Thursday, July 12, 2007
Introduction
The possibility of being awarded college credit toward a degree for learning from life experiences is an intriguing and exciting idea. It is also a relatively new procedure for colleges and universities. This handbook is designed to provide detailed instructions for the completion of the portfolio.
I. Defining the Portfolio
Each student who enters the ABLE program at Southwestern Christian University prepares a portfolio of prior learning. This portfolio provides him/her with the opportunity to earn college credit for the knowledge he/she may have gained through his/her previous life and work experiences. The portfolio is a document that organizes a person’s learning experiences into a manageable form for academic assessment. The key concepts are “organization” and ‘manageable.” As far as “organization” is concerned, there are certain guidelines and a specified format for the portfolio. As the following diagram indicates, the portfolio provides information about three major questions:
· What are a person’s significant LIFE EXPERIENCES?
· What are the significant LEARNING experiences which have accrued through life experiences?
· Are these learning experiences acquired through life experiences equivalent to COLLEGE LEVEL learning?
Information about a person’s LIFE EXPERIENCES is put into the format of a RESUME. Within this framework, one’s LIFE EXPERIENCES are grouped by content area into what is called a Life Learning Paper. The REQUEST FOR CREDIT contains the analysis of one’s learning from life experiences leading to the judgment that is COLLEGE LEVEL.
The portfolio is a significant document and is, therefore, presented in a traditional form. It is to be compiled in a 3 ring binder. All papers written by the student for the portfolio must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, using a 12 point font size in Arial or Times New Roman style. Accordingly, the Portfolio contains a TITLE PAGE and a TABLE OF CONTENTS that precede the body of the work. The portfolio must be well organized, and presented with correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The organizational structure of the portfolio is:
Title Page
Table of Contents
Section I Autobiography
Section II Resume
Section III Transcript
Section IV Professional Schools &Training
Section V Life Learning Papers with Documentation
Section VI Request for Credit
The process of translating college-level learning from life experiences into credit becomes “manageable” for both student and faculty assessor when the student carefully organizes the information in the portfolio. For the student, the various elements of the portfolio provide a perspective on one’s life, enabling him/her to organize and evaluate the various experiences into a unified whole. A carefully evaluated and organized portfolio permits the faculty assessor to move directly to the task of assessing the learning for credit without distraction by extraneous and irrelevant material.
There are two sections of the portfolio which may generate additional college credits—Section 4 Professional Schools and Training, and Section 5 Life Learning Papers and Documentation.
You have a potential of earning 30 semester hours of credit through your portfolio, depending upon the depth and breadth of knowledge gained through your life and work experiences. A maximum of 30 semester hours may be earned though the technical credit and/or learning-experience essay section. The credit may all be technical credit or all learning experience credit or a combination thereof, but credits cannot exceed 30 hours.
The number of credits needed through the portfolio will vary based on the number of transfer hours a student brings to SCU. In order to complete the bachelor’s degree program, a total of 128 semester hours is required. Through successfully completing the courses in your major, you will earn 54 semester hours of credit. All students should transfer in 60 semester hours or more. Only 64 semester hours of junior college (lower division) credit is accepted.
For example, for a student transferring 60 semester hours (SH):
+ 60 SH (Transfer hours accepted)
+ 54 SH (ABLE degree major hours)
+ 14 SH (Additional hours needed may be earned through the portfolio)
--------------------
128 SH (Total needed to graduate)
Although the preparation of the portfolio is a major undertaking the Adult Education - ABLE office, provides excellent resources to assist you in successfully completing your portfolio. You will receive detailed written materials explaining the portfolio process and requirements. In addition, the ABLE Director or Assistant Director will visit your class to further explain the portfolio. Moreover, the Director is always willing to answer your questions via the telephone (405-470-2636) or advise you on completing your portfolio in an individual appointment. The email address of the Director is mailto:ABLE@swcu.edu.
· What are a person’s significant LIFE EXPERIENCES?
· What are the significant LEARNING experiences which have accrued through life experiences?
· Are these learning experiences acquired through life experiences equivalent to COLLEGE LEVEL learning?
Information about a person’s LIFE EXPERIENCES is put into the format of a RESUME. Within this framework, one’s LIFE EXPERIENCES are grouped by content area into what is called a Life Learning Paper. The REQUEST FOR CREDIT contains the analysis of one’s learning from life experiences leading to the judgment that is COLLEGE LEVEL.
