Comparing Teacher and Student Responses to the Mixed-Age College Classroom

Abstract

The research reported here is part of an ongoing study designed to compare perceptions of faculty and students at a two-year campus about faculty-student relationships, attitudes toward younger students, and attitudes toward mixed-age classrooms. Faculty and student focus groups and interviews formed the basis for a survey that elicited perceptions from 183 faculty and 320 students (199 traditional and 121 older). Both faculty and students reported positive attitudes toward the mixed-age classroom and some negative perceptions of younger students. Results reported for students by age group indicate that students do not perceive differences in the way faculty treat older and younger students, even though faculty reported more positive attitudes toward older students.