Recognizing Experiential Learning Through Prior Learning Assessment

By definition and through practice, distance education has become synonymous with innovative models of program delivery that offer more generous open and flexible learn-ing opportunities to a wider and more diverse audience than did the bricks-and-mortar classroom structures in which most of us were raised. The commonly accepted ways in which open and distance institutions serve a diverse student population center around issues of scheduling and geography, typically allowing easier access to post-secondary education for those who have not previously enjoyed that option. Such opportuni-ties for learner access address the situational, attitudinal, and institutional conditions that have long been described in adult education literature as the types of barriers that prevent adults from realizing their educational dreams (Cross, 1981; Wiesenberg, 2001; Mackeracher, 2005). The relationship between the concepts of diversity, access, and the issue of facilitat-ing adults ’ learning through the recognition of their prior learning is both complex and dichotomous. Recognizing learners ’ prior learning (RPL) may appear to provide solutions to many aspects of traditional, situational, attitudinal, and institutional bar