The portfolio is a significant document and is, therefore, presented in a traditional form. It is to be compiled in a 3 ring binder. All papers written by the student for the portfolio must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, using a 12 point font size in Arial or Times New Roman style. Accordingly, the Portfolio contains a TITLE PAGE and a TABLE OF CONTENTS that precede the body of the work. The portfolio must be well organized, and presented with correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The organizational structure of the portfolio is:
Title Page
Table of Contents
Section I Autobiography
Section II Resume
Section III Transcript
Section IV Professional Schools &Training
Section V Life Learning Papers with Documentation
Section VI Request for Credit
The process of translating college-level learning from life experiences into credit becomes “manageable” for both student and faculty assessor when the student carefully organizes the information in the portfolio. For the student, the various elements of the portfolio provide a perspective on one’s life, enabling him/her to organize and evaluate the various experiences into a unified whole. A carefully evaluated and organized portfolio permits the faculty assessor to move directly to the task of assessing the learning for credit without distraction by extraneous and irrelevant material.
There are two sections of the portfolio which may generate additional college credits—Section 4 Professional Schools and Training, and Section 5 Life Learning Papers and Documentation.
You have a potential of earning 30 semester hours of credit through your portfolio, depending upon the depth and breadth of knowledge gained through your life and work experiences. A maximum of 30 semester hours may be earned though the technical credit and/or learning-experience essay section. The credit may all be technical credit or all learning experience credit or a combination thereof, but credits cannot exceed 30 hours.
The number of credits needed through the portfolio will vary based on the number of transfer hours a student brings to SCU. In order to complete the bachelor’s degree program, a total of 128 semester hours is required. Through successfully completing the courses in your major, you will earn 54 semester hours of credit. All students should transfer in 60 semester hours or more. Only 64 semester hours of junior college (lower division) credit is accepted.
For example, for a student transferring 60 semester hours (SH):
+ 60 SH (Transfer hours accepted)
+ 54 SH (ABLE degree major hours)
+ 14 SH (Additional hours needed may be earned through the portfolio)
--------------------
128 SH (Total needed to graduate)
Although the preparation of the portfolio is a major undertaking the Adult Education - ABLE office, provides excellent resources to assist you in successfully completing your portfolio. You will receive detailed written materials explaining the portfolio process and requirements. In addition, the ABLE Director or Assistant Director will visit your class to further explain the portfolio. Moreover, the Director is always willing to answer your questions via the telephone (405-470-2636) or advise you on completing your portfolio in an individual appointment. The email address of the Director is mailto:ABLE@swcu.edu.
II. Assembling the Portfolio
The Portfolio is composed of a Title Page, Table of Contents and the following 6 sections:
Section I Autobiography
Section II Resume
Section III Transcript
Section IV Professional Schools &Training
Section V Life Learning Papers with Documentation
Section VI Request for Credit
This student guide will provide practical information about preparing these elements of the portfolio. To assist you in assembling your portfolio, references will be made to examples and exercise in the attached appendices.
Section I Autobiography
Section II Resume
Section III Transcript
Section IV Professional Schools &Training
Section V Life Learning Papers with Documentation
Section VI Request for Credit
This student guide will provide practical information about preparing these elements of the portfolio. To assist you in assembling your portfolio, references will be made to examples and exercise in the attached appendices.
Title Page
This is the traditional title page form used for graduate dissertations (Appendix A). Note that the advisor most closely involved in the preparation of the portfolio, puts his/her signature on the appropriate line before sending it to the Dean of Academics for evaluation. The advisor’s signature signifies that the portfolio has been prepared according to the format specified in the handbook.
Table of Contents
A table of contents is important because it provides a “road map” to help the evaluator read the portfolio easily. In the table of contents, the major headings and important sub-headings with the appropriate page numbers are listed.
Section I: Autobiography
The autobiography is a student-written account detailing the significant postsecondary school experiences in the student’s life. At this point in the portfolio, the student has the opportunity to highlight those events or occurrences which contributed to her/his professional and personal growth and development. The purpose of the autobiography is to introduce the student to the faculty members/evaluators and to help identify possible topics for the learning experience essays. This part of the portfolio provides the assessor with a verbal picture of the student.
The autobiography should be, eight to ten pages, and concise. This paper must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Use a 12 point font size in Arial or Times New Roman font style. It must be written in narrative form, following proper grammatical rules and expository format. An outline is not acceptable although it is advisable to construct an outline to aid in writing the autobiography. (See Appendix B for helpful suggestions.)
The autobiography should reflect the growth and development of the student’s adult life. The narrative is in chronological order beginning with high school graduation and progressing to the present. However, if significant occurrences in childhood affected the student’s behavior, personality, or attitude in adult life, these can be mentioned briefly in this section. The student should include birthplace and family information, significant milestones in her/his life, consequential life incidents, current issues, and future objectives. The autobiography is vital to the portfolio since it is the foundation for the learning experience essays.
