by Dr. Christopher Bounds
On April the 29, 2014, Governor Nathan Deal and Chancellor Hank Huckaby announced a new state-wide campaign, “Go Back. Move Ahead,” that is specifically designed to encourage students that have some college to return and complete their degrees. This campaign attempts to address a significant problem within the state of Georgia that affects our ability to remain economically competitive and to attract the best and highest paying jobs to the state. It is estimated that by 2020, more than 60 percent of the jobs within the state will require at least a college degree of certificate. Currently, only 42 percent of the state meets these requirements. Since it is estimated that over 1.1 million working-age Georgians or 22 percent of the state’s populations have some college credit but no degree, this is an obvious resource that could potentially be utilized.
Because many of the citizens of Georgia who have some college credit but no degree are now adults, we have been assessing and implementing a variety of programs directed at adult learners. Under the leadership of our Dean Jane McCandless, our college formed a Prior Learning Assessment Steering Committee to investigate the possibility of allowing adult learners to petition for credit for learning that occurred outside of the traditional classroom. This committee has worked tirelessly and I owe them much appreciation for their efforts. As the committee slowly began to learn more about PLA, we all became increasingly interested in how our university could not only do this but do this right. We wondered how we could best serve the adult learners here at UWG.
Ultimately, I applied and was chosen as the university’s adult learning coordinator, a position that is aimed at serving the academic needs of adult learners here at UWG. I have begun an extensive amount of training regarding how to build, implement, and manage a PLA program. COSS’s PLA program will launch this summer. It should be noted that this program will first launch within COSS only. Departments within COSS will make available courses for credit through PLA. Students who believe they can meet the learning outcomes of various courses that are offered will be able to demonstrate learning outcomes associated with those courses. Assessment will typically be one of several forms, which will be decided by the department. A typical adult learner will be able to demonstrate learning outcomes by CLEP exams, departmental exams, and a portfolio. If a student is capable of demonstrating learning outcomes to the faculty of that department through one of the previous assessment techniques then the student will be granted and transcripted a credit for that particular course.
It is my hope as the Adult Learning Coordinator at UWG that we can better serve the adult learner by meeting the following goals:
I look forward to serving this unique population and I humbly ask for your cooperation and willingness in meeting the needs of our adult learners in the years to come.
Dr. Christopher W. Bounds is the adult learning coordinator and an assistant professor of criminology.
