Portfolio Development

Course Description
Tech 2011  Portfolio Development and Experience Evaluation
1 Cr., (1 Lec.)  (Prerequisite: Approval of Vice President & Dean of Instruction)  This course provides an opportunity for a student to receive an evaluation of unique work experience or non-traditional educational experiences.   Students will identify the courses for which they feel qualified to receive credit and develop written portfolios to demonstrate that they have met the course objectives.   Students can earn up to 15 credits through non-traditional educational sources.   NOTE: These credits may be obtained only from Technical Courses. (Starting on Page 69 in the SEARK College Handbook)

Instructors and Course Leaders

Welcome to TECH 2011: Portfolio Development, a very special course in the enhancement of your educational process at SEARK College. This course will allow you to evaluate your life experiences and possibly transform those experiences into college credit. This process serves three purposes: first it keeps you from having to take courses for which you are already qualified, second it shortens the time it could take you to obtain your degree, and finally it can serves to validate your life experiences and gives them recognizable value.

As you will see in Lesson one, there is a historical and practical value to awarding credit for life experiences. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to translate what you have learned into a form that can be interpreted into tangible college credits. The process of developing your portfolios will take some thought and reflection. It is therefore a process that will require you to be actively involved from the beginning to the end of the semester. If you try to wait until the last minute to put your portfolios together, you will find yourself out of time and may not gain full credit for your life experiences.

I will be checking your progress throughout the semester and I am always available to assist you in interpreting your learning experiences. I truly wish to see you succeed in this venture. I expect you to take this process seriously and produce college level work. Please draw upon your education and experiences to produce high quality, comprehensive portfolios that leave no doubt in the mind of the evaluator about your qualifications.

Finally remember, you have nothing to lose by attempting to translate your experience into college credit. You do have a great deal to gain, most importantly, a jump start on your college education. Therefore, get organized, get started, and get credit.

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. identify areas in the student’s life that qualify as experiential learning.
2. identify personal and educational goals.
3. document the difference between experience and knowledge.
4. identify learning experiences that relate to specific Southeast Arkansas College courses.
5. appropriately document those learning experiences (mentioned in objective #3) in ways that can be evaluated by SEARK faculty.
6. identify the types of documentation that are appropriate for use in the portfolio.

The course objectives listed above will be evaluated through the review and assessment of each portfolio submitted for approval.   Satisfactory completion of these objectives will earn the student one (1) college credit.

The portfolio will be assessed based upon the documentation provided by the student that demonstrates to the SEARK faculty that experiential learning has meet the same objectives as the formal college course.   Satisfactory completion of each portfolio will earn the student the appropriate amount of credits awarded for that course as reflected in the SEARK College catalog.

Even though a student may have a great deal of training and success through non-traditional courses and life experiences, we have a 15 credit hour limit on the amount of non-traditional credit awarded at SEARK College.

1. The student registers through Student Services for TECH 2011: Portfolio Development.
2. The student attends an orientation briefing within the first two weeks of the semester or as scheduled by portfolio coordinator. If a student cannot attend the orientation, there is a video available for viewing in the SEARK College Library.
3. The student looks through a college catalog to find course descriptions that give brief overviews of the courses. The student then determines which courses he/she believes that he/she have met the course objectives through training, experience, or both.
4. The student contacts the Portfolio Coordinator or Program Coordinator to obtain course syllabi for each course they intend to defend. The syllabi will outline the course objectives and help the student prove that they have met the courses competencies. Portfolio students will each have a folder in the Information Booth where they can pick up their syllabi and drop off materials for the portfolio program coordinator, Mr. Edleston.
5. The student collects certificates from all applicable training, training records, resumes, job descriptions, or any other documentation which will support their claims.
6. The student will write a narrative detailing experiences and training that would satisfy the course objectives. It is best if the portfolio addresses each course objective as a separate paragraph.
7. The student turns in the completed portfolio to the portfolio coordinator (drop off in Information Booth) for review and evaluation. Completed portfolios must be in a folder or large envelope with the student’s name, address, and phone number on the inside and on each portfolio heading.
8. The Portfolio Coordinator will determine if the basic criteria have been met and then pass the portfolios on to the appropriate program coordinators or faculty members for evaluation.
9. If the evaluation confirms that the student has met all course objectives, the portfolio will be sent to the Vice President of the college for final review and approval.
10. If the evaluation does not prove satisfactory to the program coordinator, the student will be contacted and asked to come in for an interview. The student may be required to provide more written or verbal justification, clarify some points, or may be asked to take a challenge examination for the course. (Note: The student is not obligated to either interview or provide any further proof; however, no credit will be awarded for the course in question.)
11. Once final approval is made for each portfolio, Student Services will enter an "S" for satisfactory in the student’s record. This indicates that the student has received credit for the course but no letter grade is given. The Portfolio Coordinator will send a confirmation letter to each student outlining what credit, if any, that they received. If a portfolio is not approved for credit it will not be sent to student services.
12. The student will only receive credit for TECH 2011(one college credit) if they have satisfactorily met the objectives outlined in this syllabus for the work they have done to develop their portfolio.
13. The student must contact Rob Edleston, 543-5948 every two weeks until all portfolios are turned in. This will ensure that progress is being made and students are not waiting until the last week of the semester to turn in portfolios.

Example of the portfolio process:
Jane Smith signs up for TECH 2011. After approximately one week, she receives a letter informing her to attend an orientation. At the orientation, Jane is given a college catalog and listens to an explanation of how credit is awarded. Jane then takes the catalog home and searches through the programs and course descriptions. She makes a list of the courses she thinks that she may get credit for. Jane calls the portfolio coordinator or the program coordinator(s) for the courses she has listed.

The syllabi for the courses she requested will be put in her folder in the information booth within a couple of work days. Jane takes the syllabi and, after examining the course objectives, begins to collect certificates from some local courses she took through work or the military. Jane then writes a narrative explaining how she has met each of the course’s objectives in detail. After some editing, she takes the completed portfolio(s) to the information booth and leaves them in the "Completed Portfolios" folder. Jane has made sure that her name and phone number are on each portfolio.

After a while Jane receives a call from the Business Technology department and is asked to come in and clarify a few points. After the interview, the coordinator, satisfied with Jane’s portfolio and her explanation, signs the package and sends it to the college Vice President for approval and credit. Jane then signs up for other classes she needs for her degree and doesn’t have to worry about taking extra time to complete courses for which she is already trained.

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