Book Review: In from the Margins: Adult Education, Work and Civil Society. Antikainen, Ari, Harinen, Päivi and Torres, Carlos Alberto (eds.), 2006 Sense Publishers, ISBN 978-90-77874-46-2

This book comprises a collection of papers drawn from a conference in the University of Joensuu, Finland in May 2005. The objective of the conference was to examine issues of exclusion/inclusion and to explore the nature of participation and non-participation in adult education in a globalised w^orld. The collection gives readers a critical and thoughtful analysis on a selection of topics in the field. The articles are arranged in four parts using headings that represent contemporary topics of concern to adult educators. This gives the book a coherent structure whereby the reader may dip in and out of each part depending on their interests. How^ever as the first part, 'Critical perspectives' provides a useful context for the book thus it is a good place to begin

Building a RPL Practioner Network 287 Reflections and considerations from the Irish perspective

This paper outlines the author’s reflections of developing an RPL practitioner network in Ireland. The purpose of the network is to inform and enhance the discussions surrounding RPL nationally by bringing practitioners together in a community of practice. The paper discusses some of the key reflections the authors have from building a RPL practitioner network in Ireland with a top down and bottom up approach for all practitioners across all sectors

Book Review: In from the Margins: Adult Education, Work and Civil Society. Antikainen, Ari, Harinen, Päivi and Torres, Carlos Alberto (eds.), 2006 Sense Publishers, ISBN 978-90-77874-46-2

This book comprises a collection of papers drawn from a conference in the University of Joensuu, Finland in May 2005. The objective of the conference was to examine issues of exclusion/inclusion and to explore the nature of participation and non-participation in adult education in a globalised w^orld. The collection gives readers a critical and thoughtful analysis on a selection of topics in the field. The articles are arranged in four parts using headings that represent contemporary topics of concern to adult educators. This gives the book a coherent structure whereby the reader may dip in and out of each part depending on their interests. How^ever as the first part, 'Critical perspectives' provides a useful context for the book thus it is a good place to begin

Validation of Non-formal Adult Education Courses: A New Validation Function for Higher Education Institutes in Europe

One of the outputs from the REACTION project was the development of a model for the validation of nonformal adult education courses. HEIs and universities across Europe, have traditionally been concerned with the validation of formal education programmes only, thus the model proposed by the partners challenges them to employ a new validation function for non-formal courses. This paper argues that this new function will pose many challenges for the HEIs but it further argues that if the model is implemented, there are numerous benefits to be had for individuals and for HEIs

Building a RPL Practioner Network 287 Reflections and considerations from the Irish perspective

This paper outlines the author’s reflections of developing an RPL practitioner network in Ireland. The purpose of the network is to inform and enhance the discussions surrounding RPL nationally by bringing practitioners together in a community of practice. The paper discusses some of the key reflections the authors have from building a RPL practitioner network in Ireland with a top down and bottom up approach for all practitioners across all sectors

Re-cognising RPL – A Deleuzian enquiry into policy and practice of Recognition of Prior Learning

This enquiry addresses a gap in the literature in relation to the conceptual development of Recognition of Prior Learning. Generally, research in RPL comprises large inventories and audits of practice as this enquiry shows. Few qualitative studies are available and there is a dearth of theoretical development in the field. This thesis explores perspectives of claimants and university managers/practitioners to explicate the issues at stake and explore the value of RPL in education. Using the practical philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (DG), the conceptualization of RPL is explored in policy and practice and their concepts are employed to reimagine RPL for learning, and as pedagogy, in adult university education. A hybrid method of grounded and rhizomatic theory informs the research approach. This involves searching the complex and diffuse territory of RPL to seek affirmative options for RPL theory and practice. Three case studies illustrate how different approaches to RPL offer different outcomes and were built on vague conceptualizations. In one setting, fifteen years of RPL claimant records is collated and analysed. Findings show that up to 70% of adult students in the case study had prior learning and gained exemptions. The data further indicates that RPL did not increase a student’s chances of completing a degree. This contradicts findings from international research. The research also challenges fears expressed by university managers that RPL poses a risk to academic standards, as claimants may not have foundational knowledge to succeed in university. The data indicates, however, that on the contrary, claimants have extensive prior learning; much of it accredited at levels 6 and 7 and are thus college ready. A model of learner directed RPL, used in another setting, is explored and theorized. This creative approach seamlessly integrates prior learning with new learning and thereby advances knowledge for the learner. The impact of the approach on the learner and learning is significant and offers new possibilities for RPL in education. It moves it on from the narrow purpose of reducing time in education and enhancing skills for employment. Accounts from participants in this enquiry show that they go to college to learn and they prize RPL most when it extends their knowledge – a dimension of RPL neglected in the literature. The thesis concludes with some affirmative options for re-cognising RPL in adult education

Re-cognising RPL – A Deleuzian enquiry into policy and practice of Recognition of Prior Learning

This enquiry addresses a gap in the literature in relation to the conceptual development of Recognition of Prior Learning. Generally, research in RPL comprises large inventories and audits of practice as this enquiry shows. Few qualitative studies are available and there is a dearth of theoretical development in the field. This thesis explores perspectives of claimants and university managers/practitioners to explicate the issues at stake and explore the value of RPL in education. Using the practical philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (DG), the conceptualization of RPL is explored in policy and practice and their concepts are employed to reimagine RPL for learning, and as pedagogy, in adult university education. A hybrid method of grounded and rhizomatic theory informs the research approach. This involves searching the complex and diffuse territory of RPL to seek affirmative options for RPL theory and practice. Three case studies illustrate how different approaches to RPL offer different outcomes and were built on vague conceptualizations. In one setting, fifteen years of RPL claimant records is collated and analysed. Findings show that up to 70% of adult students in the case study had prior learning and gained exemptions. The data further indicates that RPL did not increase a student’s chances of completing a degree. This contradicts findings from international research. The research also challenges fears expressed by university managers that RPL poses a risk to academic standards, as claimants may not have foundational knowledge to succeed in university. The data indicates, however, that on the contrary, claimants have extensive prior learning; much of it accredited at levels 6 and 7 and are thus college ready. A model of learner directed RPL, used in another setting, is explored and theorized. This creative approach seamlessly integrates prior learning with new learning and thereby advances knowledge for the learner. The impact of the approach on the learner and learning is significant and offers new possibilities for RPL in education. It moves it on from the narrow purpose of reducing time in education and enhancing skills for employment. Accounts from participants in this enquiry show that they go to college to learn and they prize RPL most when it extends their knowledge – a dimension of RPL neglected in the literature. The thesis concludes with some affirmative options for re-cognising RPL in adult education

Troubled Worlds: A Course Syllabus about Information Work and the Anthropocene

The goal of this syllabus is to interrogate the material, and socioeconomic processes which underpin our everyday information work. In particular, we examine the relationships developing between contemporary information practices and what problematically gets configured as “nature”—that messy world of non-human entanglements that often exists beyond the purview of innovation work, whether digital software development or industrial engineering. Much recent work on the environmental conditions of computing has sought to break down technology-nature dualisms in order to expose the implication of information technology in broader social and material ecologies. Library and information professionals and researchers are well poised to deepen this inquiry by presenting alternative nature-technology epistemologies grounded in longstanding analyses of information resources and their consumption. The “Troubled Worlds” syllabus starts with a discussion of concerns most obviously germane to the work of most library and information science professionals: practices at the intersection of structuring information and computing. Building on this attention, we turn to humanistic approaches to thinking through the era of dominant human activities widely known as the “Anthropocene” by introducing poetic, artistic, and activist lenses. We explore how artistic objects representing an increasingly troubled natural world raise awareness of the challenges facing it, as well as how they may incorporate and reshape information for aesthetic ends. We then look to questions of disability justice and how it works in blended built and natural spaces as well as the many different ways in which bodies respond to the toxic environments produced by information technologies. We next consider the newer design approaches to library and information research, specifically asking how design perspectives on digital information objects get inscribed in the Anthropocene. Lastly, we consider paradigms of repair and making and analyze the different valences through which information researchers and professionals categorize and contextualize what is possible with them. This compilation does not provide a comprehensive review of the literature on the environment within the information fields. Instead, it extends this literature to promote experimental research and practice. The modules construct an interdisciplinary and provisional path through the related literature in a form that we hope may be continually adjusted, rearranged, and augmented. Pre-print first published online 03/15/202

Blended to Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Practice

A synergetic partnership of the Maynooth University Department of Adult and Community Education and the Further Education Support Services identified an educational need among Further Education and Training (FET) staff. The outcome was a jointly developed and delivered Level 9 blended learning Postgraduate Certificate in Programme Design and Validation in Further Education and Training (PGPDV). The delivery of the pilot course was significantly challenged by COVID-19’s sudden arrival in March 2020, forcing the course fully online. This article gathers feedback on lessons learned and offers practical steps to guide adult educators in pivoting courses for online delivery