In an effort to gain better understanding of the assessment of prior informal and non-formal learning, this article explores assessors' approaches to portfolio assessment. Through this portfolio assessment, candidates had requested exemptions from specific courses within an educational programme or admission to the programme based on their prior learning. The assessors judged the portfolios according to set rating criteria, and subsequently discussed their approaches. Their decision-making processes, perception of portfolio use in the Assessment of Prior Learning (APL), deciding factors in portfolio assessment and use of the rating criteria were key elements in this discussion. The results show that they do use the rating criteria as an indicator in decision-making, but have mixed perceptions regarding the fairness of APL portfolio assessment. They perceive the portfolio evidence in combination with sound argumentation as the deciding elements in portfolio assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adults invariably need to change their job from sector to sector and place to place as their life and training needs change. In this respect the importance of recognizing people’s knowledge, skills and competencies as basis for further learning and development can not be overstated Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition process (PLAR). Accepted benchmarks for PLAR support assessment process by providing a list of function, skills and knowledge that need to be used as a complementary set of generic standards of best practices in PLAR. (Abstract by author)

ery few studies (e.g., Arnold, 1998; Joosten-ten Brinke, et al., 2009) have examined the ways in which evaluators assess students’ prior learning. This investigation explored the ways that evaluators described students’ prior learning in final assessment reports at a single, multiple-location institution. Results found four themes; audience, voice, presentation of the learning, and evaluation language. Within each theme, further sub-themes are defined. These results are significant for training evaluators on how to discuss student learning and for institutions to consider in relationship to the purpose behind the evaluations. Further research and implications are discussed. (Abstract by author)

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.

Over the past two decades, American institutions have been expected to include systematic program reviews to meet accrediting standards, either by independent or governmental review agencies. Program evaluation is critical for several reasons: it provides systematic ways to assess what needs improvement or what needs changing and it provides ways to validate practices, whether to internal or external audiences (Mishra, 2007). Most program evaluative models are focused on academic programs, which don’t fit the uniqueness of prior learning assessment programs. This paper proposes an evaluative framework for prior learning assessment programs, which takes into account the type of work within prior learning assessment programs and uses program portfolios, similar to how students are asked to document their work. (Abstract by authors)

A fully online prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) tool for internationally educated nurses (IENs) was developed and tested by an inter-professional team at Ryerson University. The tool consisted of two stages: a self-assessment component followed by a multiple-choice examination and narrative (vignette) evaluation. The purposes of the study were to describe the demographic profile of the IEN registered nurse (RN), to develop the benchmark responses that demonstrate competency at the entry-to-practice level of the typical IEN RN, and to describe the experience of completing an online PLAR tool. A mixed-method approach was used. Findings demonstrated that IEN RNs who immigrate to Ontario, Canada are of various ages and come from a wide spectrum of countries. The PLAR process holds promise for an objective assessment of IEN’s eligibility to write the Canadian Registered Nurses Examination (CRNE) and to meet a global need. Further testing of the tool across a broader sample is required. (Abstract by authors)

Emily Dickinson wrote, “I dwell in Possibility—A fairer House than Prose—More Numerous of Windows—Superior—for Doors” (Johnson, 1961, p.657). Dickinson’s simple yet profound reference to the expansive nature of poetry over prose may be taken as a metaphor for the possibilities of information and communication technologies (ICTs) over written modes of expression. Whether we identify with this analogy or not, what we can say today with some certainty is that the advent of ICTs has impacted prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) by expanding the potential for knowledge acquisition, expression, and delivery.
The purpose of this article is to examine the potential of experiential learning e-portfolios to promote connections between several different types of learning – academic, workplace, and web-based. The author contends that this type of PLAR enables undergraduate adult learners to not only articulate and equate experiential learning to academic knowledge but also, and most importantly, to demonstrate knowledge visually and audibly through the utilization of ICTs. Two pilot case studies of e-portfolio development are described to support the author’s position. (Abstract by author)

Adult students follow many paths to college. They often return to college later in life
after having left college as a traditional student. Many come to college for the first time
several years after high school. Often they approach college after some change in their work,
family, or personal situation. Adult students experience college in addition to the rest of
their life. Their college connection comes within a web of other connections.
Adult students are examples of centrifugal growth, of academic growth towards
outward roles and experiences. Adults do experience the inward journey of
intellectual and personal development, but they also have an outward journey of selfefficacy.
They significantly impact the daily lives of their children, their families,
their fellow workers, and their communities. These individuals translate and apply
the knowledge and skill of the undergraduate experience to their daily world of adult
life. The undergraduate classroom, the family gathering, and the workplace staff
meeting are all of equal importance in a teaching-learning exchange. As adults, they
value and wish to learn expertise from the undergraduate experience, but they also
view themselves as experts in their own domains of life. Adults do not live apart;
rather, they are a part of their world. (Kasworm, 1990 p. 366)
These connections and experiences make them both very committed to learning and
more likely to leave college. They have higher grade point averages and they are more likely
to drop out. They actively participate in classroom dialogues and have trouble trying to
balance the demands of work and family and school. They experience life changes that fuel
a return to college and that paradoxically also stall or block their persistence. (Introduction by author)

This research study was conducted by the New Approaches to Lifelong Learning
(NALL) research network. NALL has been funded by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to study informal learning and its relation to
formal and continuing education throughout the life course.

Over the past several decades, rapid technological development has served to heighten the value of information and knowledge to the level that they have now replaced the former key sources of economic power, those being goods and labor. The resulting premium on information and knowledge has caused the pace and scope of change to escalate, thereby reducing our ability to accurately predict how change will occur within economic and work environments, and generating a milieu of uncertainty described as "permanent white water". It is no longer possible for organizations to plan for change in a proactive sense; rather, it has become necessary for organizations to respond and adapt to change spontaneously, after the fact. In order to do so, organizations have generally become less rigid and more flexible by adjusting structures and processes through downsizing and re-engineering. These adjustments in the workplace have served to transform the purpose, essence, and nature of work along with the requirements of the workforce.