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)

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.

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)