San Diego City, Mesa, Miramar colleges, and the San Diego College of Continuing Education have joined the Military Articulation Platform (MAP) in an effort to help students and veterans maximize academic credits for prior learning acquired through military service and industry certifications.
The four colleges, all a part of the San Diego Community College District, have been asked to pilot non-military credit for prior learning, including industry certification and noncredit to credit agreements or credit by examination through the MAP project.
MAP is a cloud-based system that matches college catalog courses to American Council on Education Military Guide recommendations. Once the matches are approved by faculty via the curriculum approval process, they are stored in MAP and offered as college credit to incoming veterans.
“It’s really exciting to take part in this cohort and be able to expand and be part of the different pieces of the MAP pilot project,” said Shelly Hess, dean of Instructional Services at the SDCCD.
Once all four colleges are fully integrated into the system, students will be able to upload their transcripts into MAP and find out which credits they can receive for courses they’ve taken and occupations they’ve held prior. In the 2020-21 academic year, nearly 3,000 (8%) of the SDCCD’s student population was active military or veterans.
City, Mesa, Miramar, and Continuing Education colleges are just four of 52 colleges selected for MAP’s phase three cohort, which began in January. Twelve colleges of the Inland Empire Desert Regional and Saddleback College have already completed phase one and two of the platform’s development and deployment.
MAP phase three is supported and paid for by a legislative grant sponsored by Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes of the 60th District (Riverside County). Use of MAP is free of cost for the participating colleges. The system is administered by the Riverside Community College District at the Norco College Veterans’ Resource Center.
For more information about support and programs available for veterans and military members, visit the SDCCD Veterans Affairs Office’s webpage.