Abstract
PurposeThis paper aims to introduce an information and communication technology (ICT) artifact that uses text mining to support the innovative and standardized assessment of professional competences within the validation of prior learning (VPL). Assessment means comparing identified and documented professional competences against a standard or reference point. The designed artifact is evaluated by matching a set of curriculum vitae (CV) scraped from LinkedIn against a comprehensive model of professional competence.Design/methodology/approachA design science approach informed the development and evaluation of the ICT artifact presented in this paper.FindingsA proof of concept shows that the ICT artifact can support assessors within the validation of prior learning procedure. Rather the output of such an ICT artifact can be used to structure documentation in the validation process.Research limitations/implicationsEvaluating the artifact shows that ICT support to assess documented learning outcomes is a promising endeavor but remains a challenge. Further research should work on standardized ways to document professional competences, ICT artifacts capture the semantic content of documents, and refine ontologies of theoretical models of professional competences.Practical implicationsText mining methods to assess professional competences rely on large bodies of textual data, and thus a thoroughly built and large portfolio is necessary as input for this ICT artifact.Originality/valueFollowing the recent call of European policymakers to develop standardized and ICT-based approaches for the assessment of professional competences, an ICT artifact that supports the automatized assessment of professional competences within the validation of prior learning is designed and evaluated.
Highlights
The validation of prior learning (VPL) is the process of “assessing and recognizing a wide range of skills and competences which people develop through their lives and in different contexts, for example through education, work and leisure activities” (Bjørnåvold, 2000, p. 216)
The European Union supports the validation of prior learning by introducing the Lifelong Learning Strategy (EU, 2006), the European Qualification Framework (EQF) (EU, 2017) and the recommendations on the validation of prior learning (EU, 2012)
While policy frameworks for the assessment of professional competences within VPL are in place in most of the European countries, providing specific methods and approaches for the assessment proves to be a challenge for policy-making (EU, 2012, 2017) and scientific research (Bohne et al, 2017; Brockmann et al, 2009)
Summary
The validation of prior learning (VPL) is the process of “assessing and recognizing a wide range of skills and competences which people develop through their lives and in different contexts, for example through education, work and leisure activities” (Bjørnåvold, 2000, p. 216). The validation of prior learning (VPL) is the process of “assessing and recognizing a wide range of skills and competences which people develop through their lives and in different contexts, for example through education, work and leisure activities” Having viable and efficient approaches for the assessment of professional competences within the validation of prior learning could help to lower the number of unemployed, increase labor market mobility and facilitate social cohesion within the European Union. In VPL, assessment is the phase in which a person’s learning outcomes (i.e. professional competences) are “compared against specific reference points and/or standards” A standard or reference point is a document that describes which learning outcomes people have to obtain to be qualified on a certain level, e.g. a document that shows what a student should be able to do after finishing training or education
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