The Development of Professional Standards of Practice and the Assessment of Prior Learning of Mid-Career Journalists in Southern Africa by Elizabethtown College and the Polytechnic of NamibiaÕs Pilot Project ÒButterflyÓ
Tamara L. Gillis, Ed.D., ABC Robert C. Moore, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Communications Professor of Communications
Elizabethtown College Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
Association for the Study of Evaluation in Education
in Southern Africa
Biannual International Conference
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
26 September 2000 – 29 September 2000
The Development of
Professional Standards of Practice and the Assessment of Prior Learning of
Mid-Career Journalists in Southern Africa by Elizabethtown College and the
Polytechnic of NamibiaÕs Pilot Project ÒButterflyÓ
Tamara L. Gillis, Ed.D., ABC, Assistant Professor of
Communications and Robert C. Moore, Ed.D., Professor of Communications, Elizabethtown
College , Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania,
17022-2298 USA gillistl at etown dot edu
moorerc at etown dot edu
ABSTRACT
This paper reviews a pilot project based on a model of
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
The authors constructed the program as an experiment in the development
of professional standards of knowledge and practice and the application of them
to practitioners with significant lifelong learning but no formal education.
Assessment of the participants was based upon
standards of competence for entry level journalists. The participants were required to meet all of the standards
through three different activities:
¥A portfolio, based upon their prior learning was submitted to a panel of assessors. It included documentation of the learning and experience as well as samples of work.
¥A field experience was held for observation of the participants in the performance of their duties.
¥ In an interview, the panel of assessors reviewed the portfolio, the observation, and sought additional information regarding the standards that was not otherwise presented.
Successful
participants were issued a certificate as Media Practitioners and permitted
enrollment and possible advance placement in the diploma or degree program of
the Polytechnic.
For decades, and increasingly so in recent years,
universities have focused on programs of continuing education and the adult
learner. These efforts essentially
evolved as an answer for displaced employees wanting to embark on a new career,
women in greater numbers entering the workforce rather than staying home solely
as housewives or mothers, or the demand of a bulging post-war population
clamoring for challenges and personal or professional career growth. These are a few examples of the many
reasons for program growth in what is sometimes called non-traditional
education because in addition to learners who are often not of traditional
university age, the programs have also adopted unique approaches to teaching
and learning.
Distance education often supplemented campus-based learning
and in recent years has become a sole means of offering courses and even
degrees. The flexibility of time
shifting, geography and distance, and compatibility with concurrent demands of
home, family, or current employment has made distance education a successful
delivery system of learning for non-traditional students. (Krendl, 1999; Race,
1998.)
In 1998, Gillis and Moore showed how a course in
distance education could be constructed and operated between Elizabethtown
College (Pennsylvania) and the American Cultural Center in Mbabane, Swaziland.
(Gillis & Moore, 1999a) A
highly successful course in community journalism, learners made use of Internet
audio/video technology to complete discussions, lectures and assignments in
preparation for a comprehensive field experience to complete the course. Demands on the participants moved well
beyond simple knowledge and recall and, by the end of the course, had
challenged participants to apply, analyze and individually perform in the
completion of final projects.
As was the case in simple continuing education
programs, Gillis and Moore found from their many involvements, a clamoring for
further and more comprehensive educational opportunities. Participants wanted to be able to
pursue diplomas or degrees in journalism in the United States. African economies, and those of most
developing nations, are such that the expense of formal education in the United
States is prohibitive. In fact, a
1987 program to do just that by Elizabethtown College, terminated in 1998 due
to significant declines in enrollment because of lack of funding. Distance education was seen as a
possible answer.
The practice of journalism — the skills that
must be acquired and the high level of performance expected — does not
lend every course or topic to a distance learning mode. While some courses could certainly be
delivered that way, it was determined that a bi-national partnership be
established to develop a program of this nature. Elizabethtown College and the Polytechnic of Namibia have
entered into discussions to create such a program. In advance of commitments, a pilot project (Project
Butterfly) to study the feasibility of such an undertaking was created.
This paper will describe the challenges of lifelong
learning and the recognition of prior learning as well as the specific
operation and outcomes of Project Butterfly, the jointly developed education
and assessment project of Elizabethtown College of Pennsylvania and the
Polytechnic of Namibia in Windhoek.
Lifelong Learning and Sub-Saharan Africa
Journalists in developing countries, certainly in
Africa, seldom are educationally prepared for their positions. Generally school leavers
[1]
2, these untrained people learn nearly
everything on the job. Often, they
attend seminars or workshops, they ply their craft with daily and incremental
improvements. They are seldom
given the opportunities for formal education in the profession. They often find
themselves locked into their jobs while a few younger and more fortunate
individuals earn diplomas and degrees and pass them by-through no fault of
their own.
