Effective Summer 2020 through Summer 2022.
Rationale:
To provide flexibility for students to fulfill the Liberal Studies EL requirement in an environment where opportunities for internships, service learning, paid work, and study abroad are significantly diminished. (This policy is derived from the military exception that the LSP office developed in 2016 as a by-request option for veterans who wish to use their military service to fulfill EL.)
Liberal Studies Credit Hours:
If approved, the student's EL Portfolio fulfills the EL requirement on the DPR but earns no credit hours. Instead, the student can apply 4 credit hours to an additional Liberal Studies domain course not otherwise required by their program.
Student Eligibility:
Students must have 132 earned credit hours at the time of portfolio submission.
Forms of Eligible Experience:
Paid or unpaid internships (in-person or remote), military service, living or working abroad, work or volunteer service at non-profits, extensive co-curricular work or leadership, service immersion, and entrepreneurial activities. Generally, the experience to be documented should have taken place within the last two years and NOT be associated with a credit-bearing class at DePaul or in High School (dual-credit).
The Experience Portfolio has two elements:
1. A well-written, proofread, reflective essay of 2000-2500 words describing the experience.
In dialogue with the learning outcomes of EL courses, the essay describes:
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a timeline and description of the work experience or other experience/environment
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tools and skills used and learned during the experience
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accomplishments and impact of the experience on oneself and on others
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how the student's academic work applied to the experience
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how the experience will inform future life and plans
2. Documentation of the experience, such as photos/screenshots of work done, company or organization record of work (e.g. offer letter, personnel review, pay stub), documentation of travel or military service, testimonials of impact, or other records.
Approval:
The portfolio should be emailed to liberalstudies@depaul.edu with a self- introduction (include full name and student ID), requesting that it fulfill EL credit, and copy the home college (list below). The LSP office will review submitted portfolios, and reserves the right to require revision before approval or to deny the request.
Each college has a point person or resource email that needs to be copied on the request: