Chapter 5: The Educational Narrative
The most difficult part of the prior learning portfolio, the Educational Narrative, uses the essay form to display your experience in great detail, giving specific examples that demonstrate you have met the course learning objectives. It also demonstrates your knowledge by use of the terminology of the courses you’re challenging, as well as your aptitude when discussing the course topics and outcomes.
Note that you are required to write a separate Educational Narrative for each course you’re challenging. It’s more work, yes, but this component is crucial for communicating to your reviewers that you know the course material well.
Using specific examples, terminology, and Course Outcomes to frame your narrative for each individual course will make this component more convincing for your reviewers. (That said, there may be cases where you can reuse part of one course’s Educational Narrative in a Narrative for another class, if the example speaks to Course Outcomes for both courses.)
This chapter will provide a guide through the writing process and revision, highlighting brainstorming activities to find powerful examples and demonstrating best practices to show evidence of learning to the course review committee.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the fundamental elements of a good Educational Narrative
- Frame the Educational Narrative in terms of context and audience
- Explore experiences to find vivid examples linking to course learning outcomes
- Draft and revise examples to provide sufficient detail addressing course outcomes
- Begin developing your educational statement/narrative.
