How CAEL's Technology is Improving CPL Access at Member Institutions

As research findings increase awareness about credit for prior learning’s ability to boost graduation rates and close equity gaps – all while driving traditional (read: paid) credit completion, Dr. Scott Campbell, CAEL vice president of higher education partnerships, has seen what he describes as unprecedented interest in CPL. That interest is feeding an appetite for a tandem of technology solutions from CAEL that help institutions streamline and grow CPL programs.

CAEL developed the two tools to support institutions in their CPL initiatives. Designed to work together, Credit Predictor Standard, a member benefit, and Credit Predictor Pro, available as an upgrade, cover critical steps of the CPL process, from outreach and lead generation through assessment and awarding credits.

Credit Predictor Standard
Credit Predictor Standard is free to all CAEL institutional members. (Other member types, including individuals, can access the platform for $500 annually). Institutions can configure Credit Predictor Standard with their own logo, tuition, and course duration. With this information configured, the platform takes students through a few questions about their experiential learning and provides them with an immediate estimate of how much time and money CPL can save them. It also covers relevant preferences, such as students’ comfort level with exams vs. writing a paper to help determine appropriate methods of assessment.

After students submit their response, Credit Predictor Standard matches students with applicable CPL opportunities. For example, the platform informs students about military CPL if they indicate they are a military member.

Credit Predictor Standard notifies the member institution each time a student completes the questionnaire. Staff members can browse the student responses and the CPL opportunities they were shown based on their responses. They can also make a note on the students’ record or reach out to the student via email.

With research also indicating that CPL can sway enrollment decisions, many institutions use Credit Predictor Standard to enhance recruiting. CAEL member institution Davenport University recently debuted PantherPath, an example of how Credit Predictor Standard can feature the institution’s logo and integrate into institutional outreach campaigns. In a press release, Davenport Vice Provost for Academics Wayne D. Sneath, Ph.D., called PantherPath the first step for prospective and current students to take to see how many credits Davenport may award them for prior work and learning. A video promoting PantherPath tells students, “Within seconds, you’ll receive an estimate of time and tuition savings for a degree from Davenport University.”

Athens State University, another CAEL member, has used Credit Predictor Standard since 2022. It has also integrated the platform within its student outreach. The university generates 5-10 recruiting prospects per week, according to Felicia Mucci, director of the university’s Adult Learner Services Office. Mucci presented during a recent Coffee With CAEL hosted by Campbell and Kristen Himmerick, vice president of solutions for CAEL. 

Those leads benefit not only the university, but its community college partners, Mucci noted. Some of the CPL candidates have no prior college experience. Athens State, an upper-division university, follows up with them as well to help connect them with area community colleges. 

Credit Predictor Pro
Credit Predictor Pro, launched in 2022, integrates with Credit Predictor Standard, offering more features to students and institutional staff. “We had been talking to colleges about how they tracked credit for prior learning for so long, and they said that they didn't have a place to detail students’ CPL readiness,” said Himmerick. “They're writing it on the back of a piece of paper while they're on the phone with a student.”

Credit Predictor Pro asks students to relate their experiential learning through nine dimensions, giving students a chance to think of their learning and expertise more broadly than just what appears on their transcript, said Himmerick. 

Student information is also captured through document uploads. The platform parses resumes with a database of 10,000 skills, allowing institutional staff to see the keywords and skills from a student’s career instantly. Credit Predictor Pro allows students to search the institution’s crosswalks for exams, credentials (including ACE reviewed courses and certifications), and military training, letting them see how much credit they could earn by creating an automatic CPL match for advisors to review.

Institutional staff may also create CPL matches for students beyond the automatic matches created by students searching through crosswalks. Credit Predictor Pro can also track less formal sources of learning, such as project management experience accrued on the job. In such cases, advisors can use Credit Predictor Pro to assign the student’s record to a faculty member to assess its potential to support a project management portfolio. Credit Predictor Pro also facilitates and documents student dialogue, including requests for certificates or work products that may be needed to move the CPL process forward.

Sara Daub, a CPL specialist with Wilmington University, uses Credit Predictor Pro daily. The platform’s ability to manage crosswalks and equivalencies significantly reduces the workload for the university’s CPL staff of two and also saves students time, she told the same Coffee With CAEL audience. Its efficiency and organization have saved staff from having to constantly go through emails, she said. Last year, Credit Predictor Pro generated 139 CPL matches for the university, resulting in 403 credits earned for students.

Wilmington University pairs Credit Predictor Pro with Credit Predictor Standard, which it has configured exclusively as a recruiting tool. Once prospective students complete the Credit Predictor Standard questionnaire, one of Daub’s colleagues follows up with a promo code that is tracked in the application system, allowing the university to report how many students convert. Once students enroll, they move on to Credit Predictor Pro to benefit from the automated and expedited CPL processes available there.

CAEL members can visit CAEL’s Member Hub to initiate access to Credit Predictor Standard based on their membership type. Information on purchasing Credit Predictor Pro is available by contacting Scott Campbell at scampbell@cael.org. To unlock the Credit Predictor and many other benefits of CAEL membership, visit cael.org.