Empire’s Credit for Prior Learning Process – individualized credit requests

1. Step one – Create Requests

Work with your Mentor/Advisor, or take the Prior Learning Assessment course, to create individualized credit requests.

2. Step two – Submit Credit Requests

3. Step three – Complete the Evaluation

Prepare for the Evaluation

After the evaluator has reviewed your request, they will conduct an interview with you to gain a more in-depth understanding of your knowledge. You are expected to participate actively in the evaluation process. The evaluator may ask you to demonstrate or elaborate further on your learning. The evaluator needs to be confident that your learning is college level and not redundant with other learning in your degree plan.

Think about questions that the evaluator may want to ask you and think about possible responses that you can provide. The interview process can be interesting and informative. The interview is an opportunity for you to discuss ways in which you have used your knowledge and applied that knowledge in different situations. It can result in an increased understanding of your learning and provide you with new or differing perspectives.

Important to Note

1. An evaluator may ask for additional information, depending on the topic of evaluation (e.g., evaluators of Business Communications may ask to see sample reports, proposals, or speeches; evaluators of Accounting may ask you to work on a sample problem; evaluators of foreign languages may ask you to do a translation; evaluators of dance or music performance may ask to see a performance video).
2. An evaluator recommends credit/no credit, amount of credit, and level of credit. An evaluator also may adjust the title of the subject area to most accurately identify your learning.
3. An evaluator submits their report to the Office of Prior Learning.
4. Recommended credit is available for you to use in your degree plan. Recommended credit does not become actual credit until an academic review committee approves your degree plan.  Academic review committees are the final part of the “checks and balances” system, to ensure that the recommended credit makes sense in your degree plan and does not overlap with any other credit.