Putting together a portfolio
Aaron D. Gross
Any recommendations for methods of putting together a portfolio
of a combination of school and work experience and preparing it
for a Regents or Thomas Edison degree?
Albert J. Lepine
Hello Aaron
I have a portfolio link on my web site. This should help. Also, you may
try to call Regents, Charter Oaks or Thomas Edison. Again, their listed
on our page. You should be able to find the telephone numbers there.
Good Luck
Al Lepine
Director,APS
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Steve Levicoff
a...@pobox.com (Aaron D. Gross) writes:
>Any recommendations for methods of putting together a portfolio
>of a combination of school and work experience and preparing it
>for a Regents or Thomas Edison degree?
1. Go with Edison. They're far more flexible on portfolios than
Regents.
2. Get thy buns to a library that has a good selection of collge
catalogs - those from traditional colleges in general.
3. Leaf through the catalog and make a photocopy of *every* course
description (the course name plus the three or four-line
description of its content) that you feel you could challenge
based on the description of the course. Make a note of the
college, the year of the catalog, the department offering the
course, and the catalog page number.
4. Now get thy buns into thy basement, closets, and any other place
you store trivial papers, photographs, or other momentos that you
thought would never do you any good and match whetever you find to
the course description. Do the same for any significant papers
laying in your filing cabinet(s).
5. Gather up any current documentation that you feel could be useful
to challenging a course, especially work-related items if you
are in a position that involves a lot of paperwork - memos,
projects, etc. Match 'em up.
6. Make a list of all revelant books you have read on the subjects
you want to challenge - also list any courses, professional
workshops you have attended, and inservice training you have
received. Start with your own bookshelf or any certificates
you have in your file. Then relate them to the subjects you
want to challenge.
7. Now just write up your rationale for earning credit for the
courses you've chosen based on the "validating evidence" you can
submit.
8. Seek out people with whom you work or have ever worked and ask
them to write letters confirming your experience. Remember,
these are not letters of *recommendation*, they are letters of
*validation*. If your boss writes a letter saying "Aaron Gross
is a nice guy," it won't get you anywhere. However, if he or
she writes, "Aaron Gross coordinates administration, personnel,
and purchasing for our firm and exhibits sound fiscal, legal,
and negotiating skills," you've got enough to validate your
submissions in three different courses - administrative
management, personnel, and purchasing and negotiation." It also
helps if you have written your company's administrative manual,
employee handbook, and purchasing policies and procedures.
9. Make sure your course selection includes an adequate number of
upper-level credits. At Thomas Edison, these are defined as
any credits in a specific subject over six, which provides a
tremendous amount of flexibility. For example, if you challenge
three-credit courses in Trumpet I, French Horn I, and Piano I, one
of them can be treated as upper level, even though they may all
have lower-level course numbers in the college catalog from which
you cut the descriptions. However, try to concentrate on four-
year college catalogues, as TESC does have a cap on the number of
courses you can challenge from junior or community colleges.
10. Finally, learn how to "work the system." If, for example, you want
to earn credit in "word processing," don't look for a four-year
college that offers a course in word processing; look for a
*junior* college that offers two or three courses in word
processing and challenge them based on different levels (such as
basic, advanced, and supervisory). Also, remember that when it
comes to computer courses, a submission must have a significant
math component in order to qualify for liberal arts; if it is
practical in orientation, it does not qualify for liberal arts but
can still fit in as a free elective. (For example, BASIC, COBOL,
or Intro. to Computer Science qualify as liberal arts courses
under the math/natural science header; RPG, word processing, and
dabtabase management do not have significant math components, so
they would fit into the free elective area.) Last but not least,
be careful not to "double-dip" with similar course titles; in other
words, don't try to challenge "19th Century American History" and
"United States History 1801-1900" - they're the same course.
Remember that the more culturaly literate you already are, the more
courses you will be able to challenge. If you have spent years
watching PBS and reading nonfiction, you'll have a much easier time
than someone who has spent years reading comic books and watching soap
operas. Even then, chances are that, with a little research, you'll
still find courses to meet your needs. (Hell, even Berkeley offers a
course titled "The Films of Keanu Reeves." Now get thy buns to thy
local video store . . .) Hell, even I challenged a two-credit course
in folk guitar (for the curious, I found that one in the catalog of
Kent State U.), earning credit in about five minutes by playing two
songs for the evaluator.
Also remember that, if you *are* culturally literate and can challenge
a degree largely by portfolio, you won't learn a hell of a lot at the
bachelor's level (although you will certainly learn how to work the
system). So start making plans to find a graduate program where you
can actually *learn* something substantive and have some more fun.
Incidentally, if you don't have enough hard or written evidence for a
portfolio challenge, don't let it stop you. Remember that you have the
option of earning credit based on evidence alone, testing alone, or a
combination of evidence and testing. If you opt for testing, try to do
it in an oral exam format - written exams tend to represent *only* the
evaluator's perspective and do not allow the flexiblity of the oral
format. It's like dancing with your evaluator, with the difference
being which party will lead and which will follow. Also remember that
hard evidence can take many forms - it doesn't have to be a written
work, but can be drawings or other art, musical compositions, playbills
from acting experience, original recipes, sermons preached, talks
given, ad infinitum. And the same evidence can be used for multiple
submissions without being construed as "double dipping." For example,
if you have written an employee handbook, it can be used as evidence in
courses ranging from personnel administration to labor law to business
writing.
Both Edison and Regents have portfolio development manuals available;
you should obtain copies of both so you have an idea of the language
(or "jargon") they use.
