Description
Active military and veteran students seeking degrees, certificates, and licensure enter colleges and universities with a significant disadvantage when transferring educational credits for knowledge, skills, and abilities earned while in military service to civilian institutions. The language of the military presents challenges in interpreting the Joint Service Transcript and equating military experience for college courses with similar learning outcomes. This product dissertation presents a Concept Model for Transitioning Military Experience to College Credit. The model focuses on military medics to civilian paramedics; however, it can be adapted to many different courses of study. The model consists of six steps: (1) Segmenting Existing Curricula, (2) Assessing Transcripts, (3) Aligning Outcomes, (4) Evaluating Portfolios for Prior Learning Credit, (5) Awarding CBE Credits, and (6) Identifying Curricular Overlap and New Module Design. With the necessary dedicated support of the faculty, staff, and administration, military-to-college course crosswalks can be identified and areas of overlap and deficiencies become clear. Military students will be able to maximize their military education, training, and experience with prior experiential credit and shorten the time to degree completion, certification, licensure, and ultimately civilian employment.
