Let Adult Learners Show What They Know
Brooks Doherty
Rasmussen College
Keywords: Entrance Placement, Assessment, CBE, Competency-Based Education
Abstract
What if colleges gave all students, free of charge, the ability to prepare for their entrance placement assessments? And once admitted, what if students were able to show what they know as soon as they know it, without being tied to a course calendar, before progressing to the next set of learning topics at an individualized pace? What could these mean for adult learners seeking college completion? This talk will explore new assessment and course design strategies which are focused on the adult learner with limited financial means, today’s new traditional student. Two brief case studies from Rasmussen College include 1) Rasmussen Ready, the entrance placement tool which provides equitable English and math test preparation to all prospective students. This brush-up experience is particularly beneficial for adult students who haven’t seen a math problem or dissected a sentence in years and cannot afford additional test tutoring. And 2) competency- based education, or CBE, a learning method which respects the knowledge adult learners bring to the classroom via work and life experience and allows them to show what they know as soon as they are prepared to demonstrate. These two innovations—free-of-charge test preparation and competency- based education—are capable of increasing enrollments, readiness, completion, and better preparing all college graduates to flourish in our world and workforce.
