TESU Portfolio Reviews – What do they review?

[RKanarek]

Greetings,
 
It is my “plan” to earn college credit for my ABET BSESET via TESU’s portfolio review process, much like it was Captain Smith “plan” for the Titanic’s first transatlantic journey to be uneventful. Unlike the good captain, I can see trouble on the horizon. I have attempted to address some of my concerns with the folks at TESU, but my attempts have clearly wanted of success. Perhaps you can help.
 
My concerns involve what TESU will review for portfolio PLA college credit and what they won’t, and how persnickety they are likely to be.
 
My situation is complicated by the fact that I wish to have as many engineering credits on my technology transcript as possible, both to make it more of an engineering’ish degree and because I actually want to study engineering. Ideally, this would be achieved by substituting PLA-based engineering course for technology courses, but I'd also like to have the option of adding PLA-based engineering courses as electives/excelsior/etc.
 
Q1. Will TESU's portfolio review award engineering credit for engineering study, or will they award technology credit for engineering study (where an engineering course subsumes a technology course), or will they not review such a portfolio at all? (I believe I asked such a question to someone relevant at TESU years ago, and I believe the answer had something to do with “learning outcomes,” but it’s so hard to tell when someone is being evasive or just incomplete. And, yes, "incomplete" is the bowdlerize version of what I wanted to write.)

Q2. Some institutions classify exactly the same course under two different departments. For example, whether an intro to PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) course is classified as an engineering course, an mechatronics course, or literally both, varies. (TESU classifies one as a CTR course, and I'm sure some institutions classify such a course as an ET course.) How important is a courses classification as apposed to what it actually covers?
 
3. If TESU awards LL credit for a course, but the syllabus I’m using for a portfolio review awards UL credit for a similar, but presumably legitimately more advanced course, am I likely to have a problem?
 
4. Is TESU’s “PLA Portfolio Assessment Course Description Database” (https://www2.tesu.edu/plasearch.php) a convenience or a restriction?
 
Feel free to add any useful information, and thanks in advance.

[ROYISAGIRL]

Q1. Will TESU's portfolio review award engineering credit for engineering study, or will they award technology credit for engineering study (where an engineering course subsumes a technology course), or will they not review such a portfolio at all? (I believe I asked such a question to someone relevant at TESU years ago, and I believe the answer had something to do with “learning outcomes,” but it’s so hard to tell when someone is being evasive or just incomplete. And, yes, "incomplete" is the bowdlerize version of what I wanted to write.)

When they answered your question talking about "learning outcomes" they weren't being evasive or incomplete. I say this as someone who has written 3 separate portfolios all for upper level credit. When you look at a courses syllabus they have what are called learning outcomes which is what you should be able to answer or learn about when you complete a course. Let's say your engineering course you picked had a learning outcome of being about to use a random formula x+y=z. You will describe in your portfolio how you know how to use x+y=z and where you learned it from giving examples of say you learned it while being an technician at ABC company. You will write something for each learning outcome from the syllabus you found.

The PLA database is to help you. You can choose a course in the database *this just shows what courses people have PLA'd* or you can pick a course that's not in the database. I picked two from the database and one from APUS using their syllabus.

Edited to add: TESU also has example Portfolios you can look at to see how someone else did theirs. Heck I'd give you one of mine to look it if it'll help you.

[tesu-acct-student]

It starts with the student, not the university. For example, you're not going to sit down with an advisor and have them tell you what you are qualified to earn credit for. Your first step is to comb through the PLA database to find courses that you:

a) need for your degree

b) have experiences in, and evidence for that experience.

If you find courses that meet the above criteria, then enroll in PLA-1010. This course will teach you how to create a portfolio for the courses you chose in step 1. One nice feature of this course is that it includes the ability for you to earn credit for four additional courses (12 credits) via portfolio eval. So you pay for PLA-1010 but can get up to 15 total credits from it (3 credits from the course itself and 12 credits from the four portfolios you will create).

Portfolios include the following:

a) An essay you write that demonstrates that you have the competencies in the course you chose in step 1. In this essay you should address the course's Learning Outcomes and Course Description with specific examples based on your experiences.
b) Evidence of your experiences, such as certificates and a bibliography. The bibliography can include books you've read, videos you've watched, seminars attended, etc.

More information is available at the link below, including example portfolios. There also is a link in my bio with my portfolio tips.

https://www.tesu.edu/admissions/methods-...ssment.php

Information about the additional 12 credits is available here:

https://www.tesu.edu/tuition-financial-a...nd-pla.php

Wishing you all the best!

