Show your experience. Gain credit.
Your work, volunteer, education, training and/or other life learning experiences may fulfill program requirements.
If you would like to complete a Portfolio please review the information below and email or call Lucas Audorff 715-788-7058 to discuss the Portfolio.
Option 1: Experiential Learning Portfolio
- Four Steps to Complete a Portfolio
- To demonstrate how your learning may be equivalent to Northwood Tech courses, complete a portfolio following these steps:
- Step 1: Review the template(s) to determine which course(s) satisfy your program requirements, if you have met any prerequisites/corequisites, and if you have the skills and knowledge needed to earn course credit. Note: Receiving credit for courses through portfolios may change your financial aid.
- Step 2: Check the portfolio template to see if you are required to meet with the academic dean or instructor prior to starting.
- If a meeting is required, you may meet in person, over the phone, or online.
- Step 3: Use the Experiential Learning Portfolio Tutorial to develop your portfolio.
- Tutorial document
- Step 4: When completed, submit the portfolio to registrar@northwoodtech.edu and pay the $90 review fee to begin the review process.
- Northwood Tech uses a portfolio method to document learning through prior work, military, volunteer, education, training, and/or other life experiences to assess equivalency to Northwood Tech competencies. To begin the process, students must review the templates on the Northwood Tech Credit for Prior Learning website to determine if they have the skills and knowledge covered in the course.
Students currently enrolled in the course (or intending to enroll in the course) must complete the experiential learning portfolio at least two weeks prior to the course start date. Students who received credit for the portfolio will be withdrawn from class and receive a 100 precent refund.
- To demonstrate how your learning may be equivalent to Northwood Tech courses, complete a portfolio following these steps:
Experiential Learning Portfolio Templates:
- Business
- Administrative Office Procedures
- Adobe Photoshop
- Budgeting and Cost Control
- Business & Marketing Field Study
- Business Law
- Customer Service
- Customer Service Management
- Entrepreneurship
- Financial Accounting 1
- Human Resource Management
- Introduction to Business
- Leadership Development
- Managing Human Resources
- Marketing Principles
- Medical Externship
- Medical Insurance Claims
- Medical Office Administration
- Medical Office Procedures and Customer Service
- Meeting and Event Planning
- Multi-Media Marketing
- Patient Billing and Reimbursement
- Personal Finance
- Safety in the Workplace
- Selling Principles
- Social Media Marketing
- Supervision
- Technological Applications in Marketing
- Family and Consumer
- Alzheimer's and Dementia
- Communication of Aging
- Death and Dying
- ECE: Child Development
- ECE: Family and Community Relationships
- ECE: Field Experience 1
- ECE: Health, Safety, and Nutrition
- Healthy Aging
- Interviewing
- Introduction to Human Services
- Legal and Financial Issues of Aging
- Physical Aspects of Aging
- Programs of Aging Services
- Psychological Aspects of Aging
- Social Gerontology
- General Studies
- Health Sciences
- Public Safety
- Communication Strategies
- Correctional Institutions
- Courts/Jurisdiction
- Criminal Justice Ethics
- Criminal Justice - Introduction
- Criminal Justice Due Process
- Criminal Justice Investigations
- Criminal Justice Report Writing
- Criminology
- Introduction to Criminal Law
- Juvenile Justice System
- Policing Strategies
- Probation/Parole
- Traffic Law Enforcement
- Wellness
- Trade and Technology
- AC Electricity
- Architectural Drafting and Design 1
- Architectural Drafting and Design 2
- Architectural Drafting and Design 3
- Architectural Internship
- Architectural Materials and Methods 1
- Architectural Materials and Methods 2
- Architectural Technology 1
- Broadband Fiber Services 101
- Broadband Installation
- Broadband Television Service 101
- Broadband Telco Service 101
- Building Estimating
- Cisco CCNA 1 Introduction to Networks
- Construction Practices
- DC Electricity
- Firewall & VPN Management
- Geographic Information Systems
- Machine Tool Operation 2
- Networking and Security Case Studies
Option 2: Skills-Based Assessments
A Skills-Based Assessment is an in-person demonstration of course competencies evaluated by Northwood Tech faculty. Skills-based assessments may also include a written test to evaluate knowledge or theory.
- Essential information
- A non-refundable fee of $90 must be paid prior to taking any skills assessment.
- No letter grade is assigned; CR (credit) is recorded on academic transcripts.
- Credits obtained through skills-based assessments are not included in your overall grade-point average.
- Determine whether you are eligible to take a skills-based assessment
- You may apply for a skills-based assessment after you are admitted to a specific program. You should talk to your program instructor or the dean if you have questions as to whether the course will apply to your program.
- If you are not enrolled in the course, you may take the skills assessment at any time as long as you have met any prerequisite/corequisite requirements.
- If you are currently enrolled in the course, you may only take the skills assessment during the first seven calendar days from the course start date. If you are successful, you must request a withdrawal from the course and you will be given a full (100 percent) refund.
- You may retake the same skills assessment after one year from the date of the first attempt.
- You are ineligible to take a skills assessment for a course in which you have previously received a final grade (A through F, excluding W).
- Determine if passing a skills-based assessment will affect your financial aid.
- Credits earned through any credit for prior learning are not included in the active credits for the term and, therefore, cannot be used when determining financial aid eligibility or enrollment status. Contact the Student Services Office for more information.
- Determine whether you are likely to pass the skills-based assessment.
- Information sheets that tell you about the skills assessment and list the competencies it will test are available by clicking on the course link from the skills-based assessment course list. Your instructors can advise you as well.
- A grade mastery level of 80 percent is required to pass skills-based assessments.
- Schedule a date and time to take a skills-based assessment.
- For more information or to find out how to schedule an appointment, contact Student Services at:
- Ashland, ext. 3188
- New Richmond, ext. 4145
- Rice Lake, ext. 5045
- Superior, ext. 6271
- For more information or to find out how to schedule an appointment, contact Student Services at:
- Report for your testing skills-based assessment appointment.
- Bring any permitted materials listed on the information sheet and your test fee of $90 to the designated campus and room number.
Available Skills-Based Assessments
- Health Sciences
- Trade and Technology
Accommodations
Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made to ensure access to academic programs, activities, services and employment in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAA). Students with a documented disability must request accommodations by contacting the campus Accommodation Specialist and following required steps to obtain accommodations at the post-secondary level.