Now, with all this said, don't laugh, campers - I did it myself. For
the curious, here's how I did my own B.A. in Humanities from Thomas
Edison, earning 98 credits by portfolio, testing out of an additional
16 credits through TECEP and DANTES exams, and carrying in only six
credits by previous coursework. Incidentally, even though I entered
with only six credits, the whole ball of wax took me only a year and a
half - with administrative and graduation paperwork included, I was in
and out in 1 year and 10 months, and have never been turned down by a
graduate program to which I've applied.
The broad area headers below represent TESC's "distribution rquirement"
for a bachelor's degree in a liberal arts area.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
WRITTEN EXPRESSION (6)
----------------------
Advanced Writing - Academic Forms Portfolio 3
Business English Portfolio 3
HUMANITIES (12)
---------------
Solfeggio & Dictation I Course 2
Keyboard Harmony I Course 1
Performance Class Course 1
Chorus Course 2
Radio Production I Portfolio 3
Mass Media Portfolio 3
SOCIAL SCIENCES (13)
--------------------
Alcohol Abuse - Fund. Facts TECEP 3
Substance Abuse - Fund. Facts TECEP 4
Society & Sexual Variations Portfolio 3
Arms Control & Disarmament Portfolio 3
MATH/NATURAL SCIENCE (12)
-------------------------
BASIC TECEP 3
Intro. to Computers & Program Design Portfolio 3
Human Reproductive Biology & Behavior Portfolio 3
Astronomy DANTES 3
LIBERAL ARTS ELECTIVES (18)
---------------------------
A Comprehensive Analysis of Abortion Portfolio 3
Advanced Radio Production Portfolio 3
Public Speaking I Portfolio 3
Broadcast Journalism I Portfolio 3
Rudiments of Music Portfolio 3
Folk Music in the United States Portfolio 3
CONCENTRATION AREA (33)
-----------------------
Public Speaking II Portfolio 3
Intro. to News Reporting TECEP 3
Publicity Methods in Organizations Portfolio 3
Recording Studio Portfolio 2
Harmony I Portfolio 3
Applied Piano Portfolio 3
Elementary Voice Portfolio 3
Folk Guitar Class Portfolio 2
Theology of the Cults Portfolio 3
Christian Social Ethics Portfolio 3
Toward a Theology of Peace Portfolio *3
Roman Catholic Theology Portfolio *2
FREE ELECTIVES (26)
-------------------
Administrative Management & Supervision Portfolio 3
Word Processing I Portfolio 3
Word Processing II Portfolio 3
Word Processing III Portfolio 3
Intro. to Publishing Portfolio 3
Piano Service Playing Portfolio 1
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Portfolio 1
Technical Writing Portfolio 3
Purchasing & Contracting Portfolio 3
Personnel Management Portfolio 3
Breakdown by Broad Area Breakdown by Methodology
------------------------ ---------------------------
Written Expression 9 Courses Transferred 6
Humanities 64 Testing (TECEP/DANTES) 16
Communications: 29 Portfolio 98
Music: 24
Theology: 11 Breakdown of
Social Sciences 16 Portfolio Credits (98)
Math/Science 13 ---------------------------
Business 18 Accepted on Evidence 78
--- Testing 6
120 Evidence + Test 6
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----------------------------
Steve Levicoff, Ph.D.
7662...@compuserve.com
----------------------------
DWhit9490
Aaron D. Gross asked:
Any recommendations for methods of putting together a portfolio
of a combination of school and work experience and preparing it
for a Regents or Thomas Edison degree?
In addition to the other advice you have received, I strongly encourage
you NOT to wait until your portfolio is completed before contacting the
college from which you will seek credit. While working at Regents, I
received many extensive portfolios that did not meet the college's
criteria--that is, the student wasted resources. The response was "do it
over."
I encourage you to: (1) select the college from which credit will be
sought; (2) contact the college to request the specifications and rules
that apply to portfolios at that college, and (3) THEN prepare your
portfolio to meet that college's requirements.
Douglas R. Whitney
Director
Sylvan Learning Center
13615 N. 35th Avenue, Ste. 8
Phoenix, AZ 85029
Phone: 602-548-2600
E-mail: DWhi...@aol.com
Ronald M. Isaacs
In article <5e60pg$5...@dfw-ixnews10.ix.netcom.com>
a...@pobox.com "Aaron D. Gross" writes:
> Any recommendations for methods of putting together a portfolio
> of a combination of school and work experience and preparing it
> for a Regents or Thomas Edison degree?
>
______________________________________________________________________________
Hi Aaron,
Thomas Edison published a book on this very subject ("Earning College Credit
for What You Know: A Student Handbook in Portfolio Assessment"). However, I
don't know if it's still available.
Regents had (maybe still do) an arrangement with Ohio University whereby they
accepted, for credit purposes, portfolio assessment by that college.
Best wishes,
Ron Isaacs <r...@educ.demon.co.uk>
URL: http://www.educ.demon.co.uk
Tess
Contact Thomas Edison. They will send you a Portfolio Assessment
Handbook free of charge. I am using it now, and have found it
invaluable. It will be useful to you wherever you decide to apply for
portfolio assessment.
Tess
Aaron D. Gross <a...@pobox.com> wrote in article
<5e60pg$5...@dfw-ixnews10.ix.netcom.com>...
Earon Kavanagh
John Bear's Guide (1996 edition) lists a source for purchasing examples of
good and bad Portfolios
for around $65 U.S. Thomas Edison publishes a booklet for free, which is
quite good. I have thought about acquiring the package noted in Bear's
Guide but haven't gotten around to it yet. (It seems that round tuits are
difficult to acquire).
Earon kavanagh
Ronald M. Isaacs <r...@educ.demon.co.uk> wrote in article
<856136...@educ.demon.co.uk>...
> > of a combination of school and work experience and preparing it
> > for a Regents or Thomas Edison degree?
> >
>