This booklet provides useful information and knowledge on Accredited Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) from the theoretical perspective to the practices of APEL in the education and training sectors in Malaysia, The move by the Malaysian Government to recognize APEL is a strategic move to develop the seamless flow of training and learning, before we could have the type of workforce required as a developed country. Already demonstrated in the form of Malaysian Qualification Framework, the implementation of APEL in Malaysia has yet to reach the desired level. Much has to be coordinated across ministries and institutions before the seamless flow could be practiced. (Preface by author)

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) is a proven and widely-respected process that helps people reflect on, identify, organize, and describe their lifelong and life-wide learning. This record of learning can then be presented in a way that others can recognize and value.

The Prior Learning Centre is a nationally-recognized centre of excellence in providing PLAR services. We’re a collaborative, community-based, non-profit organization located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, dedicated to providing innovative and high quality PLAR services and programs across a wide variety of settings, to both individuals and employers.

his study established a model that positions prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) within the field of adult education by linking professional practice to adult learning theories that are aligned with PLAR. The context for the model's application was colleges and universities. In this study, adult educators are persons who educate adults, including faculty in postsecondary institutions. The model is a response to a perceived lack of cohesion in adult educators' conceptual understandings of PLAR and its position within the field and is intended to support the efforts of postsecondary institutions that choose to offer PLAR services. A literature review and an analysis of formal theoretical perspectives related to adult learning have been used to build upon a prior model for aligning educational theory and practice. The new model portrays practitioners' basic beliefs, selected theoretical concepts, professional practice, and assessment materials and practices as interacting within a permeable boundary with societal forces.

The study concludes that greater conceptual cohesion can be achieved by constructing a relationship between the basic beliefs that ground PLAR and assessment processes (methods, tools, practitioner attributes) that support those beliefs. The quality of this relationship is enriched by aligning supportive theoretical perspectives and by developing an understanding of the societal forces that are at work in translating those beliefs into action. The model begins the process of building a dynamic but cohesive representation of PLAR's place in adult education that brings clarity to the concept and improves PLAR's credibility as an educational activity.

A prior learning assessment (PLA) can be an intimidating process for adult learners. Capella University’s PLA team has developed best practices, resources, and tools to foster a positive experience and remove barriers in PLA, and uses three criteria to determine how to best administer the assessment. First, a PLA must be motivating, as described by the ARCS model. Second, it must enable success. Finally, it must use available resources efficiently. The tools and resources developed according to these criteria fall into two categories, staff and online resources. PLA programs can use both to ensure that all departments provide consistent communication to learners about the PLA process, which will foster a positive experience. The PLA online lab houses centralized resources and offers one-on-one interaction with a facilitator to assist learners step-by-step in the development of their petitions. Each unit contains resources, examples, and optional assignments that help learners to develop specific aspects of the petition. By following the examples and recommendations, learners are able to submit polished petitions after they complete the units. The lab facilitator supports learners throughout the units by answering questions and providing recommendations. When learners submit their petitions, the facilitator reviews it entirely and provides feedback to strengthen the final submission that goes to a faculty reviewer for an official evaluation. All of these individuals and tools work together to help create a positive experience for learners who submit a PLA petition. This article shares these resources with the goal of strengthening PLA as a field. (Abstract by authors)

Going to college as an adult with job and family responsibilities is a challenging
and difficult endeavor for many. Wouldn't it be great if you could actually receive
college credit for the work and life experience you have accumulated outside of
college? Such an option exists—it's called Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)
credits. This study, funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education, asked the
question. Do adults who are awarded Prior Learning Assessment credits persist longer,
have better graduate rates, and finish college sooner than adults who do not earn PLA
credits? PLA is "the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the
college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom
(or from noncollege instructional programs), including employment, military
training/service, travel, hobbies, civic activities, and volunteer service" (p. 6). Adult
students can use these credits to meet general education or major requirements,
waive course prerequisites, or obtain advanced standing at their colleges. After
following the academic progress of over 62,000 adult students attending 48
different higher education institutions, the researcher found that "PLA students"
were significantly more likely to earn a degree within seven years than non-PLA
students (56% and 21%, respectively), regardless of type of college, academic ability,
age, gender, race/ethnicity, or financial aid. Among those who earned degrees, PLA
students finished more quickly than non-PLA students, and the more PLA credits
they had, the more time they saved in college. Adult PLA students who did not
complete their degrees during the study period also accumulated more total credits
than did non-PLA students within those seven years. The author concludes that
offering a PLA credit option to adult students is a significant support, helping them
to persist in and complete college.

It is important for academic credibility that the process of prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) keeps learning and knowledge as its foundational tenets. Doing so ensures PLAR's recognition as a fertile ground for learners' cognitive and personal growth. In many postsecondary venues, PLAR is often misunderstood and confused with gate-keeping credit transfer protocols, and that level of misuse is potentially exacerbated by the introduction of electronic portfolio usage. This article will identify and situate PLAR as a knowledge-building process within the postsecondary learning culture. To do so, it will briefly review the history and context of PLAR; describe and examine the generic portfolio approach; discuss the pedagogy of portfolio construction; and consider the potential of the e-portfolio as a learning tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].

Upon graduation from University Without Walls (UWW), Robin said, "During first semester you told us that if we allowed it to, this experience [writing a prior learning portfolio] would change us. I was so angry with you for saying that because I liked who I was and didn't want to change. But you were right. And I'm glad." For the past 39 years the centerpiece of UWW, the adult education program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been a prior experiential learning process. This process involves students' writing and critically reflecting on past professional and, in some instances, personal experiences and awards them academic credit for this learning. The outcomes can be transformative for the learner, facilitating the development of a new sense of confidence and ability to make new meanings of experience. This, in turn, spurs the learner to make changes inside as well as outside the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].

This article discusses the relation between experience and learning in the context of recognition of prior learning (RPL) and from an experiential constructivist perspective. The study is based on a case of in-service training, based on RPL, in the care sector for elderly people. The data consist of interviews with actors in this process, which have been analysed with a qualitative interpretative approach. The results show how prior learning plays a central role in the training process, both on an individual and a collective level. The participants’ prior learning is taken as the starting point, particularly in learning conversations where prior learning is made visible and used, and where participants learn from each other. Further, new learning is taking place as a consequence of the recognition process, and the study particularly highlights how prior experiences could be the basis of new learning in a process of reflection and discussion. (Authors' abstract)

Competency-based university education, in which lifelong learning and flexible learning are key elements, demands a renewed vision on assessment. Within this vision, Assessment of Prior Learning (APL), in which learners have to show their prior learning in order for their goals to be recognised, becomes an important element. This article focuses on a first step in APL, namely students' self-assessment of their prior learning before entering university education. The main aim of the presented study is to examine the suitability of the use of self-assessment in APL. First, in an explorative study, the main sources for self-assessment are derived and the relation between sources and domain of study is investigated. Second, in a pre-test post-test research design, the hypothesis that students' self-assessment of prior learning related to a course changes after studying a domain-specific course is tested. Pre-test results reveal that students indicate that they have prior knowledge related to the chosen university programme. In general, this prior learning is obtained from study experience, work experience, books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, TV, radio, film or video. A relation is found between the type of source and the university programme. The hypothesis that students change their self-assessment after a study period could not be confirmed. Based on these results, it is concluded that self-assessment in APL might be a suitable tool. Implications for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].