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Prior Learning Portfolio

Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) Portfolio

If you’ve gained knowledge and skills outside the classroom that are equivalent to college-level learning, UW-Green Bay offers you the opportunity to earn credit through a CPL Portfolio. This process allows you to demonstrate your learning and apply it toward your degree.

What's a CPL Portfolio?

A CPL Portfolio is a collection of evidence that showcases your learning from life or work experiences. It’s not about what you’ve done—it’s about what you’ve learned. Faculty members will assess your portfolio to determine if you’ve gained enough knowledge to earn credit for specific UW-Green Bay courses.

Portfolio Contents

The portfolio should contain each of the following:

  1. Request for Credit for Prior Learning
    (online form or printable pdf)
  2. An abstract summarizing the contents of your Portfolio
  3. Résumé
  4. Current UW-Green Bay transcript (unofficial) and if applicable, other transfer institutions (unofficial)
  5. Prior Learning Narrative
  6. Documentation

Tip: It is the expectation that an individual seeking Credit for Prior Learning will have been exposed to the theory and to the corresponding literature within a subject area such that they can understand, reason about and explain to others the problems, choices and decisions that are the content of a particular subject.

Portfolio Process

The steps below outline the procedures for the submission and review of a CPL documentation portfolio. Review them carefully.

Step 1: Contact Testing Services

The Portfolio process begins with a conversation between the student and the Coordinator of Testing Services. During this initial conversation, the Coordinator will: 

  1. Determine if the student’s learning may qualify for credit, and/or 
  2. Recommend that the student contact a faculty member to determine if the learning experiences may qualify for credit. 
  3. May also recommend other avenues for earning credit (e.g., CLEP or Challenge examinations).

Coordinator of Testing Services
920-465-2221
testing@uwgb.edu

Step 2: Prepare a CPL Portfolio

Prepare a CPL Portfolio. There are 2 options: either an electronic portfolio or a hard copy paper portfolio. If it is a hard copy paper portfolio, download the "Request for Credit for Prior Learning" (a one-page form) to include.

Step 3: Submit the CPL Portfolio

Students submit their CPL Portfolio to the Coordinator of Testing Services, who forwards the Portfolio to the appropriate faculty member(s) for evaluation. Students pay the initial administrative fee when they submit their Portfolio to the Coordinator of Testing Services. See the Fee Policy for details.

Electronic Submission

If your CPL portfolio documentation is electronic, submit your documents using the Credit for Prior Learning Portfolio Submission Request form and arrange to pay the initial administrative fee with the Testing Coordinator.

Submit a Portfolio

Hard Copy Paper

If your CPL documentation is a Hard Copy Paper Portfolio, arrange for submission and paying the initial administrative fee with the Testing Coordinator.

Note: Subsequent submissions of Portfolios may not duplicate prior submissions, and are subject to the policies (including those related to fees) in place at the time of the subsequent submission.

Step 4: Review of Materials

Once your materials are submitted, the Coordinator of Testing Services will process the $50 per portfolio fee and check that everything is in order. To ensure your portfolio meets requirements, it must include:

  • A Request for Credit for Prior Learning form.
  • A narrative explaining your learning, along with documentation or evidence to support it.
  • Proof that your knowledge is current and has been applied outside of a college setting.
  • The course number, title and credits requested. If your prior learning doesn’t match a specific course, an independent study (298/498) or internship (497) number can be used with a title that describes your learning.

Once these conditions are met, the Coordinator of Testing Services forwards the student’s CPL Portfolio and “Request for Credit for Prior Learning” to the appropriate unit chairperson, who identifies which faculty member(s) should evaluate the Portfolio.

The appropriate faculty members review the student’s materials, and decide whether and how much CPL to award. The number of credits to be granted for a specific course equivalency will be determined by the appropriate faculty member and unit chairperson. A Portfolio request for a particular course that is not currently offered, or that uses the independent study or internship number, can be assessed only if there is a faculty member within the relevant interdisciplinary or disciplinary unit able to evaluate the request.

Faculty members aren't required to evaluate Portfolio requests. All petitions, whether approved or denied, are to be signed by a faculty member and the respective interdisciplinary or disciplinary unit chairperson. The signed Request for Credit for Prior Learning Form and CPL Portfolio are returned to the Coordinator of Testing Services.

