About Narrative Transcripts.
- Because of the nature of our 'external' (aggregate-learning) degrees, a full transcript
description of components would - particularly at bachelor or master level - ordinarily
require transmission of a bulky portfolio, or direct the reader to further access the
calendars (print or online) of various institutions as well as make access to relevant
employment documentation, etc. Some such documentation is not readily accessed or
further reproducible due to various laws relating to privacy.
- Furthermore, in recent decades - and particularly in North America - the academic
transcript has become a somewhat problematic document for many readers. Without
full access - print or online - to the awarding institution's calender, readers can only
guess at the content of various abbreviated course levels and descriptions. Courses and
related hours (laboratory, field, etc) are offered in varying formats and the cumulative
significance of "credits" can vary considerably.
- The narrative transcript (NT) is our alternative. For degree-award purpose the
candidate's portfolio - credentialing of courses, stand-alone proctored examinations,
work-based and other experiential learning, oral examination, dissertation,
supplementary assignments, relevant professional experience, etc - is equated to full
(FTE) academic-years-equivalent (FAYE). The traditional or core-concept FAYE, to which
we equate, comprises 360 instructor-contact hours accompanied by 720 hours of related
personal study, the writing of papers, etc. The traditional academic formula is adjusted
(but not depreciated) where a particular learning program places greater emphasis on
self-directed study, computer-assisted instruction, and/or experiential learning
(including internship) - or vice versa (intensively-structured contact learning).
- Our awarding of FAYE credit for a tightly-limited number of directly related
(degree-context) professional experience years merits some explanation. Our policy has
forebears and relatives. Bachelor graduates of Oxford and Cambridge traditionally have
been awarded the master degree after four years of informally-assumed further personal
study, school teaching, etc. Monitored internships are an integral part of Montessori and
various other teacher-qualifying degree programs. Various institutions will permit an
associate degree graduate, with five subsequent years of directly-relevant employment, to
then proceed directly into a master program. Etc. Our portfolio category B component
reflects these various precedents - and is much more restrictively implemented than the
"life-experience" formulae now widely used at various universities and colleges.
- To further assist recipients of our transcripts, the part-portfolio reduction page (PRP)
reproduces (photo-reduced) some of the leading documents of the credentialed portfolio.
The PRP is not a complete picture of the credentialing portfolio. Some component documents
are not readily reproduced. One major component element, for example, may have been
recorded simply as an affirmative notation in a faculty diary of oral examinations, etc. The
NT is definitive, rather than the PRP. We are always happy to answer questions relating
to either.
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