Education Commons^™

Nontraditional Adult Learners: The Neglected Diversity In Postsecondary Education, Joseph Chen

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Faculty Publications

In the discourse on diversity in colleges and universities in the United States, an often-neglected population is nontraditional adult learners. This article explores this invisible aspect of undergraduate diversity, and addresses how competence-based education, which focuses on demonstrating the actual ability to do , is an innovative approach that caters to adult learners’ life phase and learning needs. College arguably is a youth-centric phase of life generally designed for the younger student.However, the stereotypical full-time student who lives on campus is actually a small percentage of the entire postsecondary population. Due to the demands of an increasingly competitive world of …

Memo To Ace Fellows, Susanne M. Dumbleton Ph.D., Russ Rogers Ph.D.

SCPS Competency-based Education Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Authenticity For Assurance And Accountability: Reconnecting Standards And Qualities For Pla Competence And Course-Based Frameworks, Gretchen Wilbur, Catherine Marienau, Morry Fiddler

SCPS Competency-based Education Publications and Presentations

An authentic PLA approach for quality assurance and accountability integrates the historical contributions of both course-based and competence-based frameworks and intersects assessment qualities with standards. The authors report on a CAEL inquiry project in which LearningCounts.org assessors used multiple frameworks to assess PLA portfolios. An overarching theme of the qualitative assessment data was that specific, flexible, and transparent criteria are required for valid prior learning assessment and these characteristics transcend frameworks. Themes from the analysis were located on a matrix intersecting assessment qualities--clarity, integrity, empathy, and flexibility—with standards for quality assurance in assessing learning. The findings suggest that such assessment …

A Non-Traditional Assessment Of Learning: The School For New Learning's Unified Approach To Learning And Life. Final Report Submitted To The Fund For The Improvement Of Postsecondary Institutions, Howard A. Sulkin, Marilyn J. Stocker

SCPS Competency-based Education Publications and Presentations

For the last two years, DePaul University's School for New Learning has been funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to articulate, refine and evaluate a competency-based framework for adult learners. The result--an unusual GENERALIST approach to competence--provides the conceptual underpinnings for the now fully realized school.

Rather than dwell on a demographic evaluation report (although statistical information is available), the Project Directors have chosen to present the philosophy, principles and processes which shape this new definition of a B.A. degree.

Central to the School's design is that it provide an environment which is learner-centered. Thus, …