ERIC Number: EJ952767
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-1383
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Perspectives: Prior Learning Assessment Challenges the Status Quo
Boilard, Steve D.
Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, v43 n6 p56-59 2011
Offering some relief from a raft of reports about declining education attainment and increasing college costs, Anya Kamenetz celebrates Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) for boosting higher education productivity, access, and affordability ("Change," September/October 2011). According to Kamenetz, PLA is transforming higher education by leveraging lower-cost, nontraditional forms of learning and improving how learning is assessed. The author sees a more profound transformation occurring as PLA becomes more widespread: the divorcing of teaching from assessment. This separation of assessment and teaching raises three critical public policy issues for higher education: (1) how learning outcomes should be certified; (2) to what extent do-it-yourself education should be integrated into the broader education system; and (3) what government's role should be in this brave new world. In this article, the author addresses each of these issues, and the host of questions each raises.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Prior Learning, Student Evaluation, College Students, Certification, Government Role, Costs, Educational Finance, Financial Support, Coordination, Educational Cooperation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A