jobs. I knewit [a career in learning] was

in my career trajectory. Absolutely. I liked my work when I

was going to school. When I could do it.

At the beginning,I wasvery happy. It wasreally twodifferent

experiences. One, when I was happy at work and with the

[company’s] Certification Project. As time went on, I didn’t

want to be working where I was; I was trying to get into the

[Learning and Development] organization I am [now] in. So

for the first half, very happy, and second half very unhappy.

They were frustrated when they were unable to use what they

were learning right away.

I got a little bit frustrated with the business education pro-

gram. I was really looking for something more applicable to

my work and I found that a lot of the discussion was very

theoretical.

There was a lot of value actually for me, some of it from the

professional standpoint—just to personal situations as well,

the group dynamics [course] resonated from that point of

view because it was very real.

Theme 5: Behind the Wheel: Active Learning

Participants reported that they learned best when they were

treated as adults—when instructional methods matched theway they preferred to learn.

Well, I think that [Professor Y’s] [classes stood out] because

of her teaching style. I had never seen anybody teach her

classes that way. Different activities. Her classes stood out

for that reason. Her ability to listen and hear what people had

to say and facilitate a discussion. She was a great role model

as far as facilitating. She was one of the best facilitators that

I’ve ever seen in an academic environment. I’ve seen that

kind of skill in a corporate environments since then, but that

was my first experience in an academic environment.

Yeah, one thing that I remember with [Professor Y’s] class

was the videotaping exercise. That was nerve wrecking butas well as so helpful. You really, really see what you did

wrong. That was really helpful. It was fun, too. I got to watch

everyone else’s video.

However, when they encountered individuals who they

acknowledged knew what they were talking about but who

did not engage them in the learning, reported:

They [graduate students whowere givingguestlectures] were

very concentrated on the subject matter and the research they

were doing and trying to get deep into the research anddidn’t

relate to us as students. So I didn’t find that as interesting.

The professor was so awful. She was an adjunct professor.Treated us like children. She read her dittos. She treated us

with utterly no respect, so we had none for her.

This one class I took, the professor was very, just kind of

like, you know, standing there and didn’t do much. And even

though the class was huge, we had like 60 students. And

after the first day of the class, half of the class didn’t bother

to come to lectures. Yeah, it was that bad. The professor,

yeah, she wasn’t engaging. All the notes that she had in the

PowerPoint were directly taken from the book.

Despite problems related to finding time for group work

outside of class, group projects were definitely appreciated:

[I liked] group projects. I always metgreat people. You know,

I hadgood experiencewith thatand it wasencouraging.Yeah,

it wouldn’t be a program if it was just me sitting in a room.

Because of [Professor X and Professor Y’s] teaching style,

you couldn’t have any learning without your peers, it was

all about peer learning. And it was pretty cool for people to

share their experiences. I think because I was one of the few

people who were actually in the job they were appreciative

of my experiences, too.




And when asked about challenging subjects, they were pos-

itive when they encountered professors who knew not only

what they were talking about, but also how to teach:

I remember taking a statistics course, saying like “oh my

gosh, I am going to fail this,” you know. But [Professor

X] really presented it that way—like that’s the teacher you

always wanted for stats. Because they really understood how

to teach, again that you can be a subject matter expert but

really know nothing about how to deliver. You can be a SME

[subject matter expert], but not really know how to teach.

That was fantastic.

They preferred class sessions and assignments that pre-

sented challenges or caused them to think about learning in

new ways.

I remember. . . the learning journal. That’s a good way for

me to learn, like I really like to journal anyway. So I re-

ally enjoyed that process. It was a catharsis of like, wow,

we’re learning this, but this is how we’re doing this at [my

company]. That was a good outlet for me.

And I remember another thing I liked in that class, she would

hand out little strips of paper like with questions, and it

was very self taught. I remember, “Like, who’s teaching this

class? Are we teaching each other? Aren’t you here for a

reason, like ‘teach me’!” Like even though that didn’t work

for me, I thought “that was the way to do it!”

It was this class—the session where my group presented the

book Good to Great . . . . I was so nervous about presenting

it, but at the end I felt so good about that. Because I know

everyone in the class said just like, “wow, I want to go out

now and read this book.”

Although these graduates remembered only a few specific

class sessions that they had with their major professors, they

did remember specific teaching strategies, such as the ones

listed previously. However, half of the group identified two

specific guest lecturers as highlights of their time in the class-

room; one was a renowned neuroscientist, and the other a

well-known consultant and book author.

