| 0:00:00.23 | 8.7s | Jesse Boeding | You're listening to For the Record, a registrar podcast sponsored by AACRAO. My name is Jesse Boeding, and I'm co-founder of Education Assessment System. |
| 0:00:09.27 | 8.8s | Karen Ferguson | And I'm Karen Ferguson, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and a co-founder of Education Assessment System. And this is Registrars and Prior Learning Assessment. |
| 0:00:27.62 | 48.6s | Doug McKenna | Hello. Welcome to For the Record. My name is Doug McKenna, and I'm the university registrar at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. There's a lot going on in higher education these days. One of the enduring challenges that institutions have faced is how to assess the learning that individuals acquire when they are not enrolled in an institution, and whether and what to award as credit toward a degree in recognition for that learning. Way back in season 3 of For the Record, I talked to Becky Klein Collins from the Council for Adult and Experiential LearningA about prior learning assessment. And today we're going to revisit that topic with some friends of mine who are passionate about learners, passionate about education, and passionate about technology. So Jesse and Karen, welcome to the podcast. |
| 0:01:16.70 | 1.5s | Karen Ferguson | Thank you. Happy to be here. |
| 0:01:18.52 | 32.0s | Doug McKenna | Full disclosure, Jesse and I worked at American University some number of years ago, 8 years ago. It's crazy. It's wild. Bring us up to speed on what you've been doing since then. Tell the kind listeners at home a little bit about yourself, like how did you get to be where you are? What your experience with higher education has been, and then let's throw in some things like, what do you do in your free time? So Jesse, since I mentioned our previous work relationship, why don't you give us a start with your intro? |
| 0:01:51.5 | 48.4s | Jesse Boeding | Thanks, Doug. I'm really excited to be here. Uh, I've been in the world of learning for over 20 years now, and I started in the through the lens of corporate training and learning, and then I moved into quote unquote traditional institution with, with you for over a decade. And then I moved into the ed tech space. I've really been working on AI before AI was cool or accepted, or even an interesting topic for higher education um to play with. And so my focus has really remained consistent. How do we support our staff to improve the student experience? And the intentionality and the mission of our higher education talent is is really remarkable. And I believe the difference between student success and student frustration. |
| 0:02:40.24 | 9.3s | Doug McKenna | Right on, thanks. Karen. Give us the same little tidbit. Where are you from? How did you get here? What's your experience with higher ed? |
| 0:02:51.11 | 61.3s | Karen Ferguson | I've worked in higher education for a little over 20 years now, and have served mostly at adult and non-traditional student serving institution, and have really balanced my career in academics and operations. Prior to joining higher ed, I served in the army for about 12 years and finished my bachelor's degree while I was on active duty. And I earned my degree through a university that had a robust PLA process and truly believed that I wouldn't be where I am right now, if I had not found that institution. And it's those experiences that have really informed my career path and my focus on creating those seamless pathways for degree completion. Free time? I'll let you know when I have some. Just kidding. I spent a lot of time thinking about things, a lot of time, you know, thinking about how do we solve, you know, for all of the challenges that are going on in higher education. Um, I do get some of that frustration out in the gym and, you know, really enjoy hanging out with the kids and the husband and the |
| 0:03:52.44 | 1.0s | Jesse Boeding | dogs. Right |
| 0:03:53.39 | 23.6s | Doug McKenna | on. Nice. So today we're talking about prior learning assessment and right out of the gate, I have questions. For starters, when we say prior learning assessment, what do you mean? How do you define prior learning assessment? And can we start calling it PLA in this podcast for the rest of the podcast so that we can stop saying prior learning assessment over and over. |
| 0:04:17.48 | 33.8s | Karen Ferguson | I look at PLA as everything, right? And I think that's part of the challenge is everyone does define it a little bit differently. Some institutions look at it like it's CLA, AP/IB, transfer credit, because those are prior learning experiences. Um, I tend to look at those more like transfer credit. Um, so when I think about prior learning, it's the things that have happened in the past. It's the experience, it's the education, it's the non-traditional training, it's everything that doesn't fit nicely on a transcript to begin with. |
| 0:04:51.52 | 1.5s | Doug McKenna | Jesse, anything to add? |
| 0:04:53.23 | 37.2s | Jesse Boeding | I think that's right, and I think that the role of microcredentials now, competency-based education is continuing to kind of complicate that definition, as people are thinking about those things as different than. And where do they sit? Do they sit in that category that Karen defined as transfer? Uh, do they sit within a prior learning? How does it, you know, what is it going to be and until we get that definition cleaned up and universal, I think PLA will always be a little bit of a conundrum for higher ed to own. |
