Credit for Prior Learning
Credit for Life Learning/Work Learning
Competency-based education allows students to present nontraditional learning as competencies to be evaluated for credit by qualified faculty members towards their educational program. These competencies must be the equivalent of what would have been (achieved) learned through college coursework. To find out if this program is offered, check with counselors, advisors or college catalogs from the college/university you are planning to attend.
Criteria Used to Assess College-Level Learning
In order to earn college credit, your experiential learning must meet the following criteria:
- Experiential learning must be related to your educational goals.
- Learning must be current.
- Credit is awarded for learning, not for experience. In other words, if you have five years of experience doing home-based child care, you will not automatically receive credits for it. Instead, working with a Faculty Evaluator, you will document what you learned during those five years, and your Faculty Evaluator will assess your learning.
- The determination of credit awards must be made by qualified academic experts.
- Credit is awarded only for college-level learning.
What is College-Level Learning
Whether or not learning is college-level is determined in a number of ways:
- The learning is similar to subjects taught in colleges and universities.
- Learning can be compared to descriptions of courses in college catalogs.
- Learning can be compared to the learning of individuals or groups who have completed college courses.
- Learning has an appropriate balance of both experience (practical, hands-on learning), and theory (history, principles and concepts).
- Learning is different from learning that is gained through common, day-to-day life experiences.
For more information about the Early Childhood Assessment Program, which provides prior learning credits in early childhood, visit www.metrostate.edu/ecap
