Online and non-traditional colleges are the way of the future, especially for those who go back to college later in life. For me, it has allowed me to work full-time, while also having a large family and other responsibilities that would prevent me from attending scheduled, in-person classes. SNHU is a good option for some with their competency-based learning. I can see it being helpful when a person does not have the time to devote 2-4 years of time for college. SNHU’s GEM degree program has definitely helped a specific minority population. On their website, it states that the program is mostly refugee females, that work while in the program. Yvonne Simon explains why they developed the competency-based programs as, “We set out to develop a degree program that would increase access to higher education and reduce cost without reducing quality of the educational experience or the value of the degree.” This is the same reason other colleges have created similar programs.

The second article reminds of working with pharmacy interns. They are learning all the chemistry and “why’s” of pharmacy but have no practical experience. You must teach them the real-world application of what they have learned in college. They need to “transfer” what they have learned in college with the day-to-day actual process of the job. It makes for an interesting argument of whether college is more important or learning as you work.

I like how Michael Eraut’s article explains the transfer process as five inter-related stages:

1. The extraction of potentially relevant knowledge from the context(s) of its acquisition and previous use
2. Understanding the new situation, a process that often depends on informal social learning
3. Recognizing what knowledge and skills are relevant
4. Transforming them to fit the new situation
5. Integrating them with other knowledge and skills in order to think/act/ communicate in the new situation

Sources:

Eraut, Michael. Transfer of Knowlege Eraut – Researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael-Eraut/publication/237539394_Transfer_of_Knowledge_Between_Education_and_Workplace_Settings/links/553236320cf27acb0deac749/Transfer-of-Knowledge-Between-Education-and-Workplace-Settings.pdf.

Interview with Yvonne Simon – College for America, 1 Sept. 2021, https://www.onlineeducation.com/expert-interviews/interview-with-yvonne-simon-college-for-america.