| 0:05:30.79 | 39.4s | Doug McKenna | Yeah, you've mentioned a couple of things, both of you have mentioned a couple of things that I want to dig into uh over the course of this conversation, micro credentials being one of them, but also Karen, back to your introduction of finishing your baccalaureate degree as a full time as an active duty service person. So let's talk a little bit about the relevance of PLA um. How has it developed a little bit over time, and then what do you see as the relevance for PLA in today's higher ed landscape? |
| 0:06:10.63 | 159.9s | Karen Ferguson | Yeah, I think PLA has always been relevant, at least as long as all of us have been alive, there has been prior learning assessment. I do think there's been some things that have changed, you know, there's PLA, there's CPL, there's RPL. There's a lot of interchangeability of those acronyms. I think at the end of the day, the way I look at that though is prior learning assessment is the process that we can use to award credit for prior learning. Or CPL. It's always been something that institutions who want to to serve adult students have had. They've a lot of them have had these processes in place for a long time. CALE has kind of codified the standards over the last couple of decades, and as relevant as it has been, And as relevant as it will continue to be, it just hasn't evolved. Uh, the processes have stayed very stagnant. Um, it remains a very manual process for a lot of institutions. I went through back when a three ring binder was completely acceptable. It did weigh about 10 pounds by the time I was done. With all of my evidence files and everything that was required, some schools still do use, you know, paper documentation. The biggest innovation that I've seen in PLA is really the digitization of the document collection, but the manual review, the, the mental capacity that it takes a faculty member to dig through all of that information. To figure out what uh is related to the degree or the, the courses that they offer, that process really hasn't evolved. So we have this very clunky process at a lot of schools, and in the meantime, you have this pressure, both like basically the pressure on the ecosystem, where we have less college aged students, we have more micro credentials, more information in society that says you don't need a degree, go get a go get a skill, go get a trade. Whatever that might be, you're going to have a great life. And that's true. That's true for a lot of people, but it also means for a lot of those people, a time will come when they have to come back to higher education or they choose to come back to higher education so they can advance their degree. And we have to be ready to digest all of those experiences, all of those credentials, so that not only does PLA become more relevant, but it really becomes the tool in which higher education can stay relevant and stay connected to students and employers and become an important part of that ecosystem where all of the things are feeding and supporting each other. |
| 0:08:50.84 | 81.7s | Doug McKenna | Right, and especially as we're looking, you mentioned, you know, fewer high school graduates. We have something like 40 million people in the United States who have some college no degree, who assumedly have been out in the workforce doing things and learning things. And so if you've been working as a CPA or if you've been working in a marketing firm, And you don't have a degree, but you come back after 10 years of working in a marketing firm. How are we higher education to assess and process and award credit for that experience and that learning? And then you said too, like, there's a manual process. Look, as a large public research institution whose budget is, you know, questionable year to year, we're still doing a lot of things on paper. And it's very frustrating, it's very time consuming. And so, I guess, moving into a question like, is this the problem set that you were addressing when you both sat down and were like, you know, we should do something about this. And You created education assessment system. Tell me about that and tell me like, what is it that drove you to do that? What problems were you trying to address, and what does it do? How have you addressed them? |
