Expanding on Phenomenological Research Findings on Adult Learners’ Experiences with the Portfolio Process

This study was conducted to identify the essence of the portfolio process, a form of prior learning assessment, as experienced and described by adult learners. The findings to be presented focus on the participants’ experiences with portfolios that provided them with a significant sense of validation. They described experiencing validation and an increase in the sense of worth of their prior learning, skills, and work in relation to their portfolio development. Introduction While much of the research literature on Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) to date seems to draw on transformative learning theory for a conceptual base (Burris, 1997; Kolb, 1984; Michelson & Mandell, 2004; Remington, 2004; Stevens, Gerber, & Hendra, 2010) other literature connects PLA to feminist (Michelson, 1996), emancipatory (Michelson, 1999), and social frameworks (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Previous research using a phenomenological foundation has been conducted using varying methodologies and differing in scope, depth, and focus. Kent (1996) focused on user perception of efficiency of e-portfolio system; Smith (2002), used network sampling across multiple institutions granting credit for PLA at various levels (e.g. vocational-based credit, educational course credit, and etc.); and Angel (2008), focused on experiences of students receiving PLA credit for vocational and technical skills in community college settings in Canada. This study drew from each of these theoretical perspectives or others, as appropriate to better understand and interpret the stories of the adult learners studied. The use of phenomenological interviews enabled the researcher to delve deeper into the topic by allowing participants the opportunity to share their stories and experiences with portfolios that sought to understand participants’ experiences without a pre-determined theoretical frame. As posited by Michelson and Mandell (2004), “PLA announces the possibility of access, second chances, improvisation, and know-how as part of the educational field” (p.10). Accordingly, this study aimed to provide access to student-centered experiences with PLA, specifically the portfolio development process. Demonstration of prior experiential learning via reflection, documentation, categorization, synthesis and explanation allows adult learners the most wide-ranging options for prior learning assessment. Portfolio development offers students the potential to showcase their entire catalog of experiences, in areas those experiences meet or exceed college-level equivalence, toward academic credit. This study allowed the researcher direct access to participants and attempted to elicit a greater understanding of how the portfolio form of PLA is currently used, how it might be used, and how participants’ experiences with the portfolio process allowed new learning to occur as an outgrowth of reflecting on their prior learning as a part of the portfolio development process. By offering insight into how the portfolio process is perceived by the participants, this research may suggest strategies for improvements in the implementation of portfolio-based prior learning assessment programs. As such, this research should contribute to practices in the fields of adult learning, PLA, and portfolio development in higher education. Purpose of Study The focus of this in-depth qualitative phenomenological study explored the experiences with the portfolio form of prior learning assessment of nine participants. The emphasis of this study was on the meaning made by the participants as it pertained to the essence of the phenomenon and the additional meaning deciphered from the individual and collective participant responses. The guiding research questions for this study were: How do participants perceive their learning experiences with the effort to earn college credit through the portfolio development process and how do participants make sense of the process of explicating their prior experiential learning as a part of the portfolio process? Accordingly, a series of in-person interviews were conducted with each participant to elicit their reflections on the learning associated with their experiences with portfolios. Research Design A three-tiered interview process allowed me to uncover a breadth of information about the phenomenon that would not have otherwise been feasible. While I reviewed other sources of data, including participants’ learning essays and other portfolio related artifacts, those resources did not add substantially to the findings of this study. The first interview captured a brief life history from each participant, beginning at adulthood up to the point they decided to pursue the portfolio form of PLA. Those interviews provided insight into the nine participants’ motivations for pursuing their formal education goals and how those goals were connected to their decision to attempt to earn credit via the portfolio. The second interview explored the participants’ experiences with the portfolio process. Participants further described their motivations for pursuing portfolio credits and discussed the details of each aspect of portfolios from their perspective as adult learners. The researcher was able to deduce apparent links to previous research and adult learning theories from those valuable insights. The third interview more thoroughly examined any new meaning-making and learning gained by the participants during their experiences with the development process. The breadth of information and the depth of experiences captured in the responses of the third interview were critical in the discovery of the essence of the phenomenon of this study. The three-tiered semi-structured interview design provided the researcher and the participants the opportunity to progressively uncover the learning and the process of constructing that new learning involved in portfolios. Theoretical Perspective Successful portfolios for college credit often require adult learners to effectively demonstrate their tacit knowledge in an explicit manner. Accordingly, the concept of tacit knowledge, as defined by Polanyi (2005), provides a foundational theoretical framework for this study relevant to the process by which students uncover and make explicit their prior, often unconscious, knowledge. Through documentation and analysis of the experiences of participants, the study yielded greater insight into the essence of this form of PLA. In-depth phenomenological interviews were conducted in order to capture a better sense of the meaning participants make of their experiences of the experiences. Findings Assessment is the culminating phase of the portfolio process. A student’s ability to demonstrate prior learning in a portfolio, as it relates to specific course objectives, is evaluated for potential course credit. However, the findings indicated a deeper sense of validation was experienced by the participants of this study. They described feeling an increase in their selfesteem and developing a more positive lens through which they viewed themselves. The participants expressed a sense of worth in regard to their prior learning that derived from reflecting on their life learning experiences. The recognition of additional value and new meaning associated with the clearer perspective from which they were able to frame their experiences proved to be rewarding for the participants. The increase in self-esteem, the greater appreciation for life choices and experiences, and the deeply felt sense of validation participants described experiencing with their portfolios, provide for a holistically positive journey of the exploration and demonstration of their prior