I remember that session [the neuroscientist’s]. Something

was wrong with the computer, and his charts, so he had

to draw them on the blackboard. He was fascinating, very

interesting, and left a very strong impression on me.

Another guest lecturer I remember vividly. He talked to us

about getting published. A professor who was well published

in The New York Times and he explained to us about how to

go about getting published. I remember that session. And I

remember the reading circles.

The individuals in this study were also quick to point out

instances where they were given special, individual attention

by a professor:

I really had to come to terms with my writing in graduate

school.

[Professor Y] let me do a paper on mindfulness. This

woman. . . it wason her booklist—not just educational mind-

fulness, but general mindfulness—and so I really got into

that, and because of it, I wrote a better paper, and I got a

great grade on it. Because I was really interested in it. They

allowed me to flourish.

[Professors X & Y] were really encouraging around projects,

papers, ideas. I can’t remember either one of them saying,

“eh. . . maybe not.”

Perhaps the set of the most telling remarks around their ex-

periences as part-time students were those around how they

felt while in the academic classroom. Interviewees seemed to

become quite animated when discussing how they felt when

they were studying:

I just wanted to do it for my personal reason, to feel more, I

guess to feel more alive. You know when I work, everyday

is the same. You go to the office. You do what you got to

do. Then you leave work. That’s it. That’s the end of the day.

Going back to school just makes me feel more alive. Yeah, I

miss school now though.

I loved school so much. Back to me now. School allowed

me to, like, be me. Like [Professors X and Y] didn’t mind

me asking questions, challenging, throwing crazy ideas, you

know, being a leader, all that stuff. And I loved that! I loved

being around people who liked that,and who wanted to learn.

And I liked being supported in that.

He [an adjunct professor]. . . had seen me in class and knew

me—everything that he said he liked about me, was whatin my performance review was what [my company] didn’t

like about me. Oh, yeah, like don’t talk up at meetings, you

know, that my new ideas stunk, like I really feel, even though

I didn’ttake that job, it felt that professor was a life reason,he

gave me a counterbalance to my review at [my company]; it

really crushed me and it gave me a reality check. You know,

here are my talents—like I had the same talents in both

areas, at school and at job, but at work they were considered

a negative. And I really got to see that they were the same

skills, but they were assets, assets in different settings.

Theme 6: Others on the Road: A Quest for

Community

Interviewees reported that they wished they had had more

time to interact with their classmates and be a bigger part of

the overall university community and were sometime a bit

envious of those who were full-time students. All but one

were members of Delta Pi Epsilon (DPE), the Business Edu-

cation Honorary Society, and for many, participation in that

organization’s events was their only university-related social

networking outlet. Sometimes, because of time constraints

or because they were not lock-stepped in their curriculum




with the same set of students, they felt a distinct lack of

community.

It [classmate comradeship] was very high. Especially among

people who had deep work experiences. People who really

wanted to be there were professionally mature; there was a

lot of comradery. It was probably that kind of experience. . .

younger or less experienced students were a little over-whelmed by that. I didn’t feel as tight a connection with

them, necessarily.

I liked being back on campus. It made me feel young again,

being around all those young people. Those kids! They don’t

know how good they have it.

I wasn’tsocializing with a lot of them [classmates]. I met two

wonderful, wonderful friends throughout the program. And

we still keep in touch. But I wasn’t that involved in social

thing of the graduate school. I wish, I wish with this program

we have more of kind of happy hour, or like we meet, you

know, more often, more social events.

The campus environment was not an important part of their

lives. None used the school’s athleticor recreationalfacilities,

and many reported they did not use the physical library,

instead relying on its digital holdings. However, two students

did find the library a useful location for doing schoolwork:

Yeah, I did spend a lot oftimeon campus.The librarywas just

my place for doing work. I really enjoyed the environment.

I really used the library facility to do my research and write

papers. I will bring my laptop there. The sports center I wish

I used more. During my graduate years, I didn’t use sports

center at all. I didn’t take advantage of it. I should have. But

I didn’t.

I definitely was in the library just because I used that as a

way to get out of the house, get away from distractions. So I

would use library, computer labsand such. But it wasdirectly

related to like academic work.

Theme 7: The Road Ahead: I Have Options forthe Future

Just as these interviewees were confident of their ability to

succeed in graduate school, they were equally confident that

they would do well, and that they were on a career trajectory.

I amso very gratefulfor somany thingsin mylife.A big part

of it is my education. . .

all the opportunities that I’ve had. Ireally feel I can do anything.

