In Delaware, Career and Technical Education (CTE) prepares students for life beyond high school by providing practical labor skills, workforce credentials, and early post secondary credits. Some CTE students graduate with the distinction as a concentrator, meaning they complete required coursework in a specific career pathway, such as engineering…

This study examines experiential learning within a higher education master's program through the experience of 15 higher education master's students who participate in a structured internship program. Study findings speak to the importance of facilitating connections between students' prior knowledge, theories of higher education, and on-site…

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor invited postsecondary institutions to participate in an experiment to learn how federal financial aid might be used to cover the costs of prior learning assessment (PLA). PLA is the process of evaluating a student's prior workplace and experiential learning for academic credit. While the experiment is still…

In this paper, the researchers analyse how lifelong learning can be enriched and develop a different perspective based on the experiment involving the accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) conducted in France at the university level. The French system for the accreditation of prior experiential learning, called Validation des Acquis…

Many Latinos come to higher education as adults. One degree completion strategy that is particularly suited to adult students in higher education is prior learning assessment (PLA). PLA provides opportunities to evaluate a student's learning from work or life experience for the purpose of awarding college credit. For students whose…

Few students in pursuit of baccalaureate business degrees seem to have spent significant time in organisations of the kind studied and discussed in the courses that typify such degrees. This paper questions the extent to which the students' lack of business exposure is perceived by teachers as a barrier to effective learning and teaching. It…

Within the context of work-based learning, this article reviews the available evidence that supports the assumptions behind, and the claims made for the practice of accrediting prior experiential learning. Many of the claims made for accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) were found not to have been substantiated and some of the…

Relationships were examined between prior experience with training, goal orientation, gender and training attitudes. Participants (n = 165) had a minimum of six months of work experience. Results from regression analyses indicated that mastery-approach goal orientation had a beneficial effect on training attitudes for men but not for women. In…

This guidebook is written for those who question the process of earning credit for experience and what knowledge and skills might lead to a credit award, and should assist educators who are approached for accreditation of knowledge and skills learned on a Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA)-funded job. There are five sections: the…

Experiential learning programs award college credits for learning achieved through job and life experience. The evaluation of such experience by academic standards provides many adult students a focus for planning the continuation of their education. (SK)

Prime features of sound college programs that assess for credit the prior experiential learning of adults are outlined. Faculty judgment underlies all evaluation methods, which include oral exams, written reports, actual performance, or appraisals of advanced professional knowledge. Work of the Council for the Advancement of Experiential Learning…

Contextual studies of learning experiences as recalled by working, adult learners entering post-graduate studies in higher education are not widely reported in higher education research. The purpose of this study was to explore the recalled learning experiences of adult students with work experience, but no prior completed academic qualifications,…

This monograph examines issues relative to the awarding of academic credit to out-of-school youths for work experience and training programs designed by prime sponsors or their contractors with local education agencies under the Youth Community Conservation and Improvements Projects, the Youth Employment and Training Programs, and by the…

Reviews Northern Virginia Community College's Prior Learning Activity for Credit Evaluation (PLACE) program, which helps returning adult students and those attending college for the first time capitalize on their experiences and earn college credit for them. Describes the author's grant-related activities of revising PLACE's workbook and teaching…

This article analyses the main changes in the rules for validating experience in France and of what they mean for society. It goes on to consider university validation practices. The way in which this system is evolving offers a chance to identify the issues involved for the economy and for society, with particular attention to the expected…