Implications for Professional Practice of Assessing Prior Learning

1. Implications for Professional Practice of Assessing Prior Learning Geoff Peruniak, Ph.D., Athabasca University Building Tomorrow Today Conference April 30th 2008

2. Introduction • Welcome and Introductions • Purpose of Session • how to cope with wide-ranging experience base in CD • how to incorporate professional development into certification • PLA as potential help

3. Familiarity with PLA? Heard about it but don’t know much? Read accounts of it? Have seen a completed portfolio? Have done a portfolio? Have implemented a PLA system?

4. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING • Social Justice – Paulo Freire • Personal Development • Education – apprenticeships, internships, initiative tests, role playing • Prior Learning Assessment

5. KINDS OF PORTFOLIOS This is an Academic Portfolio, NOT a: • Financial/Investment Portfolio • Portfolio Album • Government Portfolio • Career Portfolio • Electronic Portfolio • Patent Portfolio • Resume

6. ASSESSMENT OPTIONSBrent Sargent, Ph.D., Vermont State Colleges

7. Bridging Between Worlds • What kinds of worlds? • Whose worlds count?

8. MAIN QUESTIONS • Candidate: How do I show what I know? • Assessor: How can I tell what she knows?

9. Bow and Arrow Metaphor • Target – assessors • Bow – preparatory course • Arrow - portfolio

10. MAIN THEMES • Why? • Where does it fit? • Learning not experience • Level of learning • Recency • Language • What is the target? • Boxing Knowledge

11. Assumptions • the accrediting agency has a standard against which experiential learning can be assessed • the university/certifying agency is an appropriate arbiter of standards What is appropriate to credit? • the evaluation done accurately reflects the candidate’s competence • this kind of education/training needs “certifying” – before I sit at your feet are you accredited? • a range of evaluations may be necessary to bridge a range of experiences • knowledge and competence can be bundled into meaningful packages • the onus for proof of learning rests with the candidate • learning, not experience, is credited (note carefully) • candidates are volunteering for the evaluation • candidates are clear in their own minds about what credential they want • experiential learning can yield equivalent learning to that obtained in the credentialing organization

12. Definition of PLA • “A process and a series of tools that assist adults in reflecting upon, articulating, and demonstrating learning for the purpose of having it measured, compared to some standard, and in some way acknowledged by a credentialing body.” (Sargent, 1999) [1]. The set of procedures can vary from the relatively straightforward, where a candidate writes a challenge examination, to a more complex form where a candidate is interviewed by a departmental panel of professors, to the very complex where an institution’s entire curriculum is based on a competence-based format.[1] Sargent, B. (1999). An examination of the relationship between completion of a prior learning assessment program and subsequent degree Program participation, persistence, and attainment. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida.

13. Background • experiential learning is as old as humanity • the universities (11Century) • apprenticeship training carried out by the craft guilds • chivalry training • private learning in the nunneries, monasteries, and courts • the “calling” of people to roles through divine intervention

14. Background (cont’d) • late nineteenth century as the physical sciences, medicine, and gradually other professions looked to real-world demonstrations and clinical practices to supplement prescribed textual learning • John Dewey emphasized the need for experiential learning or as it was later called “discovery learning”- 1900 • the returning World War II veterans • Advanced Placement Program and the College Level Examination Program (US) • U of Chicago offered challenge exams – 1930 • CAEL - 1974

15. Background (cont’d) • Canadian Labour Force Development Board (CLFDB) in 1991 • “New Directions for Adult Learning in Alberta” (AAECD, 1994)

16. Mysteries of Competence Measurement • Competence – skill, knowledge, attitude, value, • 3-credit course – half-year course • 36-40 hours in class • 72-80 hours out-of-class • Total = 108-120 hours • 10 – 15 competence statements (learning outcomes)

20. Example of Competence Statement • Define the working alliance and describe its main components

21. Example of Course-Based Portfolio

22. Learning Outcomes • Define the working alliance and describe its main components. • Describe the relationship between the working alliance and counselling. • Explain how client and counsellor characteristics influence the working alliance. • Describe strategies for enhancing the working alliance that address issues of (a) motivation and (b) client resistance. • (a) Discuss the potential problems, including role conflict and role ambiguity, associated with a working alliance that involves a boss and a subordinate and (b) outline strategies for dealing with these problems. • (a) Describe a taxonomy of communication skills for creating a working alliance and (b) demonstrate the use of such skills.

23. Learning Outcomes • (a) Describe characteristics and of an effective collaboration, (b) identify the benefits of such a collaboration and (c) suggest key skills for developing it. • (a) Outline a model for problem-solving and decision-making and (b) identify the purpose of each step and the skills associated with each. • (a) Outline the stages of group development and (b) the fundamental factors that enhance such a development. • (a) Discuss what is meant by partnerships, (b) the implications in terms of applicable skills, and (c) how partnerships relate to the working alliance and collaboration. • (a) Outline potential conflicts in a partnership, (b) the steps involved in solving them, and (c) the skills associated with each step. • (a) Outline your plan for the first meeting of a potential partnership, including the issues you would address and the skills you would use, and (b) justify your decisions.

24. PORTFOLIO COMPONENTS • Personal History Timeline • Career and Educational Goals Narrative • Learning Statements • Learning Summary • Documentation of your Learning, Including Transcripts • Complete Résumé

26. PRACTICE • Identify an important learning event that happened to you in the last year or so that is related to career development but that happened outside of formal schooling or courses. • Describe the learning that took place (not the experience!) • Describe how this learning fits into career development

27. CONCLUSION • Simple Question: What does she know? • Complex Answer – What criteria? According to whom? At what level? In relation to what standards? • Lots of work – self reflection • You are more than an assessment Narrow slice of experiential learning.

28. QUESTIONS????