I don’t think [I will] dramatically [change careers]. I can see

it yeah, some sort of soft skills capacity, maybe, or train-

the-trainer, training other people to be trainers, but I don’t

see it dramatically changing. I really enjoy education. . . .

There’s no train the trainer, and this is my dream, this is one

of the reasons I’ve stayed, my former boss . . . if that group

ever comes back, you should be at the head of that group of

regional trainers. [This is] my pipe dream.

That said, a number were frustrated by having too many

options, suggesting that having succeeded in a graduate pro-

gram made them even more marketable that they ever be-

lieved they could be. And several interviewees were looking

into the possibility of continuing their education.

That’s part of my frustration in not knowing where to go next

is knowing that I can do anything. I could go to India for

6 months; I could go back to Detroit. I could move to the

West Coast where I always wanted to live. I could go back

to school. I could take an internship here. So many options.

I am really grateful for that, but that [but I want to be in] a

position that was using all my talents.

I am looking for a top management position in learning. I

would like to get my doctorate in education, and I have no

idea if that could ever happen.

I would love to stay in Learning and Development. Perhaps

doing something on my own at some point as a consultant or

coaching. At some point I may do a coaching certification.

Theme 8: Yes! The Journey Was Worth It: Impact

We were careful in examining statements in which the inter-

viewees described any impact having a professional degree

had on their lives; after all, as adultsthey brought a significant

set of experiences with them to academia, and much of their

success can be attributed to their individual characteristics.

However, nearly everyone did make what we considered to

be explicit statements that credited what they learned with ei-

ther job opportunities or skills and understandings that made

their work life richer; for example:

Yeah, I am doing what I want to do. Enjoy working for [com-

pany as vice president for marketing]. I enjoy the freedom

that allows me to be able to teach, do what I like to do in

the classroom. I certainly learned a lot about research at [my

university]. . . . I have achieved the degree I wanted to. And I

am using, I am using it every day.

I’ve been in Learning [the Learning Department] for two

years; it’s going extremely well. My managers have put me

in top talent and they are trying to get me into what they

call leader readiness training program. . . . I was able to take

problems and analyze them in a very disciplined way. That

has made me a better learner in the workplace. I’ve taken

some of that discipline of the classroom and put it in the

workplace. And being able to reflect upon what was going

on at work in that “safe” environment.

Participants overwhelmingly saw themselves as having a new

self, demonstrated by new jobs and the importance of friends

and family:

I have the best friends. I have the best hobbies. And the

best. . . best opportunities outside of work. I love to dance. I

love to knit. I love to be with friends. I love to travel. And




my job affords me the ability to do things. Both time and

monetarily. And I have a great family. Healthy.

I got myfamily, I got mygreatfriends. I havegota life which

other people would die for. You look at all the unfortunate,

poor, hungry people out there in other countries. I feel very

lucky and very blessed, yeah.

I am pretty happy with my personal and professional life. Ido work in a non-profit, I am little bit under compensated.

But that was a choice, so. . ..

While acknowledging overall life satisfaction, the two single

women reported they were continuing to struggle. One ex-

plicitly credited part of her angst to not having a soul mate,

but the other reported being quite satisfied with her personal

life of friends and family. Their unhappiness at their present

jobs, too, was for different reasons. One was concerned that

she was in the wrong industry, and the other that she was

working in the wrong company. Both expressed a need to be

more content:

So you know the financial industry I don’t think it’s a fit for

me. As much as you know what’s keeping me here obviously

is the money. I am comfortable with the money I am making

and it gives me a life style I am comfortable with. But I just

I am not passionate about it. This is just a job. . . not a career

I want to be in.

No, sadly, I’ve lost my mojo there [my company]. You do

the little that you can. In their defense, it’s turning a huge

ship. If [the company] were a tiny person, I’d be able to do

everything I learned. But [company] is the world’s largest

insurance brokerage, it so gigantic. It’s old school. To get

them to make any change, I’d have to lower my expectations

about how fast that could happen. Change is difficult, you

know, you’re learningthat!. . . I’msure there are many factors

that go into my decision to stay at [company]. At the end of

the day, I’m still there.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Our goal in doing this research was to explore how these

individuals experienced their lives as part-time graduate stu-

dents studying in a professional field. It has been established

that the experiences of these part-time students were char-

acterized by strong internal motivation and self assurance,

appreciation for those in their lives who helped them both

in and outside the classroom, and a preference for learn-ing experiences in which they were active learners and had

some control. All were regretful that they hadn’t had more

of a traditional college experience, able to take advantage

of professional and social networking options. And nearly

all suggested that through all of this, they felt they were

truly themselves the most while they were involved in their

academic work.