Education, in general, is often not a high priority in
the developing world. Businesses,
economies, and governments flounder because the workforce is narrowly trained
and under educated.
Recent efforts in South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia
— to mention a few — are placing new emphasis on the plight of the
workforce and the need for education.
The basis for these movements is that in the performance of one's job,
and over a lifetime, individuals have learned — and all learning is
valuable and can be measured.
Through a sophisticated program, the learning of an
individual throughout their life span can be matched to those educational
expectations for a particular position.
Areas identified as strengths can be rewarded. Those that are weak or missing can be pursued through
further learning. Ultimately, the goal is a well-rounded, educated
professional.
Recognition of Prior Learning
If Elizabethtown College and the Polytechnic of Namibia
were going to be successful in enrolling participants in their diploma and
degree program, then many of the likely candidates should come from the ranks
of practicing journalists who do not have the necessary credentials to move
further through the profession.
Yet, the institutions could not ask every participant,
some with 10 or more years of experience, to take every course. Much of the information or skills they
would take in course work may already be known or perhaps mastered by the
participants. Instead, it was
important to find a method to systematically ascertain what knowledge and
skills were already possessed, recognize that learning as valid, and give admittance to
participants and perhaps advanced placement in a curriculum of study. Under normal circumstances, these
practitioners might be prohibited from even attending university if they did
not have the proper entrance requirements.
What Elizabethtown College and the Polytechnic of
Namibia were embarking on was a process of recognition of prior learning.
According to the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL, 1999):
Prior learning assessment (PLA) helps individuals
receive credit for the learning they have achieved from experience. PLA is a
process of defining, documenting, measuring, evaluating and granting credit for
learning acquired through experience. PLA assists adult learners by:
¥validating
the worth of learning they have achieved on their own
¥demonstrating to them what they need to learn in order to achieve their personal, career or academic goals
¥shortening
the time necessary to earn a college or university credential
¥saving
them money by reducing the number of courses they need to take
¥enhancing their pride and self-esteem for what they have accomplished as learners
¥making
them aware of learning as a lifelong process.
Before an individualÕs prior learning can be assessed
for recognition, it is clear that a determination must be made as to what
learning is being sought in the exercise.
Certainly, much of what is learned on the job can be valuable —
but on what basis?
Prior Learning Assessment
Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is an evaluation
process that holds a person's prior or lifelong learning up to professional
standards or expectations and if deemed satisfactory is recognized as meeting
one or more desired professional standards. Sometime this recognition is accompanied by university
course credit. Often, the
recognition allows for advanced placement of an individual in a course of
study. (Lamdin, 1992.)
Very often, the standards or knowledge basis for a PLA
program are university courses and their outcomes. Such a scheme easily allows for admittance or advanced
placement. But, in the situation
of mid-career professionals with years of on the job experience and often no
formal university learning, the standards to which they are held must be
dependent on the profession rather than upon discrete courses.
The assessment of the participants may be based upon
professional standards seen as universal statements of competence for entry
level journalists. The
participants in this exercise were required to satisfactorily meet all of the
standards.
The meeting of the standards would be determined
through three different activities for the participants.
1. Perhaps
the most frequently used form of PLA, a portfolio of evidence (Wolfson, 1996;
Sansregret, 1984; Orlik, 1994.), based upon their prior learning would be
submitted to a panel of assessors.
The portfolio must include full documentation of the learning and the
professional experience relevant to each standard. Examples of work and verifications must be included.
2. During a
contact session when all participants and the panel of assessors would be
present, a field experience would be held for the purpose of observation of the
participants in the performance of their duties as media professionals. The
advantage of this assessment element was that participants could demonstrate
their mastery of several different standards at one time. Assessors were able
to look for the utilization of cognitive, affective and psychomotor expertise
while generally drawing conclusions as to the competence of the practice
(Moore, 1999; Sansregret, 1987.).
3. Lastly,
in a private interview (Sansregret, 1984) with each participant, the panel of
assessors would review the portfolio, the observation, and seek additional
information regarding the standards that was not otherwise presented.
In private deliberation, the panel of assessors of the Namibian Qualifications Authority, the newly formed national qualifications authority (similar to the systems of qualifications assessment already in place in such countries as Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa), reviewed all of the materials against every standard and its criteria. Successful evaluations were forwarded to a Board of Accreditation for awarding of the Certificate as Practitioner in Media Technology.
