Issues relating to identifying pathways whereby pharmacy practioners can obtain additional training and experience leading to an advanced professional degree or certificate are identified. A scheme for assessing the prior learning of external degree or certificate candidates is suggested. (MLW)

Discussion of the development of distance education programs in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Great Britain focuses primarily on six programs in the United States. External degree programs are discussed, standard examinations that assess prior learning are described, and credit policies for extra-institutional learning are examined.…

The Regents External Degree is a New York State program offering a college degree to individuals, whether by earned college credit or knowledge acquired in other experience areas. The external degree and the College Proficiency Examinations are administered by the University of the State of New York, which has no campus or courses but accepts…

Few educators understand the exact nature and scope of alternative graduate programs or the variety of issues that confront their development and viability. Alternative graduate education is defined and the issues and critical concepts of nontraditional graduate study are identified. (Author/MLW)

Information on undertaking an external degree program to obtain a college education is presented. An external degree program is one that has no, or minimal requirements for residence (on-campus attendance). Most often it can be entered at any time of the year and usually grants credit for documented learning already acquired. An external degree…

Schools of Pharmacy, it is suggested, should be responsive to practitioner needs by providing a mechanism through which pharmacists may earn a PharmD degree with minimal disruption. The degree should be part-time, off-campus, and provide a means to grant partial credit for prior knowledge and experience. (Author/MLW)

Although undergraduates often earn academic credit for prior learning, graduate students are rarely afforded that opportunity, with Central Michigan University and the University of Northern Colorado as exceptions. Both the American Council on Education and the Council for the Advancement of Experiential Learning support experiential learning in…

The Regents External Degrees program to earn a degree without attending college, and the College Proficiency Examinations to validate knowledge gained outside of the formal college classroom are described. The programs are administered by the University of the State of New York, which has no campus or courses, but accepts credits from accredited…

A study guide to assist a candidate preparing to take the New York State College Proficiency and Regents External Degree Examinations is presented. This booklet offers suggestions on how to successfully complete an independent study project learning to do tasks normally performed by a teacher. The guide includes; preparing for independent study,…

This guide is an attempt to inventory undergraduate level, degree-granting external degree programs (EPDs), defined as those emphasizing minimal classroom coursework and minimal residence requirements. There are 134 accredited or approved organizations listed that sponsor among them 244 external degree programs (66 associate and 178 bachelor).…

In 1998, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools established a fifteen-member Task Force to study the practices and procedures employed in adult degree completion programs. An adult degree completion program is identified as one that is designed especially to meet the needs of the working adult who, having acquired sixty or more…

A study investigating the usefulness of a model of student persistence in external degree programs (developed from the Bean and Metzner 1985 model) is discussed. Sample students aged 23 or older who were matriculated in such a program were used, as it was noted that the attrition rate for nontraditional students is higher than for traditional…

Application of experiences in adult and general education to experiential and prior learning in PharmD program development is discussed. Included in the discussion are definitions, program examples, contrasts with traditional programs, quality control procedures, program evaluation, and cost considerations. (MSE)

Nontraditional education credits can be earned in many ways. Some methods of assessing learning for credit are objective, such as standardized texts; others are more objective, such as a review of life experiences. Options for earning a high school diploma without spending 4 years in a classroom are as follows: General Educational Development…

The University Without Walls program at Hofstra University was approved as an experimental unit within New College in 1973. The UWW program is competency-based, with students developing individual programs of study. Educational plans and prior learning from college and life experience are stated in learning contracts with short- and long-term…