Academic Affairs





Credit For Experiential Learning

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CREDIT FOR EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING (CEL) POLICIES

Approved by University of Wisconsin-Parkside (fill in details regarding committee approval)

  1. Students requesting CEL must meet with the CEL Advisor, located in the Advising Center, before beginning the portfolio process to determine if the learning experiences are the type that may qualify for credit, and to review the relevant CEL Policies and Procedures. The CEL Advisor may recommend that the student contact an appropriate academic department representative to determine if the learning experiences are the type that may qualify for credit. Alternately, the CEL Advisor may recommend other avenues for earning credit (e.g., CLEP examination).
  2. All students will pay a non-refundable $50 assessment fee when submitting their portfolios to the CEL Advisor for evaluation. This assessment fee will apply toward credits awarded at the time those credits are entered on their transcript. An additional fee of $75 will be charged for entering up to10 credits on the transcript. In addition to these fees, ($125.00 total), a fee of $10 per credit will be charged for each credit over 10 (i.e., for 11 or more credits).
  3. All Experiential Learning petitions must have attached a narrative describing the learning and verification/documentation of the experience.
  4. Requests for CEL must give evidence that the knowledge is still available to the student and was applied in an experience other than a collegiate setting.
  5. Requests must identify the UW-Parkside course number and title and give the number of credits requested. If there is no specific course, but the prior learning is within a UW-Parkside academic area, the independent study or internship number in that area can be used with a title giving the focus of the learning.
  6. The number of credits to be granted for a specific course equivalency will be determined by the appropriate faculty member and departmental or interdisciplinary program chairperson or director. In no case will the credits granted be greater than that of the UW-Parkside course.
  7. A Portfolio may consist of more than one petition for credit. However, the student must submit the complete Portfolio, including all petitions for credit, at one time to the CEL Advisor. Only one Portfolio may be submitted per academic year. Subsequent submissions may not duplicate prior submissions, and are subject to the policies in place at the time of the subsequent submission. Upon review of the credit petition by the department, the student may be required to submit additional information to support the petition. This re-submission of additional information is not considered to be a separate submission, but rather an opportunity for re-evaluation by the academic department.
  8. All petitions, whether approved or denied, are to be signed by a faculty member and the respective department chairperson and dean. The department's decision must be rendered no later than one semester after the portfolio is submitted.
  9. Students requesting CEL must be matriculated at UW-Parkside and enrolled for not less than three credits of academic work when the credits are entered on their transcript.
  10. Credits will be entered on a student's transcript only after successful completion of one term, defined as twelve credits with a "C" grade point average (i.e., 2.0 grade point average) or higher in any UW-Parkside program.
  11. The academic department's decision as to whether to entertain a student's petition for CEL, as well as the number of credits to be petitioned, is final. In case of a disagreement over the awarding of credit after a student's portfolio has been evaluated, the appeal process will follow the process outlined under "Grade Appeals Procedure".
  12. CEL will be awarded and treated as transfer credits for purposes of meeting degree requirements.
  13. CEL are granted toward a UW-Parkside degree; policies of other universities will determine whether they would accept these credits for transfer into their programs.
  14. Policies and procedures in place at the time the Portfolio is submitted to the CEL Advisor must be observed by the student.