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As access to higher education improves, the traditional path of spending four years at a single institution and earning a bachelor’s degree is becoming less and less the norm. Students, including those with work and caregiving responsibilities, earn credit in a variety of ways, including dual enrollment, prior learning assessments, and military and corporate training. They are also more likely to travel between states and schools. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 45% of associate’s degree holders and 67% of bachelor’s degree holders currently have transcripts from multiple institutions.
However, it is not surprising that these students lose credit along the way. The Government Accountability Office estimates that a transfer student loses 43% of her credits when she transfers schools. This is the main reason why transfer pipelines are often referred to as “leaky”. And that is an extra burden for students who are likely to follow non-traditional paths. You may notice.
Now, researchers at Ithaka S+R, part of the educational nonprofit ITHAKA, say it’s time for a change.
Dr. Sarah Pingel, Senior Research Fellow at Itaca S+R, said:
Pingel is the lead author of a new issue brief, advocating what he calls “holistic credit mobility.” This is a fundamental shift in the way educational institutions and policy makers interact with students and students.
Holistic credit transfer fundamentally means that learning, rather than where and how knowledge is acquired, is the central determinant of a student’s progress towards qualification. If a student knows something, it doesn’t matter whether she learned it in her college, dual-enrolment program, workplace, military, or elsewhere in the community, Pingel and her co-authors argue. . Students should get credit for what they know without having to pay for repeated learning.
It seems like a simple change, but it makes a lot of sense. Universities accustomed to autonomy and wanting to protect their brands should coordinate to develop broader transfer mediation policies. We also need to work with other organizations that students may have learned from, such as corporations and the military, to develop ways to assess non-traditional sources of credit and knowledge. Achieving this may require action by state and federal politicians.
“Policies play a very strong role in setting agendas across institutions,” Pingel said. “[Policymakers] You don’t have to say what your pathway is, but you can say, “I hope employers and agencies work together to create a more seamless pathway.” ”
Schools should also invest in resources to help students who may be considering transferring.
“Historically, the current state of educational institutions is that when students drop out, [they’re] Pingel said. “The reality is that there are many things an institution can do to serve students who are forced to drop out. to make sure there is nothing of that nature.”
Universities also need to do more to support students who may be admitted from other institutions.
“It is very difficult [prospective transfer] Students have access to the time and advice of academic advisors,” Pingel said. “There is no substitute for talking to your advisor about what your goals are and what learning you have already completed.”
Improving technical resources is also important. While there are many online tools that allow students to see how previously earned credits will be transferred to their new institution, these tools often include corporate and military training, dual enrollment courses, etc. Non-course-based learning is not included. Not coded in the same way as others. The overall mobility of students will require tools that can accommodate more forms of learning from more sources, as well as tools that involve more schools, Pingel said.
Of course, all this costs money.
“We are all operating on a tight budget with limited staff,” said Janet Marling, Ph.D., executive director of the University of North Georgia’s National Institute for Transfer Student Studies. I don’t know if I can keep using it forever, but in some cases it is.”
It will also require a shift from skepticism by many schools to off-campus learning.
“There’s a big element of trust that’s being put forward. The statement is that if it’s experience earned, credit earned, you just have to embrace it,” Marling said. It’s an important philosophy, but our system is not yet fully set up for that trust to exist.”
But Pingel believes that schools that ignore the need to accommodate non-traditional students are doing so at their peril.
“If an institution wants to see completion rates, graduation rates, success of its students after completion, etc., to keep track of where they are or how far they are going, this growing student population needs We need to serve them better,” she said. “These students can no longer sit in the back seat.”
Jon Edelman can be contacted at: JEdelman@DiverseEducation.com.
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