The certificate, endorsed by Elizabethtown College and
the Polytechnic of Namibia, recognizes that, after an intensive program of
assessment, the lifelong learning of the individual meets all of the basic
standards of the profession. As
such, the journalist has an endorsed recognition of ability and knowledge. The practical applicability of the
certificate is that a benchmark has been established, as has been a process,
which will allow the journalist entry into the Polytechnic of Namibia's diploma
or degree program in Media Technology.
Additional reviews by the specific faculty will advance place the applicant
in the curriculum. The credential
will also be recognized for admittance by Elizabethtown College and perhaps by
other tertiary educational institutions. The certificates may also may serve as
a recognition of the individualÕs expertise and improve future employment
opportunities (Sansregret, 1987).
PROJECT BUTTERFLY
[2]
Project Butterfly was conceived as a pilot project
with the aim to further develop media personnel in southern Africa and, in
particular, Namibia by seeking to establish standards of knowledge and practice
among mid-career journalists and media professionals, as well as a standard
means for measuring or assessing that knowledge.
The first program of its type among tertiary
institutions in the region, the Polytechnic of Namibia in association with
Elizabethtown College of Pennsylvania, offered a certificate recognizing the
prior learning and expertise of the participants who met all of the standards
set forth by the program. Successful participants may use the certificate to
gain admittance to a diploma or degree program at the Polytechnic of Namibia
beginning in the year 2000. The certificate will make it possible for the
learning achievements of participants in this program to be nationally
recognized by the Namibian Qualifications Authority
[3]
.
It was also hoped that this exercise would result in its standards being used
as input to the various formal standards setting processes currently being
undertaken by educational and professional bodies in Namibia and many of the
countries in the southern Africa region.
Structure and Operation
The project was based on the concept of Recognition of
Prior Learning (RPL). That is, mid-career journalists, in the absence of an
educational credential like a diploma or degree, will be able to be recognized
for past learning of knowledge, skills, and experience which will allow for
identification of areas of needed training, future education and mobility in
their chosen career path.
Ten journalists representing the areas of radio,
television, newspapers, independent/freelance media and public relations
comprised the class of participants for Project Butterfly. Of these ten
participants: two were women and eight were men; six regularly reported from
Namibia, while the remaining four regularly reported from South Africa. They
represented four different countries and most were from different tribal
heritage.
The assessment of the participants was made against
standards and criteria (Exhibit 1) set by the program. Based on portfolio
assessment of documentation and evidence (Exhibit 2), participants were
required to take part in an observation exercise as well as an assessment
interview. Successful evaluation of all standards had to be met order for the
certificate to be awarded.
Project Butterfly consisted of four main components.
Each are discussed below and included two contact sessions, an Internet-enabled
course of study, a field experience, and the assessment process.
The First Contact Session
Project Butterfly included two contact sessions with
the participants in Windhoek, Namibia. During the initial contact session, held
July 4-9, 1999, participants were introduced to the professional standards,
methods of assessment, development of a portfolio of evidence, and the process
of recognition of prior learning. Participants also were introduced to the
concept of community journalism, also known as public journalism or civic
journalism. Dr. Robert C. Moore,
professor of communications at Elizabethtown College, conducted a workshop to
introduce this concept that included a discussion as well as a number of videos
produced by the Pew Center for Civic Journalism.
Internet Enabled Course Content
To expand on the introductory lecture on community
journalism provided during the first contact session and to provide a
controlled experience for the assessment process, participants were engaged in
a ten week exploration of community journalism
[4]
through a series of lecture manuscripts. These manuscripts were provided to
most of the participants through the use of a project web site
(www.etown.edu/com/namibia) and through e-mail. When participants could not
receive these materials by these means, materials were faxed to them by the
project staff at the Polytechnic of Namibia.
These Internet-enabled course materials included five
lecture manuscripts. These manuscripts set out the process of community
journalism for the participants in simple segments that they could critically
review and implement in their daily work as journalists while preparing for the
assessment process to come in the second contact session. Each manuscript was
accompanied by discussion questions to help the participants focus their work
in community journalism. After each lecture was released, participants
discussed the materials through group e-mails. These lectures and electronic
discussions set the foundation for the field experience scheduled for the
second contact session.
The Second Contact Session
Upon arrival in Windhoek for the second contact
session (September 27, 1999 to October 6, 1999), participants provided the
Namibian Qualification Authority panel of assessors with a portfolio of
evidence for their review. These portfolios included evidence to satisfy the
criteria originally developed for the project by the NQA and members of Project
Butterfly. These portfolios included sample broadcast tapes as well as written
samples of work and affidavits to secure the credibility of the work. The panel
of assessors reviewed the portfolios while the participants engaged in
preparatory workshops for the community journalism field experience.
