Transformational Learning Through Prior Learning Assessment

Abstract

Upon graduation from University Without Walls (UWW), Robin said, "During first semester you told us that if we allowed it to, this experience [writing a prior learning portfolio] would change us. I was so angry with you for saying that because I liked who I was and didn't want to change. But you were right. And I'm glad." For the past 39 years the centerpiece of UWW, the adult education program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been a prior experiential learning process. This process involves students' writing and critically reflecting on past professional and, in some instances, personal experiences and awards them academic credit for this learning. The outcomes can be transformative for the learner, facilitating the development of a new sense of confidence and ability to make new meanings of experience. This, in turn, spurs the learner to make changes inside as well as outside the self. Keywordstransformative learning, prior learning assessment, learning from experience Research PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which the University Without Walls (UWW) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass Amherst) approach to prior learning assessment (PLA) contributes to transformative learning for adult students. UWW has been awarding students academic credit for learning from experience since 1971. The process by which this is accomplished involves the students' writing a prior learning portfolio (PLP), a thesis-sized document in which students describe and analyze their prior experiential learning. This portfolio is then assessed by faculty to determine a credit award. Students are encouraged to demonstrate their knowledge and capacity for critical thinking by writing essays concerning

Introducing research on recognition of prior learning

“…For instance scholars and perspectives drawn upon include: poststructuralism (Andersson & Osman, 2008;Fejes, 2008Fejes, , 2012; critical social theory, for instance, Jürgen Habermas (Houlbrook, 2012, Sandberg, 2010, 2012a, 2012bSandberg & Andersson, 2011), Axel Honneth (Hamer, 2012;Sandberg 2012a;Sandberg & Kubiak, 2013), and Pierre Bourdieu (Cooper, 2011); sociology of translation (Diedrich, 2012); transformative learning (Stevens, Gerber, & Hendra, 2010); socio-cultural theory (Andersson & Hellberg, 2009); and a constructivist perspective (Fejes & Andersson, 2009). …”

A self-ethnographic investigation of continuing education program in engineering arising from economic structural change

“…In conclusion, teaching practice in educational programs such as ours would benefit from being informed by the theoretical notions of emancipatory education, paying sufficient attention to how to properly prepare students for transformative learning (Stevens, Gerber, and Hendra 2010). The timeline and resources of such a program should be sufficient to induce a proper perspective transformation.…”

Developing a Measurement Model for Undergraduate Program in Logistics

“…In the study, when a logistician is having a situation called "educational gap" when a logistics graduate fail to apply what he has learnt from his university into working environment. The above view is supported by a study from Stevens, Gerber and Hendra (2010). Through survey, they had determined the degree to which a university approach to prior learning assessment (PLA) contributed to transformative learning.…”