M.A. Adult Learning Degree Program Planning and Prior Learning Assessment

By the end of the second two courses, you will have developed a degree plan for the remainder of the program. The planning of individual degrees is initially grounded in a critical exploration of your experiential learning as well as your needs as an adult learning practitioner. From the start of the program, you actively engage with your roles and responsibilities as a learner and educator, your knowledge of the field in both capacities, and your professional and social values and commitments. The articulation of learning and inclusion in the portfolio will both introduce you to an important modality in adult learning and serve as the occasion for identifying your own learning and learning needs. You will draw and build upon your initial exploration of experiential learning and the nature of inquiry in the field in crafting the degree program plan and rationale essay.

The rationale essay integrates prior learning and explores choices in terms of intellectual and academic development, professional needs, and social purposes. It also provides an initial articulation of the final project. You will consider choices in designing the degree, given professional values, commitments, and needs; optimal ways to use the range of opportunities provided by the program; opportunities for collaboration and the expertise and methodologies needed to complete the final project.

If interested in requesting transfer credit, you will begin this discussion with your academic advisor during the degree program planning process.

If you are considering doctoral study, you also should investigate the requirements of programs that interest you so that you can incorporate their requirements into your M.A. degree.

Note: you may not enroll for more than 21 credit hours without an approved degree program in place.

The link below will take you to an important PLA resource on MyESC:

MAAL Handbook: A Degree Planning and Prior Learning Assessment Guide

Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read PDF documents. If Acrobat Reader is not installed on your computer, you can download it for free from Adobe. If you are unable to use the file, please contact Graduate Student Services for assistance.