Portfolio is an extended statement about personal, professional, and educational goals, a chronology of relevant professional experiences, and an extensive written description, analysis, and documentation of these experiences.
Portfolio Credit must be requested before the end of the first week of classes each semester following the procedure below:
- The student meets with the advisor and the instructor to review the course.
- If the advisor and/or instructor believes the experiences appear to have involved college learning, the advisor completes a Request for Portfolio Credit form including whether the student will get a letter grade or prefers the Pass/Fail option (only used for elective credit), obtains required signatures, and forwards it to the Portfolio Program Coordinator.
The Request for Portfolio Credit form is available in the Express Center or MyCSM. - All portfolios will be presented in a manner consistent with the academic discipline for which the portfolio is prepared.
The portfolio may be a written paper or other substantive project or product that demonstrates college-level learning as assessed by a faculty review and consistent with the rigor appropriate to that discipline. Any form of portfolio should demonstrate academic excellence with respect to its development, presentation, and delivery.
A portfolio will generally consist of the following minimum requirements:
--A title page which shall list the course(s) being petitioned together with student contact information including name, address, and telephone numbers (work and home);
--A Table of contents;
--Resume;
--Statement of learning goals;
--Supporting documentation (In the event of projects or products that cannot be reduced to writing, photographs, drawings, source codes, or other evidence may be submitted at the discretion and direction of the faculty reviewer to fulfill this requirement.) -
The final grade will be entered by the faculty reviewer assigned to the portfolio during final grade entry for the semester in which the portfolio is completed.
-
The portfolio will be kept on file with the documentation for 30 days after the grade has been posted. When credit is accepted, a letter or pass/fail grade will be given as stipulated in the course petition.
-
Restrictions:
Students may not receive credit through Portfolio Development and Assessment for:
--a course that is a prerequisite for a course already taken
--an equivalent college course already taken
--certain restricted courses (please see the program coordinator for restricted courses)
Students must be degree seeking or seeking certification or recertification and be currently enrolled at College of Saint Mary to seek portfolio credit. A time limit of one traditional semester for completion is allowed. The university policy for incomplete grades may be applied if requested. Students have the opportunity to develop portfolios throughout their academic careers at College of Saint Mary, but may not exceed 10% of the total credit hours required for their degree. Note: Credits obtained by these alternative methods, excluding some DSST examinations, are accepted at College of Saint Mary. Official documentation must be provided in order to obtain these credits. Policies at other educational institutions may vary. However, the maximum number of portfolio credits for the Ed.D. program is 6, with approval from the Program Director and Vice President for Academic Affairs or designee. -
Credit established through Prior Learning and Portfolio Program Development and Assessment is accomplished through College of Saint Mary initiated outcomes and evaluated by College of Saint Mary faculty, and therefore, those credits will be recorded as being earned from College of Saint Mary.