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Introduction

This study examines how colleges and universities deal with students who hold alternative credentials and seek to apply them to a degree. The findings should serve as a useful tool for education planners, policymakers, administrators, researchers, and government leaders as they shape strategies to serve adult learners.

Recommendations

There is a vast array of learning opportunities that students can apply toward a degree, including standardized tests, volunteer experience, professional development, and industry certifications. Colleges and universities can aid students’ progress by recognizing and accepting a wider range of these experiences and accomplishments.

Much of the research on this issue includes colleges and universities with concrete policies and procedures for assessing on prior learning reviewing such credentials. Researchers have outlined ways that colleges can promote innovation and competition, including three-year degree programs, flipped and hybrid programs, and massive open online courses (MOOCs). Other suggestions include awarding credit based on specific learning outcomes rather than seat time; using technology to redesign courses; using technology to provide student services; and recognizing prior learning.

Further exploration would include a wider variety of institutions and provide a detailed knowledge base that would include a glossary of terms, policies, and procedures, and lessons learned.

In the 1960s, schools and colleges confronted questions much like the ones we ask now: Why can knowledge only come from a university? Why must a university decide what counts as knowledge? The answers our predecessors found, and the innovative practices they developed, can serve as a model for the work ahead.