There are important things to understand about prior learning assessment, from what it is to what type of knowledge is creditable.

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) – Definition

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is a process by which verifiable learning, acquired outside of a traditional learning environment, is assessed for college-level credit. Many colleges offer PLA as a means of getting credit for college-level knowledge you’ve gained through your own experience, work, or self-study.

Benefits of PLA

Because you have some flexibility in designing your ESC degree, you have the potential of doing approximately 3/4 of your degree through a combination of PLA and/or transferred transcript credit, keeping in mind that you still need to address college knowledge and skills expectations for your area of study. PLA provides the benefit of advancing faster toward degree completion.  It also provides intangible benefits in awareness of yourself as a learner and fuller understanding of how you learn.

At Empire State College, you are allowed a maximum of:

• 40 credits PLA/transcript possible in a 64-credit associate degree
• 91 credits PLA/transcript possible in a 124-credit bachelor’s degree

There are a lot of benefits to pursuing credit through prior learning assessment, as noted in the following video.

Possible Sources of College-Level Knowledge

PLA may be based on work experience, but many types of experiences may yield college-level knowledge:

• Work experience
• Licenses, certifications, and other credentials
• Military training
• Continuing professional education, including some continuing education units (CEUs)
• Non-credit courses
• Seminars and in-service training programs
• Learning acquired through online educational resources such as MOOCs or free courses
• Volunteer work in the community
• Hobbies and recreational activities
• Independent reading and research
• Study at schools that may be licensed but not regionally accredited to give academic credit

Credit for Knowledge Based on Experience (not just the experience itself)

The college offers the chance to get credit not from having done something for a number of years, but for having gained knowledge from what you’ve done.  Although knowledge is based on experience, you need to have learned from the experience. Experience needs to link with reflection on that experience, which generates an understanding of and ability to articulate what you have learned.

To help understand the distinction between knowledge and experience, think about what you did today. Perhaps you got up, made breakfast, and got kids off to school. You got yourself ready and drove to work. When you got there, you read email, worked on a report, or met as part of a team. These actions are all experiences, but probably did not provide you with college-level knowledge in themselves. However, that report for work may have required you to do research or data analyses that did require some college-level knowledge.  That team meeting may have been to discuss a problem requiring additional research, resulting in the acquisition of new knowledge. During the prior learning assessment process, you will be examining your experiences to identify the knowledge you have gained.

Here’s another way to consider the concept of learning as opposed to doing:  If you were taking parental leave, retiring, or going on a multi-week vacation from a job, what would your replacement need to know?  The doing (e.g., a list of tasks such as maintaining records, taking meeting notes, interacting with new clients) might not be enough for your replacement to perform your job.  The knowledge (e.g., the reasons why you perform those tasks in a certain way) is what your replacement needs for optimal performance.

Knowledge Needs to be College Level

In order to receive college credit, your knowledge needs to be college-level, which means that you should be able to generalize concepts from the knowledge you gained, apply those concepts to other situations, analyze various solutions to a challenge, and more. College-level knowledge means:

• engaging in critical inquiry – thinking and asking questions about information, as opposed to simply accepting what you’re told
• applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and integrating the information
• understanding ideas within a broader context or a different context – for example, understanding the role of business in a global society, or explaining how your theories of management would work in a hypothetical situation

College-level knowledge is not just the ability to recall information or do something in one way; instead, it’s the ability to manipulate the information gained.

Bernard Smith clarifies this important relationship between experience and knowledge: ^[1]

Colvin (2006) argues that experiential learning is the most important of all learning and that most learning has some experiential component. In other words, much of all our true learning is achieved by doing and even in a classroom setting (or in an online course) we still find and take opportunities to ‘test’ the theories and ideas against our experience.

David Kolb, cited by Colvin (2006) and by Fiddler (fn 2-3 2006), describes the 4 stages of learning:

1. Concrete Experience
2. Observation and Reflection
3. Generalizations and Abstract Concepts
4. Testing Implications of these Concepts and Generalizations

(See David Kolb, Learning Styles Inventory, McBer & Co 1976)

College-level knowledge incorporates the four stages of learning, not just the first stage. You can not get credit simply for that fact that you ran your own business, directed a play, or resolved labor disputes, or spoke in public. However, you can get credit for the knowledge you use to run your business, to direct that play, to understand what precisely you are doing as you negotiate with management, and to understand what makes your speeches effective.

The following video and slides offer additional ways of explaining knowledge and college-level knowledge.

• Prior Learning Assessment: Learning, Not Experience
• Prior Learning Assessment: College-Level Learning

Example of experience, knowledge, and potential PLA

Not all similar experiences have the same learning outcomes. For example, consider the following two students, Suzanne and Tom. They each own a restaurant and are involved in its day-to-day operations. Since their experience is similar, one might expect them to have the same knowledge and skills, but that is not always true.

Tom began cooking in the military and, after he returned to civilian life, focused on preparing gourmet meals. He started a local cooperative so he could buy fresh, local products. In addition, he learned a lot about nutrition because of some personal health problems, and he has been incorporating this knowledge into menu choices.

Suzanne focused totally on the business aspect of her restaurant. She developed a marketing plan and is trying to expand into a catering business in addition to running the restaurant.  She does the accounting for the business. She also is on the board of the local homeless shelter, which she became involved with when she realized that some of the food not used by her restaurant could be donated.

When these two students started to investigate knowledge gained from their experience, they discovered that they knew different things. Tom had gained knowledge of nutrition, food preparation, and running a cooperative. Suzanne had gained knowledge of marketing, small business management, accounting, and community organizing.

Even though Tom and Suzanne share similar experiences, the knowledge each acquired from those experiences is unique.

Also, the way in which each pursues PLA credit may be unique. They may opt to write individualized prior learning requests for evaluation. Tom might be eligible for credit for his military training. Suzanne might choose to take standardized examinations, such as CLEP, in accounting and marketing. Both students might take a standardized examination in small business management.

PLA Exists in Context