Prior learning assessment

This paper highlights some of the contemporary challenges facing postsecondary education in Canada and focuses on the need for a system that is more democratic, open, and accessible.

This issue includes an article on a national conference on best practices for Essential Skills development in the workplace. The conference, held in Calgary in 2002, also featured Bow Valley College’s official launch of the Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) and a session on recognition of workplace learning.

This issue’s lead article focuses on the award received by Winnipeg-based Bristol Aerospace for its efforts in workplace literacy. Bristol implemented its Adult Basic Education (ABE) program in 1995.

Open and distance educational institutions share a commitment to principles of access and flexibility which, in turn, reflect a set of foundational beliefs that shape learning activity. Housed within this broad mandate is an explicit recognition of the presence and value of mature learners’ prior learning.

While the recognition of prior learning at post-secondary institutions in Canada is not widely practiced, it constitutes a solid plank in Athabasca University's mission as an open and distance institution. Although both challenge-for-credit and portfolio assessment strategies are used at AU, learners are best able to control their destinies and celebrate their diversities by engaging in the reflexive portfolio processes.

Practitioners at Athabasca University have observed gaps between learners' romanticized views of past events and thepedagogical or cognitive contribution of those events to learning. The need to acknowledge and close these

This document is a survey of the state of French-language research on adult learning in Canada based on the 227 research data entries selected. These entries provide access either to documents easily accessible online or to print materials available from the CDÉACF.

The data that were gathered in an international 2007 study led by OECD on the recognition of non-formal and informal learning suggested that the PLAR activity level in Canadian post-secondary institutions might be higher than previously thought, and that Canada’s performance may compare favourably with the efforts of other countries, particularly in terms of the number of assessments conducted.

The Workplace Education Manitoba Steering Committee (WEMSC) funded a project to develop and pilot an entry-level curriculum for essential skills and employability skills for heavy equipment operators (HEOs) and skilled labourers. This report discusses the program development, participant selection, pilot deliveries, project evaluation, and recommendations for future application with prior learning strategies.

This document reports the results of a research project undertaken by Dr. Kathryn Barker of FuturEd for Literacy BC and the National Literacy Secretariat on the concept of an electronic learning record or portfolio. An electronic learning record is a digitally generated and stored inventory of the skills and knowledge acquired by an individual during their lifetime through either formal or informal learning.