16 ProjMgt 485: Project Management Experiential Learning
Students who are enrolled in the Project Management program will create a portfolio for challenging ProjMgt 485: Project Management Experiential Learning.
The ProjMgt 485 course counts towards the experiential learning component of the Project Management major and certificate. This 485 class is recorded in lieu of doing an internship for credit. It is a way of documenting your prior learning on the job as an internship-equivalent experience.
For the major, you can challenge up to 12 credits; for the certificate, 3 credits are required. Note that your portfolio must demonstrate that you have worked an equivalent number of hours equal to the number of credits you’re challenging for. Each 1 credit is equal to 45 hours of work, so a 3-credit portfolio must document work and learning taking place over 135 hours on the job. A 12-credit portfolio must demonstrate 540 hours of on-site work and learning.
Students who are enrolled in the Project Management program or pursuing the Project Management certificate should consult with the program director or faculty for additional guidance and advising about how these course challenges work within your academic program.
There is a specific template in your IPS 301 folder that addresses the Course Learning Objectives for ProjMgt 485. This template will serve as your Narrative component in your portfolio. It closely follows the information necessary for applying for your PMP or CAPM certification.
What this challenge is and is not about
ProjMgt 485 challenges must demonstrate project management experience and learning. There is an important distinction the department between project management and operational experience
Defining Project Management Experience
Make sure your portfolio sets a clear boundary between operational work (which is your everyday, repeated, standard job duties )and true project work. Your portfolio should include the project work as its focus, and exclude operational work, though some operational work can and may well be used in parts of your project management stages.
To make the difference clearer, a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to produce a unique product, service, or outcome. It does not include routine, day-to-day business operations. A project is also not an overarching program or portfolio—though it can certainly exist within one. At its core, a project is a unique and self-contained chapter of work.
Of course, most jobs have a gray area where operational tasks and project management work overlap. A primary goal of your portfolio is to analyze your past roles, isolate the project-specific elements, and articulate them effectively to demonstrate the learning you did in the components and stages of project management.
University CPL vs. PMI: Key Differences
While you are building this portfolio for Credit for Prior Learning (CPL), you might also be aiming for professional certification through the Project Management Institute (PMI). Keep in mind that the university and PMI evaluate your experience using different rulebooks:
Timeframe: PMI only counts project work completed within the last 8 years. Your CPL portfolio can pull from older experience, but keep in mind those earlier years won’t transfer toward PMI certification later.
Measurement: PMI tracks experience in calendar months, whereas CPL calculates credit based on logged hours.
Credit Formula: For CPL, 45 hours of project experience equals 1 college credit as noted above. Your portfolio must make clear the number of hours you have worked on your projects and that it is equal to the credit total being challenged.
Prior Learning: Work experience being utilized for CPL must be completed before the CPL challenge begins. In other words, your experience must be prior to the challenge, not during it. If you are currently working on a project, you may have to exclude it from the portfolio, or document only completed elements of the project. This is to align with State Board of Education policy on prior learning and to differentiate the concurrent learning done in internships from credit for prior learning.
Overlapping Projects: PMI forbids double-counting overlapping project timelines, but the CPL process allows it. If Project A ran August–September and Project B ran September–October, log each project’s distinct hours and timeline for CPL. For PMI, that total window simply counts as three distinct calendar months.