| 0:10:12.88 | 234.6s | Jesse Boeding | So I think the original goal was to modernize this process of PLA, right, to ultimately reduce the time and cost, to evaluate experiential learning, having a centralized, you know, Centralization of the PLA process into a single platform. And that has evolved into evaluating not just individuals, right? So this entire person that Karen, uh, you know, like Karen's experience where she was talking about being in the military and bringing all of these experiences to bear. But then, you know, hearing really loud and clear with the rise of all of the other types of structured learning that is happening, whether that is Workforce training, exams, certificates, apprenticeship programs, or other unstructured structured uncredited learning, there was an opportunity here as to how can we more quickly help an institution map it into their catalog, even if it is, you know, a stackable component of it. But those relationships and those partnerships are really important pipelines for the institution. As well as some more clear pathways for individuals to build on what they are learning in these other environments. So we were focused on this idea that if we could give the student agency and the independence to independently upload their information without staff, multiple times, that it really would support the the lifelong learner, right? This whole notion of You know, I think, uh, you're in this right now, you're continuing your education and you didn't go directly from undergrad into your master's into your doctoral program with these big, there are these big windows of time in between where you bring your learning a lot and it will make you a more interesting dynamic, uh, participant in your, in your courses. I mean, you a specialist for sure, um. But we also were thinking about this notion that PLA could sit at any point in the student journey. So it could be before the student had applied, right? I often think about that individual who wakes up on a Saturday morning and says, I really want that job, but it's, I, it requires a bachelor's degree. And I'm going to have to figure it out. Or more common when, you know, when I was working with students and families with parents who said, I want my students to go to college, and they're saying, but I don't need to because you did. And so they want to continue that. And so we were looking at this pre-application at point of admitted when they're enrolled, right, as a retention tool or when they're tapped out, so that it could sit at any point. And we really wanted to move away from those three ring binders that Karen was talking about. So easing. This information overload for not only the students to put it all together, but for administrators, like registrars to have a, you know, a centralized place to store it all, what was reviewed? And then to actually understand who reviewed it, when did they review it? What were the comments that they included in it. And that chain of custody helps to drive the data that comes along with it. So being able to see how long does it take. Where do students stop? How are they important? And all of that will drive strategy and where resources are allocated. So this transparency about the timeline over, you know, over, over the PLA process became very important. And then finally, it's to really shine a light on training, where are there opportunities to calibrate, where are there opportunities to really step back and say, huh. Why are we doing it like that? Um, but also to do a lot of myth busting. So the myths are real and we're still say |
| 0:14:07.47 | 2.1s | Doug McKenna | more about that. Yeah, say more about that. |
| 0:14:09.96 | 52.9s | Jesse Boeding | Yeah, so I think we hear a couple of different myths. One is concerned that it's degrading the value of the degree. And yet when faculty are reviewing this and seeing students that are in their classes that already know what they're doing, they're, they're bored and they're not they're not engaged. But when they are seen as as learners, and they jump into that next class, they can bring that experience to bear. It makes more dynamic conversation, it, um, allows for the students to be more engaged in their classes that they're actually having a higher quality graduate who brings a lot of experience to bear, especially in this time where people are questioning durable, durable skills, right? These individuals have already demonstrated that they have those durable skills. Another myth, go ahead. |
| 0:15:03.19 | 29.1s | Doug McKenna | Uh, I was gonna say it's interesting because a lot of these are similar complaints, concerns voiced about transfer credit as well. And so it, it's funny how the arguments just sort of loop back upon themselves when if we were looking really, if we could change the way and change higher education to have a student first focus, like some of these things would would go away. these problems would, would go away. So. |
| 0:15:32.76 | 100.2s | Karen Ferguson | As I say, we would build more trust with our students as well, right? When, when we're critical of their transfer credit or we're critical or not honoring what they bring to the table, we, we aren't demonstrating to them that we value them, right? Like, this isn't a one-way relationship. Maybe it was 50 years ago. I, I don't know, but we need our students as much as they need us, and our society needs our students to be students as much as we need our students to be students. And when we can demonstrate to them that we value what you bring to the table. And we have a process where you can articulate what you bring to a table, bring to the table in a way that translates to an academic mind. We can show value both ways. We can show the faculty that this was a valuable experience and through this process we've aligned this to the course outcomes. But we also get to show the student that we value them as a contributing member of the university, that they are part of this community, that they bring something, and that they are a learner. You know, I can say from my experience coming very non-traditional through to finish my degree at 28, I, I wasn't sure when I got the degree that I had really, cause it was so, you know, pieces and parts over the years and building in experiences in different courses. That when I started my master's degree, I wasn't 100% sure I was ready, right? But when you validate that prior learning and you're transparent about that from the get-go, you get to validate for that student that they really are ready, that that they are a learner and that they can be successful because look at all of these other things that you've |
