Portfolio Development and the Assessment of Prior Learning: Perspectives, Models and Practices - Softcover

Michelson, Elana; Mandell, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1579220908 ISBN 13: 9781579220907

Publisher: Stylus Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

The portfolio has become a distinctive means of assessing adult learners' prior learning, serving as a meaningful alternative to conventional papers and standardized testing. This is a primer of flexible approaches to shaping and conducting portfolio-development courses. It offers practitioners in the field an extensive range of model assignments, readings, and classroom activities, each organized around a specific theme: Academic Orientation, The Meaning of Education, Personal Exploration, Learning from the Outsider Within, The World of Work and Careers, and Dimensions of Expertise. Twelve case studies then show how faculty have adapted the portfolio to changing circumstances in order to deliver academically rich educational services for adults. These case studies highlight portfolio development in the context of web-based instruction, changing institutional imperatives, service to historically disenfranchised groups, partnerships with industry, and cross-institutional cooperation. The approaches and case studies are not only valuable to adult educators but, equally, to faculty in higher education concerned with the development of competency- and outcomes-based assessment.

About this title

Review:

In the current edition, Michelson and Mandell broaden their treatment of the use of portfolios in order to bring readers up to date on the 'moving target' that is today's prior learning assessment (PLA)...Readers are likely to find the twelve models of portfolio development in practice to be the most useful part of the book...taken in toto, the twelve models described in this section provide ample evidence that - even as the practice of PLA is being recast in light of tightening budgets, new student populations, redefined institutional goals, and changing relationships between working and schooling - the philosophical underpinnings have remained constant. In every case, the reader finds evidence of the values inherent in PLA as teachers and students use portfolios to mediate the ways in which individual lives and learning are affected by gender, race, class, politics, and economics. - The National Teaching and Learning Forum ""Michelson and Mandell provide and insightful discussion of the historical context of portfolio development and the variety of the diverse approaches available to demonstrate knowledge of today's students within our campus learning environments. This comprehensive volume focuses on the changing context of portfolio development in the academic environment. Instead of concentrating on traditional issues of assessing prior learning, this volume take a broad view of portfolio development as it encompasses issues ranging from multicultural inclusive strategies, fostering partnerships with industry and corporate communities, to computer-mediated technological strategies for demonstrating proficiency. The authors' unique focus on portfolio provides faculty and student development professionals with a holistic framework to examine assessment in terms of growth, achievement, and the demonstration of prior learning."" - Journal of College Student Development

About the Author:

Elana Michelson is a mentor and professor of Cultural Studies at Empire State College and the Chair of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on issues of multiculturalism, feminism, epistemology, and adult learning. Alan Mandell is a mentor and professor in the social sciences and Director of the Mentoring Institute of Empire State College. He is the co-author of From Teaching to Mentoring: Principle and Practice, Dialogue and Life in Adult Education (Routledge, 2003).

About this edition

• Publisher: Stylus Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1579220908
• ISBN 13: 9781579220907
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 306