The autobiography should be, eight to ten pages, and concise. This paper must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Use a 12 point font size in Arial or Times New Roman font style. It must be written in narrative form, following proper grammatical rules and expository format. An outline is not acceptable although it is advisable to construct an outline to aid in writing the autobiography. (See Appendix B for helpful suggestions.)
The autobiography should reflect the growth and development of the student’s adult life. The narrative is in chronological order beginning with high school graduation and progressing to the present. However, if significant occurrences in childhood affected the student’s behavior, personality, or attitude in adult life, these can be mentioned briefly in this section. The student should include birthplace and family information, significant milestones in her/his life, consequential life incidents, current issues, and future objectives. The autobiography is vital to the portfolio since it is the foundation for the learning experience essays.
Section II: The Resume
The resume functions as an organized, brief but comprehensive, description of significant life experiences. It serves as the source from which the student draws those significant learning experiences for which she/he will request college credit.
The portfolio resume resembles a job resume because it selects and highlights those experiences which will convince the reader that the applicant has an adequate basis for seeking employment or making a request for credit; however, it differs from the job resume in two significant ways. First, the purpose of the portfolio resume is to identify those experiences which reflect significant college-level learning rather than experiences in a particular line of work. Thus, the decision to include a particular life experience is made on the basis of the answer to the question “What did I learn form this?” or “Did I learn something through this experience?”
Second, the portfolio resume differs from the standard job resume because it is more comprehensive and complete. Instead of focusing almost exclusively on educational and job experiences, the portfolio resume grants equal time to other experiences which produce significant learning. These experiences might include hobbies, volunteer activities, private study, and social, religious, or political activities. The portfolio resume should be approximately two to three pages in length.
For example, using the sectional format below, chronicle each learning experience within the appropriate section. At the outset it is not necessary to be complete or chronologically accurate when recording these experiences. The refinements can be added later.
Work experience
Education
§ Trade schools
§ Specialized training programs
§ Non-credited training programs
Societal and Community activities
§ Organizations
§ Political office or other activities
§ Volunteer Work
§ Other
Military experience—Job duties and specializations, (such as medics, language schools)
Travel experience
Hobbies, special interests, sports
Publications, reports
Other experiences in which you accomplished significant learning.
After the student records her/his pertinent life experiences, she/he should organize them in chronological order, beginning with the most recent. Each event should include the name and address of the company where one was employed, the agency where one engaged in volunteer work, or the school where one attended.
Next, the student will describe the substance of each experience. She/He should provide a title for the experience and a brief description and explanation of the nature of the work responsibilities. Use phrases instead of complete sentences. For assistance, the student is directed to the list of “key words for resume preparation” in Appendix C.
When the student completes this task, she/he should forward her/his portfolio resume to her/his advisor for review.
The portfolio resume resembles a job resume because it selects and highlights those experiences which will convince the reader that the applicant has an adequate basis for seeking employment or making a request for credit; however, it differs from the job resume in two significant ways. First, the purpose of the portfolio resume is to identify those experiences which reflect significant college-level learning rather than experiences in a particular line of work. Thus, the decision to include a particular life experience is made on the basis of the answer to the question “What did I learn form this?” or “Did I learn something through this experience?”
Second, the portfolio resume differs from the standard job resume because it is more comprehensive and complete. Instead of focusing almost exclusively on educational and job experiences, the portfolio resume grants equal time to other experiences which produce significant learning. These experiences might include hobbies, volunteer activities, private study, and social, religious, or political activities. The portfolio resume should be approximately two to three pages in length.
For example, using the sectional format below, chronicle each learning experience within the appropriate section. At the outset it is not necessary to be complete or chronologically accurate when recording these experiences. The refinements can be added later.
Work experience
Education
§ Trade schools
§ Specialized training programs
§ Non-credited training programs
Societal and Community activities
§ Organizations
§ Political office or other activities
§ Volunteer Work
§ Other
Military experience—Job duties and specializations, (such as medics, language schools)
Travel experience
Hobbies, special interests, sports
Publications, reports
Other experiences in which you accomplished significant learning.
After the student records her/his pertinent life experiences, she/he should organize them in chronological order, beginning with the most recent. Each event should include the name and address of the company where one was employed, the agency where one engaged in volunteer work, or the school where one attended.
Next, the student will describe the substance of each experience. She/He should provide a title for the experience and a brief description and explanation of the nature of the work responsibilities. Use phrases instead of complete sentences. For assistance, the student is directed to the list of “key words for resume preparation” in Appendix C.
When the student completes this task, she/he should forward her/his portfolio resume to her/his advisor for review.
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