PLA601: Prior Learning Assessment Portfolio Development

Course Description

This course will help students learn the theory behind prior learning assessment and to develop a portfolio for prior learning assessment. Completion of this course enables Master’s students to have up to 9 credits evaluated for prior learning assessment based on the portfolio developed in this course. Students must have a 3.0 GPA and have exemplary experience and academic performance  to enroll in this course.

Course Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Recognize and describe the role of prior learning assessment in achieving their unique educational goals and those of adult learners in general
  2. Identify specific areas of competency which they have acquired through life learning experiences, both formal and informal
  3. Evaluate and choose specific college courses that align with their college‐level learning and competencies
  4. Identify and collect various forms of documentation that verify their learning competencies
  5. Write a learning narrative which demonstrates the context and nature of their learning using Kolb’s model of experiential learning
  6. Develop and organize a learning portfolio using the appropriate formatting and technology

Steps to Receive Credit for Prior Learning Assessment

  1. Sign up for this to have up to 25% of the credits in your program evaluated (9 credits for an MBA). Note, this fee is based on the evaluation, not on the number of credits awarded.
  2. You will have 8 weeks in the course where you will gather and submit documentation in a portfolio. We will provide a Portfolio Template with instructions in our Prior Learning Handbook on how to develop the portfolio.
  3. City Vision will evaluate credits after payment has been made and all required information has been received. You will have up to 3 months after the course to submit additional portfolios for evaluation up to a maximum of 30 credits.
  4. Students may appeal the credit determination or resubmit material if they are unsatisfied with the credit determination within 4 weeks of the ruling.

In addition to other graduation requirements, all MBA students must take at least 9 courses at City Vision in order to graduate. The Prior Learning Assessment course only counts as 1 of those courses, regardless of how many credits are earned as a part of a student’s Prior Learning Portfolio.  Prior learning credits may satisfy requirements in the core or concentration. Any additional credits beyond the first 3 that are earned count the same as if they were transfer credits.

Course Materials & Tuition

Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (2012). Earn College Credit for What You Know (5 edition.). Chicago; Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishing. ISBN: 978-0757596919. 232 pages.

$15.70

Tuition

$750.00

Total Cost of Course

$765.70

Syllabus

Credits: 3

Scheduled in: Each term

Graduate Degrees & Certificates
Sample Degree Completion Plan MBA with 9 Credits from PLA

Credit for Prior Learning Experience Summary

City Vision offers what we believe is the most flexible, streamlined process to get prior learning experience credits of any online Christian university. We view City Vision as a Christian counterpart of secular schools that specialize in granting prior learning credit. We focus on this because we often teach leaders with decades of senior experience in the nonprofit and business world who operate at a practical experience level of someone with an MBA, but they do not have any degree.

What You Can Get Credit For

  • Experience and prior learning credit for up to 25% of your degree
  • Credit by examination from ACE, AP, CLEP, DANTES, Excelsior, TECEP, and NCCR.
  • Military, corporate and ministry training.
  • Unaccredited courses like CEUs and MOOCs (edX & Coursera).
  • Certifications, licenses and ordination or other prior learning or experience.

How Prior Learning Credit Works

  1. Take City Vision’s Prior Learning Assessment course to have up to 30 credits evaluated.
  2. Develop a portfolio documenting your experiential learning.
  3. Our faculty evaluate your credit, comparing your documentation to learning outcomes of accredited courses.
  4. The credit will be added to your transcript if it is granted,
    so you can finish your degree more quickly.