Next, the participants reviewed the concept of
community journalism and developed news topics and news teams for the field
experience. The participants were divided into three groups. Each group was
composed of broadcast and print journalists so that each group could produce
news products for all three media: radio, television and print. The topics that
the participants chose for their community journalism field experience included
hunger and natural resources; crime and its effects on the community; and AIDS
and health care.
The community journalism field experience included a
day of preparatory workshops in which the participants declared their subject
matter, developed news gathering plans, set up interviews and developed a work
schedule for the two days to follow. During the field experience, the
participants gathered news through traditional means from local authorities,
local officials, and local community residents. After gathering the materials
for their news stories, the next two days were consumed with the production of
the broadcast and print news products. Participants also prepare to present
their work to the Project Butterfly staff and the NQA panel of assessors.
In addition to providing the participants with
practical learning in carrying out the community journalism project, this
experience served as a component in the assessment of prior learning of the
participants.
Members of the assessment panel from the NQA observed
the participants as they performed news gathering activities on October 1,
1999, at a number of locations within the vicinity of Windhoek. Members of the
assessment panel observed the journalists conducting interviews, discussing
news elements, and making judgements as to what elements should be included in
their individual news stories.
Assessment
From the observations of the participants in the field
experience, the review of the participantsÕ portfolios of evidence, the review
of the presentations made by participants of their news products (print, radio
and television), and individual interviews, the panel of assessors judged the
competencies and abilities of the journalists as professional media
practitioners.
The participants presented their news stories to the
Project Butterfly staff and the NQA panel of assessors at a special meeting.
Through these presentations, the participants were given another forum for
displaying their expertise as media professionals as they explained the process
their used in producing their work.
Lastly, the panel of assessors were given the
opportunity to interview each of the participants individually to assess their
knowledge and understanding the role and responsibilities as a media
professional. These interviews were conducted by two assessors for each
participant and lasted approximately 30 minutes. The assessors used this
opportunity to ask the participants questions that allowed the journalists to
further explain their work as media professionals. After reviewing portfolios,
the field observations and the project presentations, the assessors used the
interview process to focus their attention on standards not completely
addressed in other areas of the assessment process.
Deliberations
Having concluded the formal program activities that supplied
information to the assessors, a period of intense deliberation was undertaken.
Comparing all of the evidence collected to the criteria of every standard, the
assessors had to verify that each participant had satisfactorily documented the
criteria and thus met every standard.
In concluding the assessment phase of the project, the
NQA panel of assessors reported to the Project Butterfly Board of Accreditation
that all ten participants had met the criteria set forth for this assessment of
RPL.
A comprehensive report was made by Moore, chair of the
panel of assessors, to the Project Butterfly Board of Accreditation. This Board, made up of academics, media
professionals, representatives of the Polytechnic of Namibia and of
Elizabethtown College, was chaired by Professor Jos Grobbelaar retired Deputy
Chief Executive of the South African Universities' Vice-Chancellors'
Association, SAUVCA.
The Board of Accreditation was charged with the
responsibility to determine that the process and the procedure of the exercise
was well founded and comprehensive.
Additionally, they were to endorse that the deliberations of the panel
of assessors were fair and complete.
The vote of the Board of Accreditation was later
presented to the Executive Committee of the Senate of the Polytechnic of
Namibia, (SENEX) which then certified the findings and made possible the
awarding of certificates.
Elizabethtown College was closely involved in the
formulation of the pilot project and was satisfied that the process and
procedures had met its expectations.
Moore and Gillis were charged by the institution to verify the academic
integrity of the review by the panel and the Board and then certify that the
academic requirements of the Polytechnic would meet the requirements of Elizabethtown
College.
Concluding the Project
All ten participants were judged to have met all of
the standards of the project by the panel of assessors. The Board of Accreditation unanimously
accepted the recommendation of the panel after reviewing assessment sheets and
evaluations presented by the panel of assessors for each candidate.
The project concluded on October 6, 1999 with a
graduation ceremony at which time the ten participants were honored and awarded
the Certificate of Practitioners in Media Technology.
PROJECT PERFORMANCE, OUTCOMES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The three-fold strategy of the Recognition of Prior
Learning (portfolio, field observation, and interview) was reported to have
been effective in giving a comprehensive view of knowledge and ability of the
participants to the assessment panel.
The handbook developed to coach the participants in
the creation of the portfolio was also seen as helpful, as was the form given
to the standards.
The standards, however, were very complex in terms of
criteria. While the intent was to
create a measurable list of items that participants would address in
presentation of evidence, the result was an unwieldy list of descriptors that
often tended to confuse participants weeks after the first contact session.
