Prior Learning Assessment

Do you have prior work experience that you believe has led to learning that matches what is taught in a Penn State course? Credit by portfolio assessment (Policy E-10) is a process for Penn State students to demonstrate what they have learned through prior experiences, and to turn that experience and an academic portfolio into academic course credit.

Note that you can’t get credit just from having experience. The process of portfolio assessment requires that students demonstrate and document learning equivalent to a particular course. Portfolio Assessment is not “an easy way to earn credits,” but rather a rigorous process that enables students, through careful reflection and documentation, to prove learning equivalent to a Penn State course.

Here's a Quick Guide for how you can do this:

Quick Guide for Credit by Portfolio Assessment

Here are the steps for earning credit by portfolio assessment for a course from the departments in the College of Health and Human Development:

1. Review the course descriptions in the Penn State Bulletin and identify the course or courses that you think best match the learning you have gained from your experiences. It is the student’s responsibility to identify the course(s) for which they would like to document.
2. Submit the Prior Learning Request in LionPath (see information at Portfolio assessment) and the “Initial Application for Credit by Portfolio Assessment Review” to briefly describe the experiences you have and the courses that you think you can document by portfolio. This allows us to complete an initial review before you put all the work into developing your portfolio.
3. After the initial review by the College and the Department is complete, the Department may be able to share more information with you about the course (e.g., a syllabus). You can develop and submit your portfolio to the academic department through LionPath. Your portfolio should be submitted as a single pdf document in LionPath. If you have documentation that is best submitted in another format (e.g., video) or any questions about the process, please contact Ms. Heather Zimmerman (hdh3@psu.edu) using the subject line “Portfolio Review”
4. A Penn State faculty member will review your portfolio to evaluate your learning. The Department may also ask you to revise the portfolio to address any questions identified by the Penn State faculty member. If approved, the Department will let you know through LionPath.

That’s it. If your portfolio is approved by the academic department, the credits will be added to your Penn State transcript and the Bursar office will charge your bill for the evaluation ($150).