| 0:17:13.1 | 1.1s | Jesse Boeding | accomplished. Yeah, |
| 0:17:14.13 | 2.8s | Doug McKenna | you get to affirm that knowledge and |
| 0:17:16.96 | 49.5s | Jesse Boeding | growth. And growing off of that, I would just say is that one of the myths is that it actually hurts enrollment, it hurts revenue, students will take fewer classes. Actually, the data shows fromal that students actually take more credit. And anecdotally, the number of people that we've spoken to that said, I thought I was just going to get a bachelor's degree. I've gone on to get a master's, I've gone on to get a doctorate. We just did a webinar with Peter Smith, who was one of the original like scriptors of the PLA work with CALE. And, you know, he tells a story about the woman who had graduation who comes up to him and says, thank you. Now I know I'm a learner and I'll never stop. Like, what a, what a confidence builder for individuals to think about themselves differently. |
| 0:18:07.8 | 49.2s | Doug McKenna | Yeah, and in a way, PLA can serve as a loss leader because you can get students, you can get learners who would not have considered coming back because they think that it's too much or that they'll have to, it'll just take too long. And you can say to them, let's look at what you know and have done and your experiences and the learning that you have and see where that maps to the curriculum. And if you can have that conversation with them, even if they take 9 credits, that's 9 credits that they would not have taken at all. And so in terms of like, as you said, like it's It's going to damage enrollment or harm enrollment. It, it really, that's not, uh, the data doesn't bear that out. So, um |
| 0:18:56.29 | 37.9s | Karen Ferguson | when you think about the 40 million some college no degree, right? That's the population that that I've always focused on serving. It might take them a minute to decide when they're ready and if they're ready, but Once they decide they're ready, they are, right? So you're also getting a very high intent student, a student that can actually, you're not looking 4 years down the road, you're probably looking 1 to 2 years down the road. You can see the light at that tunnel, and you know what you're working towards and you have your pathway. So they're just a much higher intent student and they do have higher retention rates as well. |
| 0:19:34.58 | 25.7s | Doug McKenna | I know. Shifting gears slightly now, we just had an episode about registrars and why registrars need vendors. And so I'm interested from your perspectives. You both have worked in higher education and now you have kicked off this product. What is it like being on the vendor side, having worked in higher education? What's your experience like there? |
| 0:20:01.10 | 5.7s | Jesse Boeding | I think one of the most surprising things is the lack of curiosity. |
| 0:20:07.63 | 2.3s | Doug McKenna | Say a lot more about that. |
| 0:20:10.43 | 120.8s | Jesse Boeding | So, there are a lot of products out on on the market that do a lot of, a lot of different things, but there are big categories, right, in SIS and LMS and ERP. And there seemed the product have a lot of overlap, right? And so we're playing in a new space. Where there are no, where there are largely no no products, no AI power PLA. And, um, you know, I think it people are like, yeah, like, I've never heard of such a thing and, and that some people are very curious, let me be very clear, like some people are super curious and we have wonderful conversations and they ask a lot of great questions and give us a lot of great ideas too. But the number of people who are just like, no, we do it our way and this is what's gonna happen. It is very surprising to me because one of the things that I really love about education, which is different than being in a corporate world, is that is this notion of learning and like learning and understanding all the different things out there. So I'm, you know, Even if you're not in the market, understanding what, what's out there and how it could how it could impact or taking that idea and being able to see parallel things that you might want to do in the future, I think is um really important for higher education and especially for people who are on front on the on the front line to say you don't have to work this hard. You can spend a lot more time with your students, you know, and it doesn't have to, in not even our product, but just like understanding what other people do. And I think I see that a lot at conferences where, you know, people just kind of like talk to their own people and avoid the vendor area as much as possible. As you know, as opposed to going into the vendor area and being like, hey, what, what's in here? I just want to see what it is. I'm not a buyer. Like, let me be clear, I'm not a buyer. I just want to understand what you do. I think it's a very different mindset and a very different approach to professional development. |
