Students who complete certain classes at the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education may receive college credits, thanks to a recent successful evaluation by the American Council on Education (ACE).The council recently approved 24 Paul Hall Center courses for college credits—by far the largest number of classes approved at once by ACE for the Piney Point, Md.-based school.
“This review benefits all of our students by providing increased educational opportunities,” noted Paul Hall Center Director of Training Bill Eglinton.
ACE reviewed courses offered in the unlicensed apprentice program as well as classes for mariners sailing in the deck, engine and steward departments, respectively.
For the past 30 years the Paul Hall Center has utilized the benefits provided by the ACE College Credit Recommendation Service. Generally, this involves having ACE assess new or rewritten curriculums at the school as they become available.
In December 2004, a team of four “content experts,” selected from college faculty, reviewed three courses in the steward department program. Then in January, five college professors reviewed 21 additional courses during a two-day evaluation at the Paul Hall Center.
As a result of these ACE reviews, the school has re-approved or added about 85 possible credits to its instructional program. For most of these courses, ACE determined that the training is comparable to college-level coursework and has made college credit recommendations accordingly.
The Paul Hall Center’s Academic Department reported that eight credits (total) were recommended for five of the unlicensed apprentice courses.
The steward department courses reviewed were the Advanced Galley Operations and Chief Steward classes that resulted in the recommendation of 10 additional credits in that department. The Galley Operations and Certified Chief Cook programs were reviewed in 2001.
Chef John Hetmanski, an instructor at the school, expressed his pleasure that now all of the courses in the steward department have ACE credit approval and can provide new educational opportunities for members of the department.
In the deck department, 19 credits were approved, 10 of which are new. The deck department courses reviewed were Tanker (PIC) Barge (DL), Specially Trained Ordinary Seaman, AB/Rating Forming Part of a Navigational Watch, and Bridge Resource Management (Unlimited) and Celestial Navigation. Added to the growing list of courses approved by ACE are Fundamentals of Navigation, ECDIS and Tanker Person-in-Charge Deep Sea (DL). For many of these courses the review committee recommended credits in Maritime Operations and Technologies.
For the engine department a total of 45 credits were recommended for the FOWT, Junior Engineer, Marine Refrigeration Technician, Marine Refrigeration Containers Maintenance, Machinist, Chief Electrician and Marine Electrician courses. Likewise, the review committee recommended that many of these courses receive lower-level college credit in Mechanical Engineering Technology, Marine Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology or Industrial Maintenance Technology.
It has long been the policy of ACE that learning outside the classroom can be measured for college credit. Since 1945, ACE’s Military Evaluation Program has assessed formal military courses in terms of academic credit.
In 1974, the College Credit Recommendation Service was created to evaluate learning in business and industry settings. The Paul Hall Center called upon ACE in those early years to begin evaluating its courses in order to provide additional educational and training opportunities for its students and to verify the quality of the courses offered to the mariners.
Since this initial collaboration with ACE, the College Credit Recommendation Service has saved mariners thousands of dollars in college tuition as students have submitted their course work from the Paul Hall Center to meet college course requirements. Colleges and universities have also been well-served by the program, because qualified adults from the workforce have been motivated to complete their postsecondary education knowing that their previous studies and life experiences can convert into college credits.
It is important to note that each college or university determines which of the courses approved by ACE will be accepted toward a certificate or a degree. Students planning to use their Paul Hall Center courses for credit, or wanting information on how ACE-recommended credits could assist them with their continuing education, should contact the Academic Department at the Paul Hall Center prior to submitting their transcript. Any students who have already received transcripts from the center may also want to check with the Academic Department to see if the recent reviews have added additional credits to their transcripts.
The school may be reached at (301) 994-0010.
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