The difference
A traditional course paces everyone together for 15 weeks. A competency-based course defines what you must be able to do and lets you prove it whenever you're ready — fast if you already know the material, with more time and coaching if you don't. Credit and grades work the same on the transcript.
Is it for you
It rewards discipline and prior experience and punishes procrastination — there's no weekly deadline making you keep up. Financial aid treats it a little differently (often billed per term of full-time enrollment), so check with the aid office. Online & Extended Learning advises on which courses and tracks are competency-based.
In and around Porter Falls
Online and Extended Learning works out of the second level of Halvorsen Library and supports learners across Wesconsin who rarely come to Porter Falls in person.
The practical details
How it works: Show you've met each competency through assessments and projects; move on as soon as you pass, on your own schedule within the term. Best for: Working adults, students with strong prior knowledge in the area, and self-directed learners. Where offered: Selected courses in business, IT, and general education, plus a small number of degree-completion tracks. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Online & Extended Learning (Halvorsen Library, Level 2). Call (715) 555–0128 or email online@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.