A short while ago, I got a notice from Facebook that Prof. Dohohue had mentioned me in one of his comments. While I confess that I rarely log in to Facebook and generally ignore Facebook’s messages trying to get me to, I couldn’t resist this time.
What Bill was pointing out was an NPR program on the rise of competency-based education programs.
The article described the growing trend of universities offering credits for skills developed and demonstrable, even though those skills did not necessarily grow out of an interaction between a student and an instructor in a school setting. The obvious beneficiaries of this trend are older adults who can save time and money if they can earn degree credit for skills gained through work and life experience.
The Chronicle of Higher Education just reported that Pennsylvania’s
community colleges have begun a statewide project to let adult learners earn
college credit for previous training or work experience, a program called "College Credit FastTrack."
Lincoln is participating in a small way with its Bachelor of Human Services/FLEX program. BHS students can earn up to 45 Prior Learning Assessment credits.
So Bill (and others), pretend we're having a Facebook conversation. Here's what I would have asked. Is this a direction Lincoln should consider for other programs? Are there other majors that we offer that would appeal to adult learners if we could award them some percentage of credit for skills earned and thus ease their path toward a degree? What are the worries you see if we move down this path? What are the advantages? How is the BHS working? What similar programs might we add? Should we care where a student learned something or just if a student learned something?
It’s a great topic of discussion and an important issue to explore for strategic planning purposes. I am eager to hear where Lincoln faculty and staff stand.
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It is a good idea, if it is not abused i.e. tests are valid and reliable; but it also raises the means-ends question: "Should we care where a student learned something or just if a student learned something?" or Does the end justify the means? The challenge is to have strict quality control which will resist the pressure from students, parents and even colleagues to lower standards or give a lot of credit for little or nothing.
ReplyDeleteSafro Kwame
Interesting point. I would think, in these days of outcomes assessment, that the end is indeed the only issue and does justify the means. Right? If we can prove that we know how to write a well-structured essay showing command of grammar and academic style, for instance, should it matter if we learned that in Freshman comp or from reading on our own?
ReplyDeleteIf we can prove that we know how to write a well-structured essay showing command of grammar and academic style, for instance, should it matter if we learned that in Freshman comp or from reading on our own? The answer to this question seems to be "No;" but how about the following question?
Delete"If we can prove that we know how to write a well-structured essay showing command of grammar and academic style, for instance, should it matter if we learned that by deceiving people into thinking we are students or academics and then raping or murdering them or from reading on our own without raping or murdering anyone?"
You still think "that the end is indeed the only issue and does justify the means"?
Safro Kwame
There is more to a comp class than learning how to write a well-structured essay. Of course, reducing CBE to a checklist of skills would be an oversimplification. Assessment has the same problem when the assumption is that the SLOs or the standardized tests encompasses all the learning that goes on in a classroom.
DeleteBill Donohue
Since learning is a lifelong process, I think we should give credit for prior learning. Adults are busy and in a hurry to complete their degrees. However, this does not mean we should put them through without evaluating what they have learned. Like Kwame said, " we should not give credit for little or nothing. Cecil College offers credit for prior learning, check out their site: http://www.cecil.edu/Catalog/Pages/Academic-Information-and-Standards.aspx#Evaluation
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