Class now forming for the Winter. Next class starts on April 30, 2013! Click HERE to register.

Start dates for the rest of the year:

July 30, 2013 - Click HERE to register for the July session.
October 29, 2013 - Click HERE to register for the October session.

Price: $795

CAEL and Indiana University have developed an online, instructor-led course designed specifically for those who need to provide career and education advice to adults. Participants will learn how to:

• Apply career development theory to your work
• Assess the value of education and training related to career choice
• Gather labor market data to assist with career planning and advising
• Help others develop a career plan
• Advise a diverse workforce
• Deal with ethical issues
• Help adults leverage social networking tools

Course Organization

Content

The course content is organized into five Modules, each addressing one of the competency areas. Each Module takes two weeks to complete. There is an additional two weeks at the end of the course devoted to the final project presentation and review.

Module 1: Foundations of Career Development Theory

Module 2: Education and Training for Adults

Module 3: Data Gathering for Career Planning

Module 4: The Career Planning Process

Module 5: Advising a Diverse Workforce; Social Networking; Ethics in Advising

Final Project

As a capstone, you will also have the opportunity to exhibit understanding of the skills necessary for providing successful career and education advising that meet the needs of the individual, specific companies or organizations, where appropriate, and the workforce as a whole.
This final week provides a separate space and time for presentation of final projects and to review each others’ projects and provide feedback.

Process

The course is delivered online in a mostly asynchronous manner. This means that you can participate by watching presentations, reading content, completing activities, reflecting, writing, and discussing topics with your fellow students in the community forums at a time that is convenient for you. There will be options for live interaction with the course facilitator and other participants each module. These options are highly recommended but, because we recognize the difficulty in finding times that work with everyone’s schedules, they are not required.

Each Module includes the following learning activities:

• Required reading and watching/listening to a presentation on the module topic
• An application assignment where you have the opportunity to apply what you are learning in your own context
• A community activity where you interact with other students discussing aspects of the module topic
• An optional synchronous (live) Online Meeting with your instructor and other students
• A knowledge assessment in the form of an online quiz

Continuing Education Credit
The total anticipated contact time for this course is 90 contact hours (9.0 CEU’s for organizations awarding CEU’s for the instruction).

What Advisors say about the program

• “Someone came in just last week. She worked for same company for 30 years, and when the company downsized, she was the first to go. She was at a loss and didn’t know where to start. I know where to start now. Those who are older need to hear the questions: What do you want to be? How do you want to reinvent yourself? Then develop a plan from there. It all relates back to this course. The different theories of career development – what stage are they in? what do they need to do to move forward?”

• “I’m glad I went through this training. I think it has helped me be better at what I do. Often we are numbers driven. This training has given me permission to spend time with my customers so that I can better serve them. Instead of pushing someone through to get the numbers, I spend time with them to learn what it is they want to do, how they can be happy in a new employment situation.”

• “I have found that even my younger customers can benefit from my new skills. I think about what they need. Advising, coaching, counseling? Which? What do they need to get back to employment? I help them identify what their barriers are. For example, I recently worked with a younger guy who initially said that he wanted to go to truck driving school. Just talking to him and asking him more questions, I learned that he really wanted to go to pharmacy school. I took the time to listen to him and help him figure out the “baby steps” he could take toward his goal. He’s now doing an externship after studying to be a pharmacy tech.”

Next Session Starts June, 17 2013!

Learn to develop a professional portfolio assessment system for your institution, or strengthen your institution’s existing prior learning assessment (PLA) programs, by completing the online PLA certificate program. Offered by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) this program provides the basic tools to develop skills and procedures for assessing adults’ prior learning. The program is delivered over the Internet, allowing you to participate at any time, from any place, all you need is e-mail capability and a web browser.

CAEL is a pioneer in the field of prior learning assessment. In 1974, CAEL took the lead in articulating the philosophical basis for PLA as well as developing a set of policies and procedures for performing it in an academically sound manner. CAEL is a leader in training adult learning practitioners and preparing institutions to provide quality prior learning assessment programs. Today, in response to the unique needs of adult learners, colleges nationwide conduct prior learning assessment and use the CAEL models as their guide to quality assurance.

How Does it Work?

The PLA certificate program consists of four web-based workshops each with 4-7 modules. During each 4-week workshop, participants work through a series of structured activities employing online and off-line materials. Each group of participants is assigned an online consultant to facilitate learning and provide feedback. Participants may discuss issued and activities within their learning group.

PLA Workshop 1 (June 10 - July 7, 2013): This introductory workshop is intended for those with little or no experience with PLA concepts or practices. In this workshop you will become familiar with the language of PLA, a set of standards for the assessment of learning and the procedural steps to run an assessment process.

PLA Workshop 2 (July 22 - September 8, 2013): This workshop builds on the fundamentals of PLA covered in Workshop 1, including how to apply prior learning assessment principles to the series of decisions that make up assessment activity.

PLA Workshop 3 (September 23 - October 27, 2013): This workshop focuses on quality assurance and the integration of activities, policies and procedures that ensure that a program's practices are congruent with its goals.

PLA Workshop 4 (November 11 - December 16, 2013): This workshop focuses on additional quality assurance and the integration of activities, policies and procedures that ensure that a program's practices are congruent with its goals.

Completion of the first two workshops leads to a Certificate of Professional Achievement as a Prior Learning Assessor. Participants who successfully complete all four facilitated workshops will be granted a Certificate of Mastery in Prior Learning Assessment.

The Online Program will help you to:

• Understand principles of experiential learning, including the value of experiential learning for adults.
• Understand and apply the steps and procedures in the PLA process.
• Understand the links between experience and learning, and be able to determine college-level learning gained from experience.
• Discriminate between college-level and pre-college-level learning.
• Understand the history and development of prior learning assessment.
• Know and be able to apply principles of best practice in prior learning assessment.
• Apply administrative principles of prior learning assessment within the context of your institution.
• Be able to articulate to various audiences the value of prior learning assessment.
  

This program provides an opportunity to certify your knowledge and application of the CAEL Standards and Principles for assessment as an individual practitioner. It does not certify the practices and policies of programs, organizations, or institutions.

Next Session Starts June 17, 2013

To register click here, or visit http://www.learning.depaul.edu/info/pla