| 0:22:11.68 | 1.0s | Doug McKenna | Yeah. Karen, what do you |
| 0:22:12.68 | 139.9s | Karen Ferguson | think? Yeah, when I think about, because I, I, I have been the buyer. And so now that I'm on the other side of it, and also, you know, my background is, I don't wanna say limited, but it is different, right? Because I, I have had a very focused career in the non-traditional and adult space. And so now being on this side, even though I knew we didn't have a single thing that we defined the same across the institutions, now I get to see the impact of that, right? And it's fascinating to see how something as simple as what is PLA. And I know that's not necessarily simple, but what do we define as PLA? Not only is it something that is widespread across all of the different institution types, what we find is that it's widespread within an institution. You know, and that there's just, there's so many different perspectives within and outside of the institutions that across the board, the lack of consistency really I think makes it difficult for higher education leaders sometimes to make informed decisions because there's there's just so much going on and I think we see that a little bit in the micro credential space. Too, right? We all want to honor microcredentials. How are they assessed? How are they taught? Who taught them? These are all things that in higher education, we need to know so that we know whether or not we can award credit for them. But everything else outside of higher ed is moving so fast, and it's evolving so fast that I think we're having a hard time reacting to that. In a meaningful way that doesn't make us look like the old stodgy ivory tower going well, but it didn't happen here when it's really we have to communicate better with those providers so that they understand what it would take so that we can honor that. And we don't end up hurting all of the students that are taking, what is it? I think it's a million different micro credentials that we have out there now, and students don't know how to evaluate them. Right. You know, so I, I just think there's a, there's a lot of stuff going on that is making it ever more complicated for institutions to make smart decisions that they don't have to turn around and undo 18 months later. Right, |
| 0:24:33.2 | 42.5s | Doug McKenna | that is definitely an issue and one that we're seeing increasingly, especially with microcredentials, and since we're talking about microcredentials, let's Expand that a little bit. What does the expanding landscape of microcredentials mean for PLA? What's the interplay there between, you've got these badges or it seems like every other week on LinkedIn, somebody is posting that they've earned a new certificate or something. How do those affect the PLA approach that a school or an institution might take, and sort of what are your thoughts on microcredentials overall? |
| 0:25:16.22 | 119.0s | Karen Ferguson | I think microcredentials play an important part in the ecosystem, right? I can't sit here with my background and say everybody needs to go to college and it needs to be the first thing that you do, right? There are times when microcredentials play an important role in someone getting that first job, so that they do have the resources to go to college. Um, there are times when a micro credential plays an important role in um a lateral move or an upward move within an organization. Um, so I think they play an important part because they can be much more just in time than a 4 year or a 2-year degree program can be. The challenge right now is that, you know, what we have in higher ed. Good, bad or indifferent is we have accreditation, we have published standards, we have things that let you let consumers, employers, students know what does this mean, right? We know what a bachelor's degree means. I think the challenge in the microc credential space right now is we don't know what they all mean. Some things are 40 hours, some things are 2 hours, but when you look at the, the badge or their certificate or their credential, they all look the same, right? So there's a lot of work going into how do we validate those skills. I think the impact that we see for PLA is that it becomes ever more important to have that scalable process to evaluate these things. So maybe you can't just take this micro credential at face value and say it's worth. Accounting to 10. But when you take the student through the process and you validate the learning through a system, then you can validate that that that microcredential with or without their work experience really did result in some type of verified learning. And I think it's that verification that we're all struggling with a little bit right now. How do you really know what it is? |
