Imagine three different people on their unique paths to college: one enrolls for the first time after years of full-time work experience, another enrolls directly after high school (where she earned credits universities thanks to double registration) and a third returns. to higher education after a leave of absence, after having taken courses in another establishment. As varied as their backgrounds are, they all face the same challenge: determining whether their prior learning will count toward the degree they seek.

As the number of Americans entering higher education with some type of prior learning continues to increase, institutions need to think differently about how they recognize that learning. For this reason, the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers And Sova launched the Learning Assessment and Recognition Commission for the Next Generation (LEARN)bringing together a diverse group of forward-thinking campus leaders, subject matter experts, and institutional accreditors to help evolve policies and practices for recognizing undergraduate learning in the 21st century.

As learner transfer has become a new norm in higher education, nationally, more than a third of all undergraduate learners transfer from one postsecondary institution to another and, of those who do, 45 percent transfer more than once – many long-standing approaches to assessing, accepting and applying previously earned credits by learners have remained largely unexamined. The LEARN Commission provides a necessary table to take stock of current approaches, respond to new models of mobility and learning acquisition, and consider how emerging technologies can support more equitable pathways for learners.

In addition to examining “traditional” credit transfer between institutions, the commission will also make recommendations to improve the mobility of postsecondary credits earned through the high school program through dual enrollment and recognition and learning mobility that occurs outside of the traditional post-secondary setting. environment (i.e. credit for granted).

To support the commission’s learning and generative thinking in these areas, AACRAO is publishing a set of green papers that synthesize the existing evidence base and identify key pain points and areas of opportunity, as well as pressing issues to be submitted for examination by the committee. The first two of these green papers, authored by Wendy Kilgore, AACRAO’s Senior Director of Research, are complete and publicly available on the AACRAO website. LEARN Commission webpage. A second set of green papers is expected in 2025 and will focus on the mobility of postsecondary credits earned in secondary school and the possibility of harnessing emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to create greater transparency, consistency and efficiency both for learners as well as for establishments.

The commission has already moved into high gear. Since the launch in July 2024, commissioners have met regularly virtually, first looking at the areas of traditional school-to-school credit transfer and recognition of prior learning and mobility credits. Here are some ideas that have already surfaced in the commission’s proceedings.

1. We need to refocus and remain relentlessly focused on learning outcomes. Learning assessment processes should all be guided by the same end goal: to identify and award academic credit for learning experiences that meet the same learning outcomes as “local” courses. However, as Commissioner Marjorie Dorimé-Williams, senior research associate for postsecondary policy at MDRC, pointed out: “Research shows that many variables obscure the assessment process in practice. »

For example, institutional decisions about whether to accept and apply transfer credits may be influenced by variables such as where the credit was earned, including whether it was earned at an institution ” peer” comparable, such as an establishment of the same level of studies. or an institution with the same accreditor; when the credit was acquired, with a preference for greater recency; what type of grading basis was used, such as pass-fail grading or letter grading; what mode of instruction was used, such as online, in-person, or hybrid; or even details as granular as the edition of the manual used.

Maintaining a consistent 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, said, “We must focus our attention on course learning outcomes to provide fair assessment for all learners. Focusing on one feature of a course, such as where it was taken or how it was taught, without any evidence that that feature has any influence on learning outcomes, simply introduces bias into our take. decision.

2. We need to move towards systematic approaches, for the benefit of both learners and institutions. In institutions of all types, opportunities abound to create more intentional, connected, and systematic approaches to prior learning recognition that would significantly improve the experience of learners and the professionals who support them. For example, it’s common for institutions to have highly manual and time-consuming credit reporting processes that require many players with distinct responsibilities to collaborate across differently resourced – and often siled – divisions. This can make current approaches to credit scoring opaque and slow.

The commission wants to identify ways to advance learning mobility that ensure consistency, transparency and speed for learners and help institutions achieve a positive return on investment for transfer. As Commissioner Emily Kittrell, deputy director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students, observed: “If institutions had access to better systems for tracking and using data related to transfer equivalency decisions, course, they would be able to reduce the burden of manual review. and shorten the time it takes for learners to receive a final decision.

To this end, the commission will also explore areas where new technologies, including artificial intelligence, could show promise. Commissioner Heather Perfetti, chair of the Middle Eastern States Commission on Higher Education, reflects on the potential of integrating such technologies while maintaining quality: “Professors have already done the rigorous work of evaluating hundreds of courses and create equivalence rules. The question now is whether we can responsibly leverage technology to apply this information to make accurate and consistent credit transfer decisions when new learners come before us and how to ensure we embrace a data-driven approach to making more effective decisions based on established learning outcomes and student success.

Commissioners expressed excitement about how such advances could move the field from individual assessment of most courses – usually with opaque criteria – to a more systematic approach that recognizes learning and applies credit , unless there is an evidence-based argument against it.

3. We cannot expect institutions to go it alone: ​​creating next-generation learning mobility practices will require supporting policies and investments and a move towards national coherence. Commissioner Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, founding dean of Butler University’s Founder’s College, recognizes the challenging ecosystem in which institutional leaders operate. “Learning transfer and mobility remain among the most thorny issues within higher education because they are issues that everyone touches but no one can own individually,” she noted .

While the LEARN Commission looks at immediate concrete steps that institutions can take, it also grapples with the broader structural conditions that keep the status quo in place. These include the lack of financial resources to support this work, such as incentives for administrative and academic leaders who are already pulled in many directions, the need to coordinate and fund new data and technology infrastructure to scale to ensure interoperability between institutions, and the need for technical assistance and support from the regulatory triad, for example in areas such as guidance for the use of artificial intelligence.

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

While many questions still loom on the horizon, we look forward to learning alongside the LEARN Commission as it continues its work through 2025. We invite you to join us on this learning journey by subscribe receive periodic updates on the work of the commission.