Purpose: The purpose of this study aims to compare the academic performance and types of learning strategies used by APEL and regular entry undergraduates. It also explored the relationship between the academic performance and the types of learning strategies utilised by these two groups of undergraduate. Design/methodology/approach: This…

Background: In countries that endorse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education as an educational movement, design-based learning is deemed a pedagogical approach. Purpose: Because the integration of the engineering design process and scientific investigation has been an issue in science education, this study examined the…

The characteristics of a spiritual direction formation program as part of a postgraduate course were compared with a range of standard higher education academic agendas of learning. The formational characteristics included acknowledgment of prior experience, cooperative community approaches to learning, teachers as partners in learning, reflective…

We investigated the effects of using experiential learning and direct instruction to teach metacognitive theory and to determine whether instructional type differentially affected higher vs. lower level learning. We randomly assigned 87 introductory psychology students to either experiential learning or direct instruction conditions. We pretested…

Energy saving and carbon-emissions reduction (ESCER) are widely regarded as important issues for progress towards ensuring sustainable forms of economic development. This Taiwanese study focuses on the effects of a series of educational activities about ESCER on students' knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Sixty fifth-grade students from two…

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is an important and often overlooked strategy for helping adults progress towards a degree. PLA is the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom, including employment, military training/service, travel,…

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is an important and often overlooked strategy for helping adults progress towards a degree. PLA is the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom (or from non-college instructional programs), including…

Compares the practice of assessing prior learning in the United States and Britain and reviews major issues: nature of the evidence, collection of evidence into portfolios, evaluation, and costs. (SK)

The portfolio method of assessing past experience for the award of academic credit is compared and contrasted to the project-syllabus method. It is suggested that the project-syllabus method is a more appropriate form for evaluating past experience. (Author/SF)

The transcripts of 154 adult graduates of a nontraditional Bachelor of Arts program were compared to those of 103 adults who became inactive. The results indicate that both the background of the adult learner and the type of courses chosen for degree completion are predictors of success. (Author/MLW)

A University of Northumbria (England) survey found that Britain's new emphasis on experiential and active learning in higher education is more problematic for part-time than full-time students, despite greater life and work experience. Greater attention to these students' needs, motivations, learning attitudes, and existing knowledge and skill…

In France and the United Kingdom (UK), procedures have been devised to allow the skills and knowledge acquired through life and work experience to be identified and accredited. In France, achievements from social and working life are identified in two ways: the personal and occupational competencies of workers are evaluated through a "bilan…

A study examined the policies and practices that higher educational institutions in the United Kingdom have adopted towards experiential learning as a means of fulfilling entrance requirements. Included among the major activities of the project were a comparative analysis of United Kingdom and United States policies and practices with respect to…

Perspectives on adult students at the College of New Rochelle are offered in response to Howard R. Bowen's address entitled, "Adult Learning, Higher Education, and the Economics of Unused Capacity." The College of New Rochelle suggests a modest modification of Bowen's thesis that there should be efforts toward full integration of…

The 7th International Conference on Education Data Mining held on July 4th-7th, 2014, at the Institute of Education, London, UK is the leading international forum for high-quality research that mines large data sets in order to answer educational research questions that shed light on the learning process. These data sets may come from the traces…