Several findings stand out. To begin, it was surprising to

learn that despite so many of these individuals having finan-

cial support from the company they worked for, they had

very limited opportunity to apply what they were learning on

the job. In some instances, when students learned what might

be considered an ideal way to, for example, evaluate learn-

ing programs, but were unable to apply these approaches in

the workplace, immediate supervisors and peers were either

indifferent or outright unsupportive. One explanation could

be that a more educated coworker was considered a threat

to “the way we work here.” Another could be the limited

degree to which individuals at the entry- or midlevel po-

sitions had the power to influence work procedures in the

workplace.

Thus, as in other studies (Egan et al., 2004; Tracy et al.,

1995), these individuals usually did not find the organiza-

tional environment conducive to transferring their learning.

However, in a study done in a corporate training environment

in which what was learned was expected to be transferred to

the job, locus of control and self-efficacy were the mitigating

variables (Cheng & Ho, 1998); the individuals interviewed

in the present study, however, demonstrated inner locus of control and high self-efficacy. At times, a perceived lack of

course relevance seemed to add to feelings of dissonance.

Academic coaching prior to and after completing a course

may have allowed students to discuss personal and content

relevance, whereas career or workplace coaching may have

aided in defining content relevance that may have been over-

looked or misunderstood.

Additionally, on first blush, the odds of this entire group

making job changes while studying stood out, but, on re-

flection, their self confidence and need for relevancy of their

degree may have contributed to their search for “something

else.” In theone case in which thestudent wasmoved laterally

in her company to an area unrelated to the Learning Depart-ment, she experienced job dissatisfaction. Just as Lindell and

Stenstrom (2005) found, job engagement was highest when

there wasa match between what wasbeingstudied wasuseful

on the job.

As to the academic environment, I (Researcher 1) antic-

ipated that interviewees would report preferring classes in

which they were expected to share their life and work ex-

periences and their preference for active learning and for

instructors who listened to them, challenged them, and gave

them opportunities to take control of their learning either

through assignment choices or group work. I was surprised,

however, that many felt they did not have the peer network

that they expected or wanted. They reported that they yearnedfor community within theacademic community andfelt pow-

erless to make it happen. The program offered opportunities

to have formal mentors and several times a semester, DPE

offered professional and social networking events. However,

their perceptions were that opportunities where others would

introduce them to university life or career networking were

limited or nonexistent.

Although several were able to develop strong ties with

their classmates, all regretted not being more involved




socially, and several regretted not having had a close circle

of classmates who were also friends. That said, these same

individuals reported that they simply had no time to attend

extracurricular events, take advantage of campus facilities,

or establish friendships. Thus, an implication for program

development is to develop or explore and better advertise

interesting extracurricular options that are either more con-

venient or more frequent for this population.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Perhaps the most meaningful finding was the commentary

around how much these individuals loved being students.

Their self-confidence and need to achieve was a direct match

for a challenging graduate program. When interviewees re-

ported that they felt more alive, more “me” when studying, it

was evident we had hit on something interesting. Consistent

with Wenger’s (2003) research, it was when those personal

characteristics that made them ideal students bumped intowork environments that didn’t take advantage of not only

what they were capable of contributing to the organization

but, more importantly, their personal being, that the largest

disconnect was found.

We found the variables and their interaction, as depicted

in Figure 1 to be valuable in helping frame their learning,

or “becoming” experiences. All expressed a need for job

engagement, course content relevance, and personal rele-

vance. And when that concurred, these individuals reported

they had changed—become—the person they wanted to be.

These self-assured individuals had little tolerance for ex-

periences in which they felt they weren’t treated as adults,

when what they were learning was not directly applicableto their lives or jobs, and when they were stymied in their

attempt to implement what they were learning in their jobs.

Thus, the center of Figure 1, “becoming” best happens when

there’s congruence among job engagement, academic con-

tent relevance, and personal relevance. This takes us back to

the definitions of learning from Mackeracher (2004), Illeris

(2004), and Jarvis (2006), whereby experiences transform

the whole person, who integrates him/her into his/her own

life story. Thus, “becoming” is an apt synonym for learning.

Although this study was exploratory and extremely lim-

ited in scope, findings provide a clear distinction between the

role of corporate education and its (usually) focused ratio-

nale for planned learning experiences that are focused on theneeds of the organization and the role of academia in pro-

viding an outlet that provides learners more opportunities to

explore what it means to be themselves—in an environment

where risk is limited and opportunities to become their true

selves flourish.

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