Step 5: Notification & Appeals

If at least one (1) Credit for Prior Learning has been awarded, the Coordinator of Testing Services reviews the signed Request for Credit for Prior Learning form, the CPL Portfolio and the student’s academic record for conformance with the following:

  • The credits granted don't exceed those of the equivalent UW-Green Bay course(s).
  • You must be matriculated at UW-Green Bay and enrolled for at least three credits of UW-Green Bay academic work when the Prior Learning credits are added transcript (or when requested, if the CPL request crosses semesters).

You’ll receive written notification from the Coordinator of Testing Services of the decision made by the faculty and unit chair. If you’re not satisfied with the number or type of credits awarded, you can:

  1. First, contact the faculty member(s) who evaluated your request to discuss the decision. They may request additional information from you.
  2. If still dissatisfied, you can appeal to the unit chair who evaluated your portfolio, who will review the case with the evaluating faculty member.
  3. If necessary, you can further appeal to the academic dean, who will consult with both the evaluating faculty and chair for a final review.

Step 6: Fee Payment & Transcript Update

If you've been awarded credit(s) for your Portfolio, the Coordinator of Testing Services will request the final assessment fee, based on the number of credits awarded. (see Fee Policy).

After you pay the assessment fee, the Coordinator will process your payment and notify the Registrar’s Office to add your credits to your transcript. A copy of your Request for Credit for Prior Learning and a summary of your portfolio will be kept in your Testing Services file.

UW-Green Bay will award and treat Prior Learning credits like transfer credits for purposes of meeting undergraduate degree requirements. They don't count toward “in residence” credits and the associated grade is not included in the term and cumulative grade point average. Prior Learning credits are granted toward a UW-Green Bay degree; policies of other colleges would determine whether they would accept these Prior Learning credits for transfer into their program. The student must observe policies and procedures in place at the time the Portfolio is submitted to the Coordinator of Testing Services.

Prior Learning Narrative

The Prior Learning Narrative describes the learning in detail and is often similar to a major term paper for a course. This should be several pages in length. The narrative discusses theories, concepts and corresponding literature; and demonstrates the student’s ability to understand, reason about and/or explain problems, choices and/or decisions of the particular subject. The narrative must be well documented. Writing a successful narrative is more likely if you observe the following guidelines. Prepare a Prior Learning Narrative for each course (or group of similar courses) for which you are requesting CPL.

  1. Prepare a Chronological Outline of prior learning for which you are seeking CPL. To do so, create a table with the following headers. List everything that seems to fit under these headers.
    • Volunteer group, organization or sponsor
    • Work position or title
    • Seminar, workshop or short course title
    • Time spent in lecture and/or time spent in lab (active participation)
    • Learning activities or responsibilities or topics covered (in detail)
    • Use of learning over the past several years
    • Bibliography – Relevant readings
    • Documentation
  2. Select a fitting course. Read the general descriptions of the majors and minors in the UW-Green Bay Catalog to find at least one in which you think your learning fits. Review the course descriptions in the major or minor that you have selected. Select the course in that program that seems most like your prior learning. Note: It is possible that you will have prior learning that fits in a major or minor area but that is not addressed in a current course. At this point, it may be most appropriate to seek the advice of a faculty member in the major or minor area regarding the possibility of receiving independent study credit for your prior learning.
  3. Compare your Prior Learning with a recent syllabus. Obtain a recent copy of the course syllabus from the department or from the faculty member. After reviewing the syllabus, consider carefully several questions before proceeding: 
    1. Do I have this knowledge (learning/competency)?
    2. Can I prove it?
    3. Is it worth the time and energy to prove it?
    4. How does it fit into my overall educational and professional goals?
  4. Create a Narrative Outline. When deciding the focus of the Narrative’s body, review carefully the course goals, objectives, learning outcomes, topics and/or requirements (e.g., papers) stated in the syllabus. For each of these syllabus elements, identify key words from your Chronological Outline. The purpose of this step is to ensure that what you have learned (i.e., the information on your Chronological Outline) is clearly aligned with the material covered in the course. If the key words from your Chronological Outline are limited to only two or three topics from the course syllabus, you may want to consider looking at another course.
    1. Draft your Prior Learning Narrative. Excellent narratives are written in the first person (i.e., “I,” “me,” “mine”); have a clear, topical focus; are well organized; exhibit good writing skills; demonstrate good analysis and evaluation of the material learned; and recognize references appropriately. Remember that you are requesting credit for prior learning, not credit for prior experience. Discuss your learning throughout the process.