[RKanarek]

Greetings,

Thank you for the replies and for the kind words! You have no idea how scarce the latter are, particularly with regard to my undergrad studies. Also, allow me to profusely apologize for the missing “Q”s by questions three and four. As I’ve long bemoaned, I really do need a proofreader.

Perhaps you will forgive me if I trespass further upon your time by ask you answer a completely hypothetical question on portfolio reviews as they are done at TESU. The question is intended, of course, only to test my understanding of the TESU process. From your kind replies, it would seem as if the reviews work much as I would hope. I am extremely suspicious of things on those rare occasions when they seem to be going my way.

• Assume that I wished to obtain UL undergrad credit for an extremely advanced mathematical subject. (Nothing could be further from the truth; remember this is part of a hypothetical question.)

• Assume that I found a current syllabus from a prestigious RA university for that tricky mathematical subject.

• Assume that I were to complete a portfolio so perfect that TESU would put a gold star on my transcript, and which so clearly demonstrated that I had matched every “learning outcome” that no one in their right mind, and few in their wrong mind, could dispute my submission.

• Assume that TESU doesn’t have anyone on their staff, administrative or faculty, that is mathematically qualified in the particular course.

• Finally, assume that the math course whose syllabus I’m using is used by its university as part of a particular course of study, let’s say a bachelor’s degree in QSR (quantum shoe repair).

Am I to understand that TESU would award credit for the course to my transcript (at the least) because I proved beyond a reasonable doubt that I met the “learning outcomes” of the syllabus, and that TESU would not refuse to do so because they lacked a suitable mathematics professor, and/or because the course wasn’t required by my degree, and/or because the course was listed as a QSR course even though it was clearly exclusively mathematical in nature, and/or because the course wasn’t in TESU’s database?

Thanks again for past and future help!

And thanks for the offers of sample portfolios! Again, you folks are extremely kind and it is appreciated! Still, as you probably have observed, prattling at length is not something I have trouble with. ;-)

[tesu-acct-student]

You would only write portfolios for courses that were approved. So you wouldn't waste your time writing a portfolio unless TESU approved the course first. The portfolio must be reviewed by the appropriate professor. Otherwise how do they know that you know what you say you know? If they don't have such a person then they can't review it, which is why the courses have to be approved first.

[bjcheung77]

Depending on your details within the addendum and template, you may want to go into a leadership or management role that overlooks the department of engineers... It really is up to your with what you need or want. With a bigger picture of what you're trying to accomplish and what your end goal is, we can further lay pathways and routes you can take to get to that educational goal... https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

[ROYISAGIRL]

You definitely have some interesting hypothetical, but I would make a post using the addendum as BJ has stated. It will give us an idea of what you are really looking for, what you have already completed, and what degree you are trying to get.

From my research into PLAs, none of the schools will let you do a portfolio if the classes you are trying to PLA dont fit your degree plan or if they dont have a SME to review your portfolio.

Taking PLA 100 and PLA 200 ( the course names maybe different now) prepares you for doing Portfolios and, as a bonus, gets you some RA credits. Keep in mind that since you used math as your hypothetical, some courses can't be PLA'd, and some math courses are included.

The course doesn't have to be in the PLA database, and it doesn't have to have a specific name that fits your degree, i.e.. your engineering degree needs analytical math and the course you picked is called math for clouds, but the syllabus shows that it is in fact an analytical math class. This class still works.

One of my courses wasn't in the database, but the syllabus showed it would fit into my degree plan, the environmental SMEs could review the syllabus and my portfolio to see if I really learned everything and my evidence of that learning was sound. Finding the courses to PLA is the easy part dont overthink this. The hard part is proving you know the information and having the evidence to back that up.

So please fill out the addendum so we can get a full grasp on what you're trying to accomplish.

[davewill]

You've gotten decent advice. I'm replying mainly to include the two links in my signature to information on PLA and completing portfolios. I did a number of them because, at the time, we didn't have all of the ACE credit choices we have now. If you can take a self-paced online course, that will, in general, be faster and easier than PLA.

In general, the portfolio is made up of:

1. A narrative describing the experience, course, or other study from which you gained the knowledge in question.
2. A professional resume, if applicable.
3. An inventory of the learning objectives, specifying the source of your learning for that objective, be it work experience, self-study, training, etc...
4. Evidence, if applicable. These would be awards, patents, syllabus, a Github repo, art portfolio, training certificates, etc..
5. References. In my case, these were letters from previous supervisors, testifying that I did the tasks I claimed on the projects I described. I suppose it could also be letters from previous instructors or mentors that can directly vouch for your learning.

I also included a bibliography of books I had read that were applicable to the learning objectives, but it's not one of the standard items requested.