Troy University - 3.5.2 Institutional Credit for a Degree

Off-Site Committee Comments

Any Troy University course for credit counts toward the 25% residency requirement. However, it is not clear whether this includes CDC 3301 and Experiential Learning Credit (ELA). If ELA is allowed to count toward the 25% residency requirement, this is not consistent with the standard. Experiential learning credit is not credit taught by the institution. The On-Site Committee should clarify this issue.

Narrative:

Troy University’s residency requirement was accurately noted by the off-site committee: at least 25% of the academic credit earned toward a baccalaureate degree awarded by Troy University must be taken through the successful completion of university courses. The CDC 3301 class, as noted in the Focused Report 3.4.8, is not the equivalent academic course that is awarded for any experiential learning activities. Rather, CDC 3301 is the course that a student must take to prepare his or her formal materials and request that his or her experiential learning activities be considered as transcripted equivalencies to courses within the University’s formal academic curriculum. As such, successful completion of CDC 3301 would be included as part of a student’s residency at Troy University. The course, including its description and credit hours, is a part of the University’s Undergraduate Catalog:

CDC 3301 Portfolio Development (2)

This is a course in the preparation of an educational portfolio, a formal file or folder of information complied by students on learning acquired through specific past experiences and accomplishments. Students are required to prepare a portfolio under the guidance of the instructor. The course is required of all students prior to submission of a portfolio to the university for evaluation for experiential credit.

As noted in Focused Report section 3.4.8, CDC 3301 has not been taken by any student since the adoption of a single undergraduate catalog following the institutional merger in 2005. As such, the inclusion of CDC 3301 in any residency requirements for any students since the merger has not been an issue. Similarly, transcripted academic credit has not been awarded for experiential learning activities through this portfolio process since the merger and as such, there has not been any residency requirement issues regarding such credit either.

Regarding the issue of whether transcripted academic courses, which are awarded based on the process for reviewing and approving experiential learning activities, count toward the University’s residency requirement, the following revision (see text in red) to the 2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog will clarify the institution’s policy:

Experiential Learning Assessment (ELA) Credit

Experiential learning assessment (ELA) is a process used by Troy University to evaluate prior college-equivalent learning attained by students outside the classroom and not transferable through any of the standard methods of accepting non-traditional credit. Each student prepares a portfolio that is a carefully organized folder documenting learning outcomes (not learning activities) for the purpose of earning credit for a specific college course or courses. The procedure for students interested in requesting assessment of prior experiential learning is as follows:

The student enrolls in CDC 3301 Portfolio Development for 2 semester hours of credit. A student may enroll in CDC 3301 only once and should plan to develop all materials for receiving academic credit for experiential learning from this one-time enrollment. The instructor for this course (1) provides an overview of the experiential learning assessment program, (2) assists in determining whether or not prior learning is appropriate or adequate to request academic credit, (3) provides the guidance necessary to prepare an educational portfolio, and (4) evaluates the portfolio to determine if the content is sufficient to approve submission for faculty assessment. NOTE: No more than 25 percent of the degree may be earned by using experiential learning assessment credit or portfolio-based credit. Academic credit earned through experiential learning will not count toward the University’s residency requirement.
The student prepares the portfolio, which includes
1. A statement of the student’s educational goals;
2. A chronological record, with external documentation, of the student’s education and work experiences;
3. A clear statement of the specific knowledge and skills not learned in college for which the student desires to receive academic credit;
4. Information that links the specific knowledge and skills to the student’s goals and educational degree program;
5. Information that links the specific knowledge and skills of the student to specific learning outcomes of the specific courses for which the student wants to receive equivalent academic credit; and
6. Documented evidence that substantiates the student’s claim to learning.
Faculty assessment.
Once the portfolio is submitted to the faculty for evaluation, the faculty member uses several methods of assessment, which include product assessment such as an original computer program, interviews, oral or written examinations, simulations, performance tests, and/or essays. The faculty member makes a recommendation to award or not award the hours of credit. This recommendation is made to the Dean of the College for which equivalent academic credit will be awarded for experiential learning activities and to the Associate Provost/Dean of Undergraduate Studies for final approval and confirmation of awarded credit to the University Registrar.
Fee Payment
The student pays the appropriate fees for the credit awarded.
Credit is then posted to the student’s transcript by the University Registrar.

In summary, Troy University will clarify the issue of experiential learning activities and their exclusion from residency requirements with the publication of the 2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog. Since the University has not awarded portfolio credit since its 2005 merger, this question of residency exclusion has not been a transcript issue.

Troy University respectfully finds that it is in compliance with this comprehensive standard.