The standards were written by academics and members of
the media, some from the region, all with substantial African experience. However, the standards were not written
with members of the NQA and as a result, while they were refined to conform to
the NQA format, the panel of assessors were not intimately familiar with the
content or intent of the wording.
To assist the participants in the organizing of the
required documentation and evidence for each of the criteria, it was determined
that five elements had to be present in the portfolio for every criteria in the
standards (Definition, Evidence,
Statement of Relevance, Discussion and Verification.) These elements often had
overlap and close association that could not be easily compartmentalized in
terms of discussion and evidence.
The community journalism instruction (during the
contact sessions and on the Internet) was evaluated as very valuable in terms
giving the participants new perspective on their profession and its
practices. In exit evaluations, the
journalists saw the actual field experience as unique and valuable in that the
new approaches learned could actually be practiced. News products from each of the teams were generally high
quality reports and productions that could be used by the respective employers
at the conclusion of the project.
A problem that was created by the desire of the
project to include reporting in all media (radio, television and print) forced
project staff to assign print or broadcast roles to participants that may have
been different than the roles in which they were currently employed. No one was asked to perform in a role
that they had not previously held or previously performed. However, by not having them to engage
in their primary area of current responsibility for the field experience could
have compromised the quality of some of the products.
The panel of assessors saw the field experience as
very enlightening and reacted quite positively to it. However, the experience uncovered for the course
facilitators a basic flaw in the project.
Since the NQA was in its infancy and there was actually no qualified
assessor pool to draw the panel from in the field of media, the assessors used
were unsure how to assess the media or the field experience. The assessors were instructed to view
the exercise from a consumer's point of view.
This lack of background on the part of the assessors
became more acute during the portfolio review and deliberation stage of the
project when their lack of professional knowledge and practice actually
encouraged them to accept information and performance that might not have been
accepted by seasoned professionals.
To replicate this project again, significant time must be allocated to
first training assessors specific to their area of responsibility. Content specialists cannot make up for
the deficiency of the assessors without the content background.
An additional problem area was in English
proficiency. The official language
of all of the countries was English.
All of the journalists were judged competent in the language, as were
the assessors. In most cases, the
level of proficiency was less than desired and both groups of individuals had
some difficulty with expression and interpretation.
Transportation logistics for the fieldwork were
adequate. Equipment and human
resource support logistics were a failure. Promised equipment did not materialize. Support staff did not perform as
promised. Projects took much
longer to complete, quality was compromised, and equipment was shared and rented
at the last minute to make up for the breech of promises. Consequently, the
field experience component of the project was expensive. For the future, the
entire project should be recast as a packaged program which may include the
Internet education component, the portfolio review, and the interviews.
CONCLUSION
Project Butterfly affirms the principle of lifelong
learning and the importance of knowledge that cannot be acquired in the
classroom. According to Tara
Elyssa, dean of the School of Communication, Secretarial and Legal Studies,
Project Butterfly will serve as a model for other RPL programs (not only
journalism) and can provide the planning foundation for the new Media
Technology program at the Polytechnic of Namibia currently under development at
the institution. The project model also provides a framework for the new NQA.
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[1]
. The
authors of this paper served as faculty in developing and delivering this
project and acknowledge the support and cooperation of the following
institutions in making this program a success: Elizabethtown College of
Pennsylvania and the Polytechnic of Namibia in Windhoek, Namibia.
Additional
details about this project may be found at the project website: www.etown.edu/com/namibia.
2.
School leavers are those
individuals who leave the formal education system after achieving the O levels
under the Cambridge system. They may be considered to have high school
equivalency but generally not qualifications to attend tertiary institutions.
3.
Project Butterfly was so
named by the Polytechnic of Namibia and the African Lifelong Learning
Initiative. The intent was to characterize both journalism and the countries of
the region as developmental. This project would build capacity in the
profession, in turn aiding national development, as both matured in the
development process.
4.
The Namibian
Qualifications Authority is a newly created body in Namibia whose charter
includes standardization of the practice of major professions in the country,
i.e., media professionals and teachers.
5. Community journalism
(also known as public journalism or civic journalism) asks journalists to
change the way they think about identifying news, gathering information for
news story development, and developing a publicÕs point of view in the news
story writing process. This process should bring closer journalists as citizens
with their fellow citizens in the community at large and in specific arenas
such as the government.
Public
journalism focuses on the community and the role of the journalist is a member
of that community as a partner with the people. It is grounded in the concept
that journalists from all media have a responsibility not just to report on
public issues, but to actively facilitate their debate and resolution. The
media can encourage active dialog on the issues without becoming involved in
the decision making. (Gillis & Moore, 1999.)