A SYSTEMWIDE PLA APPROACH

VERMONT STATE COLLEGES

Gabrielle Dietzel

Office of External Programs

Located at the Community College

of Vermont in Montpelier, VT

Five Colleges, one PLA Office

Castleton State College Community

College of Vermont (12 campuses)

Johnson State College

Lyndon State College

Vermont Technical College (3 campuses)

ASSESSMENT OPTIONS

Assessment of Prior Learning Portfolio Course, 3 credits

Unlimited Requests

Focused Portfolio Development Course, 1 credit

12 Credit Request Limit

Course Challenge

CLEP/DSST Testing

All four options are available through the PLA Office

COLLABORATION AND NETWORKS

Informal, Regional Network of PLA Practitioners:

The New England Regional PLA Group

Open to anyone in PLA

One or two meetings per year

Meetings sponsored by the various colleges

No fee !

No chair/boss !

No planning committee !

Carpools !

Sponsoring school provides lunch and greetings

Exchange of ideas, issues, suggestions : professional development

Offers sharing, comparisons, shoulders to cry on, learning about procedures and obstacles, informal information gathering, picking up great ideas, defining common problems and possible solutions

Discussion of upcoming PLA issues/trends

COLLABORATION AND NETWORKS

The Northeastern Consortium

Specific Purpose

Ad-hoc-ish working group

One item/focus

Comparison / combining / collegial best thinking about a particular issue for a defined outcome