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Prior Learning Assessment (PLA): Facilitating Self-Reflection

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA): Facilitating Self-Reflection. Terry Müller Simmons College CAEL 2012 . PLA at Simmons. Simmons College in Boston ca. 1900 women undergrads – 15% adult learners ca. 3000 grad students in 4 professional schools PLA since mid 1970s

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Prior Learning Assessment (PLA): Facilitating Self-Reflection

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  1. Prior Learning Assessment (PLA): Facilitating Self-Reflection Terry Müller Simmons College CAEL 2012

  2. PLA at Simmons • Simmons College in Boston • ca. 1900 women undergrads – 15% adult learners • ca. 3000 grad students in 4 professional schools • PLA since mid 1970s • max. 24 credits – average 12 credits • PLA seminar • learning narrative • supporting materials • faculty review PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  3. Credits for Learning • Prior learning credits • for college-level learning • not for experience or everyday skills • College-level learning • Gives a general understanding • Is transferrable to other contexts • Applies to different situations • Solves new problems • Creates new projects PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  4. College-Level Learning? • Word processing • Public speaking • Taking vital signs at a health center • Being a professional dancer • Fundraising • Supervising staff • Creating a business plan • Nursing a dying patient • Data entry • Mentoring teens • Teaching cooking • Quilting PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  5. Reflection on Experience • Revisiting the past • Making sense of events & reactions • Connecting experience to learning PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  6. Reflection: Mind Buster • Not just confirmation of beliefs • But inquiry into ideas, assumptions, values • And reshaping of meaning • Confronts habits of thinking & behaving • Contradicts views of formal learning • Evokes feelings of inadequacy PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  7. Facilitating Reflection • Diagnostic essay • Learning inventory • Reflection practice • Writing the learning narrative PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  8. Learning Narrative: First Draft • The hardest step is the beginning. • What can I possibly write pages and pages about? • I’m not sure if I can find something in my life that is credit worthy. PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  9. From Story to Analysis • From telling a story with rich descriptive details – “and then…” • To defining & evaluating learning • To exploring implications • To applying new knowledge & skills PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  10. Development of Narrative • Understanding expectations • sample narratives • assessment criteria • Generating language • feedback & open-ended questions • conversations with peers & faculty • US Dept. Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  11. Reflecting on PLA • PLA looks at learning differently – not the way we normally think about it. • Writing the narrative is difficult…but once you begin to see patterns, it becomes easier to identify learning. • I gained a tremendous amount of confidence through this process and feel that I have been validated as never before. PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

  12. Questions? Terry Müller terry.muller@simmons.edu Thank you! PLA: Facilitating Self-Reflection

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