Even as PLA has become a more regular feature of higher education; even as PLA and its myriad practices have been recognized as a legitimate way to acknowledge college-level learning regardless of the origins of that learning, the question of quality cannot disappear. Detractors have always questioned the academic viability of PLA, but even those of us who have championed its cause have to take responsibility for regularly grappling with the important issues of quality assurance and accountability that emerge in every aspect of our PLA work.

The second issue of PLAIO focuses on a range of issues, problems and questions concerning quality assurance and accountability.

• We encourage your feedback on our PLAIO articles. To view or post comments on individual pieces, please log in under the “User” box on the right or under the “Log In” tab above (where you can also create an account). Then, click on the article and view the comments, or select “Add Comment” to post your feedback.  Thank you!

Today, the terms “open learning” and “open educational resources” are often at the center of discussion, not only at education conferences but in public debate about the future of higher education. What do these terms mean; and, for our purposes at PLAIO, how are they connected to our interest in prior learning assessment? Many significant challenges emerge when we grapple with “evaluation,” “validation” and “recognition” of learning acquired through “open” venues. What processes should we use to determine what has been learned from such sources? What ideas and values inform our decisions? In this issue of PLAIO, we hope to encourage the examination of PLA/RPL policies and processes as we think about learning acquired from new and expanding open educational resources.

• We are especially interested in your comments on our "Ask A Question" section. Your responses will help us recognize how different institutions respond to learning gained through open educational resources -- "What would you do?"

• We encourage your feedback on all of our PLAIO articles. To view or post comments on individual pieces, please log in under the “User” box on the right or under the “Log In” tab above (where you can also create an account). Then, click on the article and view the comments, or select “Add Comment” to post your feedback.  Thank you!

We celebrate the recognition of prior learning. An experimental activity that began in earnest less than a half-century ago in a handful of North American colleges and universities is now practiced in thousands of institutions, large and small, across the world and referred to in many ways. Initiated as a means to legitimate the power of experience, to acknowledge the limitations of traditional assumptions about knowledge, and to question seat time as the only means to judge true learning, the recognition of prior learning has become a critical tool of access and a significant part of a movement for educational and social justice.

This inaugural issue of PLAIO focuses on the historical roots of prior learning assessment and examines how these foundations are connected to--or disconnected from--current trends in higher education.