Baptist Health Sciences University recently became one of only two private colleges in Tennessee to earn a $50,000 grant from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
The grant money will be used to improve and expand Credit for Prior Learning and Competency Based Education processes, which will benefit adult learners. THEC awarded a total of $726,130 to 16 higher education institutions across Tennessee. Dr. David Rosenthal, professor and chair of Baptist University’s Health Care Management program, is the principal investigator for Baptist University’s grant.
The grant funds will be used to train faculty members on prior learning assessments, specifically how to develop and assess portfolios to obtain credit for prior learning, as well as carrying out competency-based assessments. In addition, a course to help students develop portfolios to obtain credit for prior learning will be developed next spring and offered next summer. The first course will target health care management students. The long-term goal is to provide additional opportunities for adult learners to complete their degrees more quickly as a result of receiving credit for prior learning.