PLA Q&A: Mark Gallupe and Paul Zakos

It all started yesterday and wrapped up this morning: the PLA pre-conference workshops. More than a presentation, with opportunities for a bit more in-depth focus on participants' own professional use -- and potential use -- of the prior learning assessment process, the pre-conference workshops are a must, especially for those new to PLA.

Participants had three workshops to choose from. On the main conference floor, 2nd floor here at the Ramada Inn, Mark Gallupe of Loyalist College and Paul Zakos of FNTI, along with Glen Brouwer of Sunrise Adult Learning Centres, met with us after their group session called "Becoming an Adult Learner Friendly Institution: How to Get Started."



FNTI: Tell us a little about yourself.

Mark: I'm program coordinator for the SSW (social service worker) program at Loyalist College. I've been there 22 years.

Paul: I've been at FNTI since its inception 25 years ago, and I've organized this conference every year since the first one 21 years ago.

FNTI: So you've both been to the PLA conference before?

Paul: (laughs)

Mark: I've been to every single one.

FNTI: What brings you back every year?

Mark: It's the inspiration to keep doing this work. I get that inspiration from the First Nations people, from the people who organize and run the conference and just from FNTI's approach to prior learning assessment and recognition. That's been a big thing for me.

FNTI: What has your workshop entailed?

Paul: We talked about the ALFI (Adult Learner Focused Institution) self-evaluation study we conducted to test the transferability of the eight identified priciples of best practice for serving adult learners in a Canadian context. (For more information about that study, see this link).

We were sharing, talking about the history, background of the study, what the process is. The participants here today represent a variety of organizations, but all work with adults. We have a video that Glen developed, interviewing learners and faculty around the tools and how it helped them. He showed that this morning, and then we had them practice using the tool by using one or two of the principles and doing an assessment of their organizations.