A project was conducted to develop, monitor, and evaluate schemes for assessing the prior experiential learning of individuals enrolling in polytechnic institutes and colleges. A total of 12 evaluation schemes at 15 educational institutions throughout Great Britain were examined. The evaluation schemes studied had been developed to assess the…

Noting that researchers in the fields of cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, and linguistics are taking a constructivist view of reading comprehension, this paper undertakes a comparison of that view with views concerning comprehension that have been expressed at the Claremont Reading Conferences over the past 50 years. The first…

A study was conducted in summer 1982 by Project REA to provide employment skill training operators and educators in Illinois with information about the reactions, attitudes, and beliefs of employers toward various forms of accreditation of training, i.e., academic credit, nonacademic credit, certificates, degrees, diplomas, and licenses. The study…

This handbook presents information to aid students in applying for prior learning credit at Whatcom Community College (WCC). First, introductory material outlines the types of activities that may qualify a student for prior experiential learning credit and presents a flowchart illustrating the accrediting process. Next, a step-by-step guide is…

The efficient reader constructs tentative hypotheses about the meaning of the text that has been read and about the content yet to come. The hypotheses remain tentative until all related information has been accounted for. The reader then constructs a model that considers all of the details in a text. If a promising interpretation fails to account…

Planned, individualized vocabulary instruction is an essential ingredient of developmental reading classes, and deserves special attention, since expanding word knowledge is the one area related to reading comprehension in which student progress can be directly observed and measured by the learner in daily or weekly increments. The two factors…

Although the distinction between verbal ability and spatial ability is fundamental in all models of human abilities, differences in the relative strengths of verbal and spatial abilities have failed to show consistent interactions with instructional treatments. This study investigated the hypothesis that spatial tests measure different abilities…

This article examines current thinking about learning within the framework of cognitive psychology and how a new, cognitive conception of learning can guide future research on both learning and instruction. Similarities and differences between behavioral and cognitive conceptions of learning are discussed. (Author/LMO)

This study investigated whether computer science educational background makes secondary students more adept at using word processing capabilities, and compared computer science and non-computer science students' writing improvement with word processing use. Computer science students used more sophisticated program features but student writing did…

Four experiments with college undergraduates examine interactions between linearly separable and nonlinearly separable abstract category structures, different knowledge types, and instructions on classification learning tasks. Implications for independent cue models and interactive cue models are discussed. (LMO)

A longitudinal research study in Israel was designed to investigate effects of mutual interrelations between courses in sequential teaching on long-term retention of learning in a science curriculum. The results implied that a program composed of a hierarchical sequence of learning units is superior to a discontinuous array of discrete courses.…

The use of a portfolio as an "alternative transcript" is discussed. Concepts explored include evaluation of prior learning, assessment of prior learning, rationale for developing a portfolio, and the articulation of verifiable learning outcomes with course and program objectives. (Author/MLW)

Describes four experiments that examined the influence of an information units' category membership, normative importance, and goal-relatedness on its perceived importance. Results suggest that category membership and goal-relatedness did affect perceptions of importance.(HOD)

Concludes that if students are provided with background information about topics included on the comprehension section of a standardized reading test, they will score higher on the test than will those not exposed to the information. (FL)

Ohio University's Experiential Learning Program includes a portfolio development course to assess prior nonsponsored learning. The program is used as a recruitment and retention device and has attracted former adult students who had not been able to complete their degree programs. (SK)