      Writing references that may prove helpful include the MLA Handbook, the Chicago Manual of Style, Harbrace College Handbook and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. The UW-Green Bay Learning Center offers writing assistance in the form of brief publications and personal attention.
    2. Proofread and edit the Prior Learning Narrative.
    3. Compile your annotated Bibliography, using your Chronological Outline as a reference point.
  5. Assemble your Documentation, using the suggestions that follow this section.

Tip: Your Narrative shouldn't be a chronological review of your career or professional development activities. Keep in mind that you are trying to demonstrate that you know the material covered in a particular course, and that experiences alone do not constitute learning. Instead of asking yourself “what have I done?” ask yourself “what have I learned from my experiences?” Then, “How does what I have learned relate to a particular course?”

Portfolio Documentation

Your documentation should show that you understand the key theories behind your experience and back up the claims in your narrative. It's important to provide proof of your accomplishments, the outcomes of your work and any evaluations from supervisors. Simply stating that you have experience is not enough—you need to show evidence of what you’ve achieved and how your knowledge was applied. This documentation should go beyond listing job duties and demonstrate that you understand the reasoning behind the actions you took. Documentation could include certificates from workshops, letters from supervisors or other verified sources that support your claims.

Note: As much as possible, documentation should be copies of originals (i.e., not your original documents).

Example Portfolio Documentation

  • Verification Letter*
  • Certificates of completion
  • Commendations
  • Newspaper articles 
  • Exam reports
  • Work samples
  • Transcripts
  • Writing samples
  • Job descriptions
  • Course outlines or syllabi
  • Publications
  • Photographs
  • Recordings
  • Reports and proposals written
  • Licenses
  • Performance & promotion evaluations

*Verification Letter

One of the most important forms of documentation can be a verification letter. A verification letter provides evidence that the learning you have declared actually occurred, and it affirms the qualitative nature of your experiences. It is not a credit recommendation or a personal letter of recommendation. The letter written will be public and will be seen by you and various faculty members. When seeking a verification letter, explain that you are seeking college CPL. Provide the following guidelines to the individual writing a letter for you:

  • Use letterhead stationery
  • Identify the relationship (e.g., supervisor), and give a description of the situation in which the learning and experiences occurred
  • Give examples, wherever possible, of the standards used to evaluate performance as they relate to the learning and experiences

Tip: It is essential that when experience is claimed in specific areas, documentation be provided of the results of that experience, the accomplishments that have been achieved and evaluations that have been made by supervisory personnel of those accomplishments. A claim of experience is insufficient. There must be evidence of the level and extent of that experience through the results achieved. Such documentation must not be simply descriptive of job duties but reflect a familiarity with the theoretical underpinnings that support actions and decisions in which the individual has participated.

Portfolio Fees

A non-refundable administrative fee of $50 is due when you submit your portfolio. The assessment fee is $50 per credit requested. This assessment fee is intended to cover the cost of reviewing the portfolio. Refer to the table for example totals.

Credits RequestedAdmin FeeAssessment FeeTotal
3 credits
$50$150$200
6 credits
$50$300$350
9 credits
$50$450$500
12 credits
$50
$600
$650

Meet a
Phoenix

"You could consider me “the poster child” for the non-traditional college student. After 40 years in the workforce, with retirement in my near future, my plan for subsidizing my income meant earning my associate degree... thanks to Pam Gilson, and the variety of options that UWGB offers for non-traditional students, I was able to earn 61 credits (the required amount for an Associate degree) in one year, never having to step foot on the campus once. Without this flexibility, college would have been an impossibility for me."

Jennifer Seggerman '20

Pam Gilson

Have Questions?

For questions about submitting a prior learning portfolio for review, contact Pam Gilson at gilsonp@uwgb.edu or 920-465-2221.

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