College Sponsors 2009 National Institute

• Dr. Stephen D. Brookfield, distinguished professor, St. Thomas University School of Education. His talk, “Understanding Ourselves and Our Students as Adult Learners,” takes place on Wednesday, June 10 at 8:45 a.m.
  
  
• Kurt Landgraf, president and CEO, Educational Testing Service. His talk, “America’s Perfect Storm,” takes place on Wednesday, June 10 at 1 p.m.
  
  
• Dr. Jerry Ice, president and CEO, U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School. His talk, “Transformation of the Federal Workforce,” takes place Thursday, June 11 at 8:45 a.m.

View 2009 Program.

In addition, the institute will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Morris T. Keeton, who is considered the founding father of prior learning assessment. The award presentation takes place Wednesday, June 10 at 6 p.m. and will be accepted by Dr. Keeton’s son, Gary.

Prior learning assessment was initially called portfolio assessment when it was developed in the early 1970s by the Cooperative Assessment of Experiential Learning, a project made up of a small group of colleges and universities, including Thomas Edison State College. Prior learning assessment is a process where students demonstrate that they possess college-level knowledge of a subject that has been acquired outside of a traditional classroom setting, such as at work or through volunteer service. 

In 1988, Thomas Edison State College established the National Institute on the Assessment of Experiential Learning and began organizing and sponsoring the annual event in conjunction with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, the organization that ultimately grew out of the Cooperative Assessment of Experiential Learning project in the early 1970s. 

This year’s program features presentations by nationally renowned leaders in prior learning assessment, including Dr. Nan Travers and Dr. Alan Mandell, of Empire State College; and Dr. Harriet Cabell Walker, formerly of University of Alabama.

Dr. George A. Pruitt, president of Thomas Edison State College, said the longevity of the institute and the growth in the number of schools that offer prior learning assessment – from a handful of schools in the 1970s to approximately 1,000 institutions today – is a testament to the success of the early work of the cooperative project and the institute itself.

“It was revolutionary and controversial when it was first developed, but has since become accepted in academia,” he said.  “At Thomas Edison State College, we still have a vested interest to ensure practitioners, both new and experienced, learn the latest and best practices, as well as quality assurance, accreditation issues and making sure the process is done right.”

About Thomas Edison State College
Thomas Edison State College provides flexible, high-quality, collegiate learning opportunities for self-directed adults. One of New Jersey’s 12 senior public institutions of higher education, the College offers associate, baccalaureate and master’s degrees in more than 100 areas of study. Students earn degrees through a wide variety of rigorous and high-quality academic methods that can be customized to meet their individual needs. Identified by Forbes magazine as one of the top 20 colleges and universities in the nation in the use of technology to create learning opportunities for adults, Thomas Edison State College is a national leader in the assessment of adult learning and a pioneer in the use of educational technologies. The College is home to The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy. The New Jersey State Library is an affiliate of Thomas Edison State College. For more information about the College, call (888) 442-8372, e-mail info@tesc.edu  or visit www.tesc.edu.