What is CPL?
We weave our strand into a network of relations
Hannah Arendt
What is Credit for Prior Learning?
As tuition increases and colleges push to help students complete their degrees, more colleges are offering Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) opportunities, sometimes known as Prior Learning Assessment. Organizations like the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and the American Council of Education (ACE) are making it easier for people to receive college credit for a number of educational activities acquired outside of traditional academic institutions. Credit for Prior Learning is an alternative way for you to earn college credit for non-traditional educational experiences, shortening the time and cost it takes to complete an undergraduate degree. These activities include independent reading and research, non-credit classes, military experiences, workshops and in-service program trainings sponsored by associations and businesses.
What is a Credit for Prior Learning Portfolio?
You can receive Credit for Prior Learning in a variety of ways. You can take standardized tests through the College Level Examination Program (CLEP), or you can take department proficiency exams within specific disciplines, if this type of testing is available at your particular institution. Many students earn Credit for Prior Learning through portfolio assessment. A portfolio is a collection of quality assignments, activities, artifacts and evaluations that are collected to demonstrate the college-level knowledge, ability and skills you would be expected to acquire and demonstrate if enrolled in an actual college course. A prior learning portfolio typically consists of various components: a resume, an autobiographical essay, a narrative explaining how your prior learning experiences match the course description and objectives on the syllabus for the actual course in which you hope to earn credit and documentation of the information in the narrative with assignments, activities, and/or evaluations that prove that you meet the objectives listed on the syllabus (see portfolio guides here).
Each component in the portfolio provides you with opportunities to demonstrate that you have already mastered the knowledge for a particular course. It is important that you get a copy of the syllabus for the course for which you are seeking credit and review the course description and objectives to make sure your prior learning experiences match. Many schools with Credit for Prior Learning programs can help you do this. Sometimes, you have to look in college course catalogs, online schedules or request a course profile or syllabus from the professor teaching a course that matches your prior learning experiences. The process takes effort. Remember, you must show how your prior learning experiences are consistent with what is on the course profile or syllabus. Separate portfolios must be submitted for each course for which you hope to earn credit. Even though documentation criteria will vary from course to course, components from one portfolio are sometimes allowed to be used in other portfolios.
Who will assess the portfolio?
Different institutions and disciplines handle the portfolio assessment process in different ways. Some schools require you to take a Credit for Prior Learning course or workshop in order to identify and generate material and assignments (usually essays) for a proper portfolio. Although advisors, counselors and portfolio assessment programs (see Learning Counts) can guide you through the prior learning application process, the college’s department chairs (often with help from faculty) tend to make the final decision to grant or deny credit. They are the ones who set the portfolio evaluation standards because they are the subject experts. Based on their rubrics or assessment criteria, the experts determine if you show mastery of the knowledge in the area or class for which you seek credit. They will determine if you have acquired an understanding of the content and appropriate readings typically presented in a particular course.
Though there are no guarantees, a strong portfolio greatly improves your chances of gaining credit. You can always be denied. Many students miss the benefits of Credit for Prior Learning programs because they don’t know they exist. Others fail because they don’t adequately translate their prior learning experiences or trainings into appropriate academic assignments and activities for a portfolio that represents college-level learning. According to SUNY Empire State College, college-level learning "represents your ability to take your knowledge and relate it within a particular context and to other contexts within and outside your field" (see "Individualized Prior Learning Assessment: A Guide for Students" 5).
How can Matrix Maps help?
The Matrix Maps and the Assessment Tools can help you get on a better pathway or academic course of study that Humanities departments in higher education are more likely to respect and recognize. There are fifteen matrices in each Matrix Map. They will guide you step-by-step through cases, content and contexts, much like a college course, but without the time constraints. There is more than enough information and thematic flexibility for you to be able to work well with a college counselor or CPL advisor to match a variety of college courses in the Humanities to your particular Matrix Map. The challenge is to be able to demonstrate through assignments and activities that you have mastered the information on the Matrix Maps. Mastery is key. Matrix Maps make learning a lot easier by building on cultural connections and relationships you recognize and experience every day, linking them to larger academic conversations and deeper understanding.
Matrix Maps offer no guarantees. They help you to better position yourself for success in the CPL process. Being outside the academy, people don’t always know or understand the kinds of expectations, knowledge, assignments, research sources or activities needed to satisfy academic department chairs and faculty experts. This is why it is so important for you to have access to solid information and research sources for the course in which you hope to receive credit. It is also important that you learn the information well and you learn as much as possible about how Credit for Prior Learning works at the institution you attend or hope to attend because some faculty may not be familiar with the process or they might have negative perceptions of Credit for Prior Learning (read “Making it Count” and “College Credit without College”). An easy way to get started is to check the school’s website for Credit for Prior Learning information and contact a counselor or advisor.
Where can I go to learn more?
Again, colleges and universities use different policies, methods, fees and portfolio guidelines when it comes to Credit for Prior Learning assessment, and this is why it is important that you are well-informed.
For more details on CPL, you can visit the website for the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) at www.cael.org
or https://www.stlcc.edu/admissions/office-of-the-registrar/creditforpriorlearning.aspx.
For more details on online portfolio assessment services, you can visit the Learning Counts Program website at https://learningcounts.org.
For a list of the colleges and universities that provide CPL opportunities, you can visit the website for the American Council of Education at http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Best-Practices-Credit-for-Prior-Learning.aspx, and you can visit
https://dhe.mo.gov/files/cota2011ppt/Session%209%20Powerpoint.pdf for more information on CPL in Missouri.