| 0:27:15.53 | 108.7s | Jesse Boeding | Yeah. Yeah, I'd add on that the There is one PMP certificate that is offered by PMI, right? And there's in its industry standard, everybody knows what it is, but there's about 20,000 different iterations of project management training. Some of it you get badged because you sat through the training. Some of it you had to do a project, on some of it, you had an exam, and they're all very, very different. And so, The notion that an institution Can take in multiple different versions of project management training, certification, badging, all of these different things, and be able to measure them. As to the validity of what that equivalency might be in the institution becoming really important. And there's an aspect of timing that goes into it as well, right? So cyber is getting updated arguably on a every 6 months to 12 month uh iteration. And we need to be making these evaluations more more quickly, right? Unlike the AP and IB which were done a long time ago, uh, you know, that this is, this is what we have and so I think it's gonna be even more important for institutions to get their brains around or their processes or their or their methodology around doing that evaluation because the incoming individuals may or may not. Have the competency based on what they've done, and that does make a difference into how those credits are evaluated and the equivalencies that are coming in. |
| 0:29:04.76 | 47.2s | Doug McKenna | Yeah, and as Karen said, making it more scalable and in a, in order to be more sustainable for an institution, I think is a critical point. Yeah. So this is a registrar podcast. And so let's talk a little bit about the role of the registrar in PLA. So first, what have your experiences been with registrars offices? Uh, good, bad, or indifferent as you meet with institutions to talk through PLA and look at what they are doing and recommend ways to do things better. And then also based on that experience, what would you advocate for the role of a registrar being as part of this process? |
| 0:29:52.85 | 149.1s | Jesse Boeding | It's really interesting as we talk to potential buyers because they often talk about the registrar in those intro meetings and that our registrar will be worried about A, B, and C, or we need to make sure that it can do X, Y, and Z. But the registrar is rarely included in the conversation until implementation. Don't I know it. So, you know, when we're talking to them about, you know, building customized reporting for their specific states or. Integrations or whatever it might be. So, you know, I think that the, the registrar has such a powerful platform to be able to advocate for equivalencies. They're going to have to be front and center in a lot of these conversations around the Carnegie, the Carnegie hours, and it will be great to have some more decisions made about that, especially as competency-based evaluations come to bear. I think that the registrar also has a really important element as they are the holder of so many different pieces of information, but those pieces of information really inform the metrics on how PLA is deemed successful or not. You know, whether that is the number of students that start that don't finish, the number of credits that are awarded, whether they actually finish a degree, go on to another degree, that's all held, I believe, by the, by the registrar's office. And so what an important role that they play in PLA becoming viable in a more comprehensive way on. And you know, I will, I'll just point out that one of the biggest challenges that we've seen so far is the challenge that people have to get a clean download of their course catalog. That is just a really, really challenging component, right? Your ID, the title, the description, the number of credits in one document. Becomes a little bit uh challenging. So anything that a registrar can do to aid that that provision of data becomes fundamental to scaling PLA. And then those registrars that can do all of that and have also included their learning outcomes, which there are a few you and wow, you guys are sublime partners and um thank you uh for, for making that possible. |
| 0:32:22.21 | 7.9s | Doug McKenna | Learning outcomes are squiggly. They're, they're like little Ely things that you try and grab on and they slip away. |
| 0:32:30.50 | 31.0s | Jesse Boeding | It's a huge, it's a huge component, especially when we're talking about prior learning. And the more transparent it is, the easier it will be to do that scale. So, um, we can't, we can't walk away from that. But of course I just want to underscore with this opportunity we welcome feedback on our platform and as we continue to like think about where we want to take the technology to get feedback from registrars, so we welcome any sort of opportunity to share it with them. |
| 0:33:02.48 | 14.6s | Karen Ferguson | I'll answer the question from my background being inside of the institution. Registrars are one of the most important roles at an institution if you want to continue to be an institution. |
| 0:33:17.41 | 4.4s | Doug McKenna | I'm sorry, Karen, that that went into my bad ear. Would you say that one more time? |
