Student Academic Portfolio

A Student's Guide
to
THE STUDENT ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO

Question: "What is a Student Academic Portfolio? And why is it important?""

The Student Academic Portfolio is:

    A student's personal academic record
    A demonstration of a student's academic accomplishments
    A sampling of a student's academic projects and products
    A way to show prospective employers the good academic work you have done

But most important,
A Student Academic Portfolio is a way to ask a college to grant college credit to you for the work you have done in another setting!

Nazarene Bible College has a way by which you may receive college credit toward a degree by submitting your Student Academic Portfolio, enrolling in and completing at least one course (even an On-line course is enough), and paying an evaluation and credit posting fee to the college. NBC will evaluate your Portfolio by set criteria and will grant college credit for courses which meet that criteria.

Question: "O.K. But what do you mean when you say 'Work I have done in another setting?'"

If you have taken courses in the military, or as part of your job, or at an unaccredited college, it is possible for you to ask to receive college credit on the basis of the information and documents contained in your Student Academic Portfolio.

Question: "Could you be more specific? What does a Student Academic Portfolio look like? Please describe it for me."

A Student Academic Portfolio can be just a stack of papers, but is best if it appears attractive and well-organized. It should be "packaged" so that the person to whom you submit the Portfolio can handle it with ease. This will help to convince the evaluator that the contents are valuable and worth their attention.

The Student Academic Portfolio is a set of papers and documents chosen to demonstrate that your class work was college level quality and that the content and extent of your learning was enough to be acceptable as college credit. The Portfolio should be a number of items divided into separate files. The files and items should then be arranged and placed into an order which will help persuade college officials that your work deserves to be granted college credit.

Question: "Whose responsibility is it to make and keep this Portfolio? If it is my job, will I get any help?"

Yes, keeping your Student Academic Portfolio is your responsibility, and

Yes, you will receive all the help you ask for. Your teachers and the Training Center Director will advise you as you build your Portfolio.

Question: "What do I need to get started? And when do I start? Just exactly what do I do?"

To get started building your Student Academic Portfolio is easy. (Finishing it is another issue but just as easy.) You will build your Portfolio as you take courses in your Training Center. To start your Portfolio, you will need a number of file folders.

The first folder you should label "Supporting Materials." Into this, place the following materials as they are available:

A copy of the Catalog of the Training Center
A copy of your transcript or course record from the Training Center showing the grades you earned
Any brochures, newsletters, and information circulars for the Training Center
Any letters or certificates telling about your achievements, awards, and honors from your time at the Training Center
Any other material which would show that the academic work you did and the learning you gained is worthy of college credit

The other folders should be labeled with the name of each course you take in your Training Center, one folder for each course. In each course folder you should place the following materials:

A copy of the course syllabus
The final examination, and/or other major exam-inations for the course; it should be the original, graded paper(s)
Any major research papers or projects you produced for the course; it should be the original, graded paper
An official report of your class attendance and final grade
Additional course information (If the course syllabus does not have the following information, add extra pages to the course folder.)
Some statement of the qualifications of the instructor
The course title and description
A list of textbooks and other curricular material used (both required and supplemental) in appropriate bibliographical form
The course purpose and objectives
The course requirements and some idea of the instructor's criteria for assigning grades
Some indication of the number of times the class met and the length of each meeting

Question: "You said something about finishing the Student Academic Portfolio. How do I do that?"

You finish the Portfolio by gathering all the information needed and putting it into a package that will be easy to carry, send, or be handled by persons who will evaluate it. You may wish to put all the file folders in an accordion folder, or perhaps in a large three-ring binder. At the very least, you should use a large manila envelop to hold everything in one package. Be sure to put all the course folders in proper order and the supplementary materials file at the end. You may wish to start the whole package with a list of every file included.

Remember that the purpose of the Student Academic Portfolio is to persuade a college official to grant college credit to you for the work you did and the learning you gained. The clearer and more complete you make your Portfolio, the more likely it is that you will receive the credit.

Question: "If I want college credit from NBC, how do I go about using the Student Academic Portfolio to do that?""If I want college credit from NBC, how do I go about using the Student Academic Portfolio to do that?"

After you have finished the Portfolio, you should contact NBC (the address is at the beginning of this brochure).

Complete an Admission Application Form sent by the Admissions Office; or you may complete that form on the NBC Web page (www.nbc.edu).

Enroll for at least one course at NBC. You may enroll for a course on the NBC campus in Colorado Springs or for a course through NBC OnLine. Also, the college offers several short, one-week courses on campus during the year which may suit this purpose for you.

Send or deliver your Student Academic Portfolio to the Admissions Office with a cover letter asking that it be evaluated for the granting of college credit. Also include payment of the evaluation fee for each credit hour you expect to receive.

Question: "What will happen then? When will I receive the credit from my Student Academic Portfolio?"

Your Portfolio will be evaluated by an NBC professor and you will be advised of the result of that evaluation. Then, after you have finished the NBC course you are taking with a grade of "C" or better, any accepted college credit will be placed on an official NBC Transcript with a notation that the credit was granted by portfolio evaluation. All credit granted through this process will be honored toward a degree at NBC.

If you have more questions which have not been answered here, please contact us.

Prepared by the Office Of Extension Education
Nazarene Bible College
1111 Academy Park Loop
Colorado Springs, CO 80910
719-596-5110, Ext. 160
719-550-9437 FAX
E-mail: JPStelting@nbc.edu