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.

Project Butterfly of Elizabethtown College and the Polytechnic of Namibia:

The Metamorphosis that is Learning across the Life Span for Journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa 1