What we are learning in an effort to recognize graduate learning

Imagine three different people on different paths to college: One is enrolling for the first time after years of working full-time, one is enrolling directly after graduating from high school—where he earned college credit for dual enrollment—and the third is returning. going to higher education after leaving work, completing studies at another institution. As their paths diverge, they each face the same challenge: figuring out if their previous learning will count towards securing what they want.

As the number of Americans entering higher education with some form of prior learning continues to grow, institutions must think differently about how they perceive that learning. For this reason, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and SOVA launched the Learning Evaluation and Recognition for the Next Generation (LEARN) Commission, bringing together a diverse group of forward-thinking campus leaders, field experts and institutional endorsers to help . transform policy and practice to recognize undergraduate learning in the 21st century.

Although student transfers have become the new norm in higher education—nationally, more than one-third everything undergraduate students transfer to higher education institutions and, of those who do, 45 percent transfer more than once—many of the long-standing methods of assessing, accepting and using student loans previously received have not been tested. The LEARN Commission provides the necessary framework for adopting current approaches, responding to new patterns in the movement of learning and teaching, and considering how emerging technologies can support equitable pathways for students.

In addition to evaluating the “traditional” transfer of credits between institutions, the commission will also make recommendations to improve the mobility of high school credit obtained as part of the high school curriculum through dual enrollment and the recognition and mobility of learning that occurs outside of a regular high school. environment (ie, prior learning credit).

To support the commission’s learning and productive thinking in these areas, AACRAO publishes a set of green papers that summarize the existing evidence base and identify key pain points and areas of opportunity, as well as pressing questions for the commission to consider. The first two of these green papers, written by AACRAO senior director of research Wendy Kilgore, are complete and publicly available on the LEARN Commission’s web page. A second set of green papers is expected in 2025, to focus on the movement of college credit earned in high school and the potential to use emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence—to create greater transparency, consistency and efficiency for both students and institutions.

The commission has already kicked into high gear. Since the launch in July 2024, the commissioners have been meeting regularly, discussing firstly the areas of credit transfer from one institution to another and credit to recognize early learning. Here are a few details that have emerged from the commission’s proceedings.

1. We must focus and remain focused on learning outcomes. Learning assessment processes should all be driven by the same end goal—identifying and awarding academic credit for learning experiences that meet the same learning outcomes as “home” courses. However, as Commissioner Marjorie Dorimé-Williams, senior associate for postsecondary policy research at MDRC, pointed out, “Research shows that many variables cloud the assessment process in practice.”

For example, an institution’s decisions about whether or not to accept transfer credit may be influenced by variables such as where the credit was earned, including whether it was earned at a comparable “peer” institution, such as an institution at the same degree level. or an institution with similar accreditation; when credit is received, with the most recent preference; what kind of grading basis was used, such as grading or grading; what teaching method was used, such as online, in-person or hybrid; or granular information such as what type of book was used.

Maintaining a constant focus on learning outcomes can protect against bias and improve fairness and consistency in credit determination decisions. Commissioner Alexandra Logue, professor emeritus at the CUNY Graduate Center, pointed out, “We need to focus our attention on academic learning outcomes in order to provide appropriate testing for all students. Focusing on an aspect of a course such as where it was completed or its teaching method, without any evidence that this aspect affects learning outcomes, introduces bias into our decision-making.”

2. We have to move to systematic ways, for the benefit of students and institutions. In all institutions of all types, opportunities abound to create purposeful, connected and systematic methods of learning recognition that can greatly improve the experience of both students and the professionals who support them. For example, it is common for institutions to have manual and time-consuming credit assessment processes that require multiple actors with different responsibilities to work together across different resourced—and often fragmented—and fragmented departments. This can make current credit check methods seem less transparent and slower.

The commission is committed to identifying ways to improve learning mobility that ensure consistency, transparency and timeliness for students and help institutions achieve a positive ROI on referrals. As Commissioner Emily Kittrell, assistant director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students noted, “If institutions could find better systems to track and use data related to academic equivalency decisions, they would be able to reduce the burden of manual review. and reduce the time for students to get a final decision.”

To this end, the commission will also explore where new technologies, including artificial intelligence, may hold promise. Commissioner Heather Perfetti, president of the Interstate Commission on Higher Education, demonstrates the potential of incorporating such technology while maintaining quality: “The faculty has already done the hard work of evaluating hundreds of courses and creating equity rules. The question now is whether we can properly use technology to use that information to make accurate and consistent decisions about credit transfer when new students come before us and how do we ensure that we take a detailed approach to make the most efficient decisions based on that. established student learning outcomes and student achievement.”

The commissioners expressed excitement at how such an advance could move the field away from evaluating many individual subjects—often using a vague observational approach—to a more systematic approach that recognizes learning and credit use unless there is an evidence-based argument against doing so.

3. We cannot expect institutions to do it on their own—building the next generation of learning processes will require supportive policies and investments and move towards national integration. Commissioner Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, founder of the College of Innovators at Butler University, acknowledges the challenging ecosystem in which institutional leaders operate. “Change and travel and learning are still difficult problems in higher education institutions because they are problems that affect everyone but no one can own them,” he said.

While the LEARN Commission considers immediate steps that institutions can take, it also grapples with the larger structural conditions that hold this situation in place. These include the lack of financial resources to support this work, such as the incentives of administrative and intellectual leaders who have been drawn in many ways, the need to coordinate and finance the infrastructure of data and technology at scale to ensure interoperability across institutions, and the need for technical assistance and support from the regulatory triangle, such as in areas such as the direction of the use of artificial intelligence .

The commission will deal with the long-term strategies needed to effectively engage with the many stakeholders who hold a piece of the puzzle.

With more questions still to come, we look forward to learning with the LEARN Commission as it continues its work through 2025. We invite you to join us on this learning journey by signing up to receive periodic updates on commission work.