This chapter proposes approaches for assessing learners and evaluating courses and curriculum that could be used by directors of health professions education (HPE) programs to determine the effectiveness and impact of their programs.

In 2010, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) conducted the first major multi-institutional study of the relationship between prior learning assessment (PLA) credit-earning and student academic outcomes, which found that adult students with PLA credit were two and a half times more likely to have earned a postsecondary degree…

This edited book documents practices of learning-oriented language assessment through practitioner research and research syntheses. Learning-oriented language assessment refers to language assessment strategies that capitalise on learner differences and their relationships with the learning environments. In other words, learners are placed at the…

Academic language is a challenging yet increasingly important skill for Adult Basic Education/English as a Second or Other Language learners. Related to academic language learning is an adult's developmental perspective. Developmental perspectives have been shown to vary in adulthood and shape qualitatively distinct ways of reasoning and learning…

Malcolm Knowles (2011) indicates that adult learners are most likely to be actively engaged in learning when they are given some choice and control over the learning process. When the curriculum relates to the adult learner's interests, is individualized, and authentic; the adult learner becomes actively engaged in the process by making a…

Right now, accountability is the elephant in the room for many engaged in lifelong learning. It is difficult to find fault with the persuasive, evidence-based case for promoting lifelong learning so lucidly articulated in the main report of the Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning. "Learning Through Life" deftly combines rigorous and…

Excelsior College, located in Albany, New York, has been a pioneer institution in distance learning. The Integrated Technology Assessment (ITA) is one particularly unique dimension of student assessment offered by the School of Business and Technology at the College. This portfolio-based assessment method is a capstone experience for the BS…

Many adults in OECD countries have low language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills. The consequences of these low foundation skills span the economic, health and social well-being of individuals, families and communities. Investment in this sector of adult education is therefore crucial. This study looks specifically inside the programmes for…

In the past, English as Second Language (ESL) teachers in Australia have been given a strong professional role in classroom assessment. This role still exists but has changed in ways that are causing some tensions for teachers in their day-to-day practice. In schools, educational reform has been accompanied by mother-tongue/English-learner-based…

Evaluation anxiety can have a significant impact on adult learning, and it is a generally inescapable part of teaching-learning transactions. Too much evaluation anxiety can be devastating. This paper examines the effects of evaluation anxiety on adult learning, discussing the causes, the control measures, and the implications for adult educators.…

Beyond the obvious acquisition of the three "R's"--reading, writing and arithmetic--many other benefits derive from learning. Increases in self-esteem and confidence have often been cited as consistent, if unanticipated, outcomes of learning and have been achieved even when there has been limited gain in the competency being learned.…

Helping students learn how to learn should be a major teaching objective and a major teaching skill in nontraditional education. Evaluation processes, both in planning and implementation, should be consistent with knowledge, values, and goals of nontraditional education, and their basis should be a theory of adult learning. (Author/LBH)

This Support Document was produced by the authors based on their research for the report, "Assessing and Acknowledging Learning through Non-Accredited Community Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Programs," and is an added resource for further information. There were five phases of this project: Phase 1 comprised further interrogation…

Surveyed 19 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)/Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programs about their use of Canadian Language Benchmarks Assessment (CLBA) scores for in-class placement. Results indicated that most LINC programs based placement decisions solely on CLBA scores. (SM)

In March 1988, the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, New York, initiated a short-term, participatory research project in alternative assessment. It consisted of two major components--a five-session seminar held for two hours on Wednesday afternoons in May and June and two rounds of interviews with Adult Learning Center (ALC)…