Assessing Learning: Before and After

1. Assessing Learning:Before and After Prof. Janice M. Karlen Director of Business Programs Coordinator of Credit for Prior Learning CUNY – LaGuardia Community College

2. As an evaluator • ACE College Credit Recommendation Service • Corporate • Military • Thomas Edison State College Center for Academic Program Review

3. Some things basic to any review • course content • the depth and breadth of learning • learning outcomes • instruments used to measure learning outcomes (e.g. exams, term papers, etc.) • course materials • required readings • projects or assignments • instructors’ credentials • length of courses

4. How do we know? • Subject matter experts • Many years of experience • Do research before the visit and while on site • Employ Bloom’s taxonomy • Extensive discussion with team members and organization members • Achieve consensus

5. Credit Categories • Vocational certificate • Lower-division baccalaureate/associate degree • Upper-division baccalaureate degree • Graduate level

6. To finalize the process • Rationale • Recommendations

7. As a Learning Counts! Instructor The CAEL Learning Counts! Course, CAEL100, helps students to prepare, create, and collect all of the pieces they need to assemble a portfolio of prior learning.

8. CAEL100 Course Objectives As a result of this course, the learners will be able to: • Identify and reflect on areas of their own learning from both formal and informal settings; • Use critical reflection skills to rethink the nature and value of learning from experience; • Approach learning with an appropriate balance of practical and theoretical understanding; • Discuss and apply experiential learning theory, models, and concepts to case studies; • Generate college-level writing that demonstrates learning; and, • Identify, organize, and gather documentation in order to build portfolios of prior learning.

9. As a PLA Coordinator • Review the sources of PLA including • National Standardized Tests and Challenge Examinations • Portfolio Evaluation (including ePortfolio) • Foreign Language Placement Exams • Register and pass third level course and receive 6 credits for first and second level language courses • Military Transcripts: AARTS, SMART, Community College of the Air Force • DD214 – Honorable Discharge = elective credits • Published Guides (such as the American Council on Education CREDIT program)

10. The Evaluation and Approval Process • Review materials – certificates of completion, military transcripts, corporate training, etc., and determine who would be the appropriate faculty member for portfolio assessment. • As a course match institution, any PLA must line up with instructional and performance objectives of existing courses - do not grant partial or blanket credit. • For courses within our own department, we can prepare the paperwork for credit that will be signed by the chairperson. If the course is for another department, we facilitate the process with the chairperson. Military service credit we take directly to the Registrar’s Office for processing.

11. As a PLA Coordinator • Support the learner to identify what was learned • Conduct formal or informal pre-screening for candidates who can demonstrate college level learning • Assist in the process of determining the learning that has resulted from experience • Assist learner to match prior learning to academic program and personal goals

12. As a Program Director and Professor • Review portfolios and other requests for PLA credit for courses in the Business Administration, Aviation Management, Business Management, International Business and Entrepreneurship programs and options. • Have reviewed portfolios in my field for CAEL.

13. Comments and Observations

14. Thank you!