"LIVE AND LEARN"

(Evaluating Life Experience - Portfolio Style)

TVO Docudrama:

The following four characters are the principals in a docu-drama 
series which explores the process of portfolio development for the 
assessment of prior learning. The setting is a small apartment/photography 
studio which belongs to George Ross who also attended a local 
community college. This college offers a course in portfolio 
development. It was through this process that George made the dramatic 
decisions that brought him to his business and the teaching. 

As the group meets we hear about their progress with the course and 
see them in other locations working through their assignments.

FOUR CHARACTERS:

Mentor: GEORGE, mid-sixties, widower, possibly British background, 
earned a general arts degree and became a public servant, working in a 
government facility - as an accountant who handled the stress by 
developing a strong interest in photography. He has taken early 
retirement, followed his heart and opened a small photography studio.

When GEORGE became involved in the PLA process he also decided to 
upgrade his credentials in order to teach photography at the community 
college. He is very happy as a teacher and this extends to mentoring a 
small group in his shop as they go through the  portfolio development 
process.  In fact, he is documenting their progress in photos and also 
in video (a new skill he is developing for his business). GEORGE plans 
to pass along his own completed portfolio to his daughter so the 
grandchildren will have a record of his achievements.

SOFTWARE ICONFOR GEORGE: OWL


BEVERLY, African Canadian woman building superintendent is in her late 
forties. She has been managing George's apartment complex for the 
past six years, handling everything from electrical and plumbing 
repairs to construction and renovations. She helped GEORGE with all of 
the repairs in his studio-apartment. She became interested in getting a 
certificate or diploma in Building Systems Operations at the college 
when she learned about PLA (Prior Learning Assessment) from GEORGE. 
BEVERLY has enthusiastically  collected two other participants from her 
class for meetings at GEORGE's apartment to mark their progress in the 
portfolio development process. We see the occasional funny flashback 
of GEORGE and BEVERLY when they renovated the apartment which GEORGE has 
recorded either in stills or video.

SOFTWARE ICON FOR BEVERLY: HONEYBEE


SIMON, in his early 40's, is a first generation Chinese-Canadian His 
father runs a small health food store with a clinic for acupuncture 
and herbal therapy. SIMON has always been interested in working with his 
father's ailing customers. He continues to assist his father in the small 
business. He is very active as a volunteer at his church working with 
young people and setting up a centre for them.
SIMON has become very interested in the social services certificate program 
at the college and he is preparing a portfolio to explore this 
possibility. SIMON is really unsure and wonders if there are other 
career possibilities given his lack of a college education. He wants 
to explore the possibility of working as a youth counsellor. 

SOFTWARE ICON FOR SIMON: ORIENTAL DRAGON



ELENA is Venezuelan and a relative newcomer to Canada. She is in her early 
30's and still has a heavy accent but is now fluent in reading, 
speaking and writing English. Back in her country she went to 
secretarial school and when the computer came to her job she became 
passionate about learning everything she could. She organized a 
computer club for children (involving her own children). Since 
arriving in Canada, ELENA has taken a few courses to become familiar 
with North American systems. She especially likes wordprocessing for a 
local community newspaper. She is now seeking a new career field that 
will bring together her interests and abilities - so she wants to 
explore the world of desktop publishing using the latest computer 
technology. ELENA likes to draw - she has illustrated little books she 
created for her children - and wants to learn computer graphics as 
well. ELENA has to support her kids - her husband is on workman's 
compensation and currently unable to return to work.  Although the older kids 
contribute to the household there is not much money to spare.  It is vital 
that ELENA have a clear direction. Her present job is ending and she has 
an opportunity for retraining in the severance package. 

SOFTWARE ICON FOR ELENA: Octopus



NOTE: ELENA recalls a children's tale about animal musicians who are seeking 
new direction in their lives. (Brenmen Town Musicians)  She creates her own 
version of the story, identifying each member of this group with a 
counterpart (see ICONS). In this version, she and her friends band 
together to reach their PLA goals.





Selia Karsten

August 1993