Are you a faculty member, or advisor, grappling with the task of leading students through the PLA process?
My expertise centers around Prior Learning Essays (PLA), a potent avenue for adult learners to convert their experiential or workforce knowledge into college credit.
The Four-Week PLA Bootcamp will lead students through the mechanic of writing successful PLA essays.
Are you a faculty member, or advisor, grappling with the task of leading students through the PLA process?
My expertise centers around Prior Learning Essays (PLA), a potent avenue for adult learners to convert their experiential or workforce knowledge into college credit.
To complement the Professional Development workshop, my Four-Week PLA Bootcamp will guide students through the mechanics of writing successful PLA essays. Together, these programs ensure success.
Working with students to craft PLA essays demands significant time and effort, requiring instructors, advisors, or mentors, to engage deeply in synthesis and analysis. Having experienced both sides—as a student and as an Academic Support Specialist (and tutor)—I understand the challenges intimately. I’ve witnessed the frustration that often accompanies this process, with many students and professors alike feeling overwhelmed (trust me, there were tears and hair-pulling moments). These experiences inspired me to develop a Professional Development PLA workshop specifically tailored for faculty members.
According to CAEL (Council for Adult and Experiential Learning), there are multiple reasons for adult learners to write PLAs: Graduation rates are higher, degree completion is accelerated, the cost savings can be immense, and motivation and confidence is boosted as a result of a student being able to recognize their prior learning experiences and validate their knowledge and skills. I’ve seen this firsthand–particularly while working with at-risk and underserved communities. Validation is a critical element of adult education.
Having personally authored three PLA essays and guided hundreds of students through the process, I bring extensive knowledge and hands-on experience to help individuals master the PLA process effectively. My approach focuses on breaking down the essential components of the PLA journey, ensuring faculty have the strategies, and tools, they need to support their students effectively.
Believe me, I know your time is valuable and very limited. That’s why I designed the PLA Professional Development workshop for faculty, advisors, and mentors, to be efficient and concise.”
The PLA Bootcamp for Students
Implementing both workshops, in tandem, will provide faculty and students with a mechanic that reinforces the PLA process and will cut down on the time spent navigating and explaining concepts.It will mean everyone is on the same page in terms of crafting the PLA essay, reducing frustration and unnecessary revisions.
Together with my mentor, I designed Educational Planning workshops for students which we successfully conducted for several years at Empire State University. I then facilitated dedicated PLA workshops and observed their immense value firsthand. My goal of creating a “mechanic” for PLA work resulted from witnessing the disparity of materials PLA students were asked to scrutinize–the breadth of which–unfortunately, often overwhelmed them.
These experiences inspired me to develop two workshops that work in concert to expedite the PLA process–aPLAProfessional Development workshop specifically tailored for faculty members, and a targeted PLA workshop for students.
In my comprehensive PLA workshop designed for students,I include designated sessions for individualized work. Delivering these workshops together will enable students and faculty to navigate the PLA landscape successfully. Your faculty and students will have the option of participating in workshops on multiple dates.