| 0:33:22.45 | 63.4s | Karen Ferguson | Registrars are key. To our business, right? They keep us compliant. They and but sometimes the way it feels is that the registrar becomes the consumer of everybody else's policies and procedures, and they just need to figure out how to make it all fit and make it all work and why can't you just get it in the system. Right. And so I see smart universities have their registrar at the table when they're making policy and system decisions. What I would love to see is registrars setting the table, right? Registrars know more about how things work and how they fit and how to stay compliant than anyone else at the institution. So if there's a sense of knowing what's going on with the strategic plan, where the institution. is trying to go, then find that solution and start socializing that solution. That way you get the solution that actually does work with your system and your policies and your procedures, and you're not stuck trying to retrofit somebody else's |
| 0:34:25.84 | 0.7s | Jesse Boeding | vision. |
| 0:34:27.19 | 17.4s | Doug McKenna | I'd love to hear that. As we draw our conversation to a close for today, closing thoughts on PLA and ways that the registrar's office can be involved and can advocate for non-traditional students receiving credit for their prior learning. |
| 0:34:45.21 | 79.5s | Karen Ferguson | The best thing that they can do from from an ad advocacy standpoint is clearly communicate what they need. Right, so that if people are off looking at tools or having conversations and they just happen to not be in those conversations that day, if there is clarity around what do the standards need to be, what does the data need to look like, you know, at a very minimum, just being very clear. That hey, this is what we need to stay compliant and B integrate with our systems so that we aren't having a negative impact on the student experience or on our day to day work efficiencies. I think that goes a long way to helping whoever is out there looking at things or thinking about things, understand the tail end. Of, of what they're looking at. So that those things are part of that requirements document, you know, if you know an institution is looking at doing something, you know, try to get into those requirements meetings so you can make sure that your requirements are met, and that you can also be part of that conversation. You know, if you're a registrar that believes in prior learning assessment, and you're working with faculty who may have concerns about it, if you understand everything that's going into that system, then you can help educate and bring those faculty along. |
| 0:36:05.26 | 49.1s | Jesse Boeding | Building off of that, registrars are uniquely positioned to bring transparency to the PLA process. And being able to share those metrics. To share that data to drive strategic decision making. It is really, really important. It feels like right now, there's a lot of confusion at the organization about the value of PLA beyond a mission oriented lens. PLA has an incredible opportunity to drive enrollment and revenue, to drive diversity, to drive improved outcomes. In just ways that other initiatives on campus maybe touch on tangentially. |
| 0:36:55.97 | 7.9s | Doug McKenna | If people are interested in tracking you down, how do they check out education assessment |
| 0:37:03.87 | 38.5s | Jesse Boeding | system? We can give you our email addresses that you can put at the bottom of your, of the podcast. And um and we'd love to share a demo, we love, we love talking to people and getting feedback and exploring different ideas. One of the things that as we've been building out every that we've done, it's very much informed by our own experiences and things that we either loved or wanted to make sure it didn't happen, right? So it's modular and scalable and tailorable and all of those things that, you know, we really wanted to take into consideration and love to get people's feedback on it. |
| 0:37:42.87 | 26.9s | Doug McKenna | Right on. Karen and Jesse, thank you so much for being guests on the podcast and sharing some insights on prior learning assessment and credit for prior learning and ways that registrars can assist in empowering learners to come back and re-engage and receive credit for things that they've learned while away, or really, as Jesse, you pointed out, at any stage in the student life cycle. So thank you both for being |
| 0:38:09.76 | 2.7s | Jesse Boeding | here. Thank you. Thanks for having us. |
| 0:38:13.14 | 46.9s | Doug McKenna | Thanks very much for listening. I will include a link to education assessment systems in the show notes and in the same vein as encouraging registrars to interact with vendors, feel free to reach out even if you aren't a buyer and are just interested in checking things out. Thanks again to Jesse and Karen for taking the time to share their work on making the prior learning assessment process better. On a personal note, I took a little break from working on the podcast through November and December, but I'm back at it. During that time, I finished coursework for my PhD and I passed my comprehensive portfolio review, so I have been advanced to candidacy. Yay me. Now I just need to conduct original research and then write about it. ABD NBD. |
| 0:39:06.92 | 8.5s | Doug McKenna | Until next time, stretch your legs, drink some water, be kind to each other. I'm Doug McKenna, and this is for the record. |