douglas
college

 

 

 

 

Beverley Miller
says England is
in the middle of
a "quiet
revolution."

 

 

Credit for experience

A new report by Beverley Miller examines
England’s experience in giving credits where

credits are due

t every recent fall and spring
ceremony, a podium speaker
reminds Douglas College
graduates they are life-long
learners, destined to evolve
through four or five jobs
and to seek training and re-
training. The time seems right, then, for
Assessment of Prior Experiential
Learning (APEL). APEL is the concept
that learners should receive educational
credits for work and life experience which
can be demonstrated to meet course
objectives.
In a new report, Beverley Miller,

Director of Child, Family and
Community Studies, spells out the case
for APEL development and makes a
number of recommendations on how to
move forward. Miller’s report, called
Learning from the English Experience,
was prepared following five months of
study based in Leicester, England.

She begins by pointing out that
educators, policy makers, and employers
today face the double-edged challenge
of equipping the work force with greater
skills and knowledge needed for global

Credit continued on page 8

Zz

UVic to accredit courses

Building partnerships

IMS profile
INside Zone

2

3

September sweet for Julia 6
7

12

THE DOUGLAS COLLEGE NEWSLETTER WM OCTOBER 1994

 

Stolen
research
recovered

The rude awakening has a happy ending.

After stories about her stolen research
appeared in Lower Mainland newspapers,
Douglas College psychology instructor
Wilma Marshall has recovered her academic
material.

The trouble started on September 19
when Marshall, travelling to the Lower
Mainland from her home in Michigan,
awoke to find the U-Haul containing most
of her possessions stolen from a Surrey
motel parking lot.

Those possessions included research
from years of work at Wayne State
University which Marshall was preparing to
publish. The data investigated techniques to
aid women dealing with post-partum
depression and menopause. Other research
looked into the effects of working with
vibration, such as that created by chainsaws
and jackhamers.

“There’s no silver lining in all this,”
Marshall told the INside at the time of the
theft, “but I have to remember it’s not the
sinking of the Titanic either.”

Fortunately, Marshall’s stoic outlook
was rewarded. News of the theft was carried
in the Province and Surrey Now
newspapers. That prompted someone to call
the police.

“Based on a tip we went to a house and
recovered everything except for her
computer and a bed. We then brought all
the material back to our station and helped
Wilma load it up,” said Surrey RCMP
Corporal Cathy Robertson.

Robertson added police were still
investigating the case but had not yet laid
criminal charges. ll