Most people are learning constantly in life, but not all of this learning would be accepted for college credit. To assist you in understanding the types of prior learning growing out of your life experience that may or may not receive credit, we have provided some general guidelines, examples and exercises to help you determine what types of learning are worthy of credit.
Creditable learning should be equivalent to college level work in terms of quality. You may demonstrate this in one or more of the following ways.
| 1. | Relating your learning to subject areas traditionally taught in colleges. |
| 2. | Indicating that what you have learned is at a level of achievement equal to what is normally taught in college. |
| 3. | Comparing your learning with groups who have completed college level work. |
| 4. | Relating your learning to a personal goal that might require college level learning. |
| 5. | Identifying your learning as that normally acquired reaching adulthood. |
| 6. | Identifying your learning as that normally acquired after high school and expected for professional acceptance. |
The learning should have general applicability outside of the specific situation in which it was acquired. For example, you may have learned the specific procedures for processing personnel applications at one company. If you also learned principles and techniques that would apply at several other companies, then you might expect to receive college credit or recognition.
The learning should include both a theoretical and practical understanding of a subject area. Even though you may not have applied the knowledge you possess in a practical situation, you should be aware of how it might be applied. If you have learned how to do something, you should understand why you are able to do what you do. You should not expect to receive college credit or recognition for mere application of a manual skill or a narrowly prescribed routine or procedure.
An expert will evaluate your learning. You should be able to describe precisely what you know and can do and what appropriate attitudes you have developed as a result of your experiences and be able to demonstrate to an expert in the field that you possess the learning that you have claimed. Such an expert should be able to objectively measure and evaluate the learning that has occurred.
You may be required to demonstrate that there is some relationship between what you have learned and your proposed program of study at the National Labor College. You may be asked to demonstrate an ability to integrate "old" learning with proposed "new" learning.
Your request for credit should be made in consultation with your Educational Planning Instructor or an academic advisor. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the expert evaluator and assessment committee to arrive at appropriate NLC credit award for learning. An estimate of credit for learning growing out of experience may be determined in several ways:
1. Your advisor may be knowledgeable in the fields for which you are requesting advanced standing. By reading your essay and examining the letters of verification he or she may be able to estimate how much credit is appropriate as a first approximation. 2. There may be other advisors on the faculty who are experts in the area in question. Either you or your advisor might consult with them about an estimate. 3. There may be no one at the NLC with appropriate expertise in the area for which you are requesting credit. In this case, it will be necessary for the NLC to consult an outside expert. Ask for help in the assessment office if this is the case.
Consult the Educational Planning Handbook for more ways to estimate how much credit your learning may be worth.
| Preparing Written Learning Descriptions and Other Supporting Materials |
As you reflect on the nature of your experiential learning and on ways to present a convincing claim that this knowledge is worthy of college credit, you may find it helpful to consider the questions below. Because the questions are intended to help define and describe many kinds of learning, not all will be relevant to your learning experience. However, answering carefully those which are relevant should lead you to a clearer definition of what you have learned and what proof you can offer of that learning.
Some Questions to Consider| I. | A. | How did you acquire this learning? |
| B. | When did the learning take place and what was the timeframe? | |
| C. | Where did the learning take place? Did it involve formal learning in courses, workshops or training sessions? | |
| D. | What documentation do you have to substantiate the above (certificates, manuals you wrote, newspaper clippings, engineering designs, etc.)? | |
| II. | If your learning involved substantial reading, can you provide a bibliography of that reading? | |
| III. | Did you learn by performing tasks? | |
| A. | What were these tasks? | |
| B. | What changes in the tasks occurred during the time of the learning? What did you learn from these changes? Did different job assignments cause you to learn various aspects of a field? | |
| C. | Did the tasks involve learning complicated procedures? Trial and error? Finding ways to make improvements? | |
| D. | Did you learn more about your field by supervising or training others? | |
| IV. | What skills and knowledge did you learn that would be useful in any similar situation? | |
| A. | What makes you feel that these are college level skills and knowledge? | |
| B. | What are some ways you could demonstrate these skills and knowledge to an evaluator? (Verbal, written explanation. Detailed descriptions and or demonstrations of process and procedures learned? Present examples of work, such as contracts you’ve negotiated, or other pertinent documents or reports that you prepared during the course of your learning? | |
| C. | Can you distinguish your "how to" skills from your theoretical knowledge? | |
| V. | What are the ideas, principles or concepts that underlie the knowledge you have? | |
| A. | Have these concepts ever been brought out in readings or training sessions that were connected with your learning experiences? | |
| B. | Did these concepts enter into discussions you had with fellow workers or supervisors? | |
| C. | Did you need to formulate them for any specific task, problem solution or presentation? | |
| D. | Have you ever formulated broad concepts about the area in which you have knowledge simply as personal reflections? Can you do so now? | |
| VI. | What insights have you had from this learning? How have your abilities to accomplish new activities or tasks grown from these insights? What are your judgments about appropriate applications of your practical knowledge? | |
| VII. | What aspects of the field have you not explored in depth? What aspects would you like to pursue in future learning? | |
Your reflections on the questions above should help you become more conscious of the learning that has grown out of your experiences.
As you organize those reflections into a "learning description" for credit by evaluation, remember that the NLC will award you academic credit for your college level learning, however, that learning came about; but it will not award credit for what you have done, even if you have done it for a long time or have done it very well. In writing your "learning description," therefore, it will be important for you to focus, not on your experiences or achievements, but rather on what you learned through these experiences and achievements.
The order of the questions above may help you to organize your "learning description." For example, you might begin by explaining (in no more than one or two paragraphs) how you gained the learning, what documentation of this learning you can provide and what reading you have done in the field. Then you might explain the nature of your learning, including clarification of both the general scope and particular aspects of your knowledge (here it will be important for you to indicate levels of skill as well as more theoretical understanding by mentioning underlying principles of the field).
Try, if possible, to explain your original thoughts, judgments and insights about the field and about possible practical applications of your knowledge. You need not go into great detail; but, because this part will be very helpful to evaluators in establishing the depth of your learning, it may be worth extra reflection. Finally, indicate what aspects of the field you do not understand and what plans for future learning you have.
It is not essential that you follow this exact order. Your "learning description" should provide, in whatever order seems most appropriate, a clear, readable abstract of your learning in each area you are presenting for credit by evaluation.
Review the following case studies carefully and compare and contrast the differences between them.
Read carefully the following examples of experiential essays.
Essay Example A
Essay Example B
Essay Example C Martin Sample
Use the Experiential Essay Template to help you organize your thoughts
The following article may also be of help:
“Researching and Documenting College-Level Learning from Prior
Learning Experience and Training” by Jacqueline Johnson, Ph.D
Skill Areas Applicable to Liberal Arts Studies