IDS 300
IDS 300
INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
DESCRIPTION
This course has been developed to assist you in the process of developing your Individualized Major Petition. The Individualized Major Petition must be submitted and approved when you have earned 40 credits. If you enter the program with more than 40 credits, the major must be developed during the first enrollment period. 0 or 1 credit.
OBJECTIVE
The student will design and write a complete individualized major plan for her or his goals, according to the ID major requirements.
COURSE COMPETENCY STATEMENT
The competency which serves as the focus of this learning experience is designed so that upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
demonstrate comprehension and application of the process of designing an individualized major that meets the requirements of an individualized major and is comprehensible and acceptable to an advisory panel and the Credits Committee.
COURSEWORK REQUIREMENTS
This course is organized into eight short units. You will be required to:
· read and understand the information in each unit;
· discuss your comprehension of the information in each unit with your advisor before submitting written assignment(s);
· access other resources that may be helpful to your goal-setting requirements;
· present one or more drafts of your individualized major to your advisor for review before submitting the final form;
· submit a final Individualized Major Form to your advisor that will be forwarded to the approving bodies for signatures.
TEXTBOOK AND OTHER RESOURCES
No text required. Resources you will need include the most recent:
· UW-Superior transcript (unofficial copy – can be printed from your E-Hive account)
· transfer analysis report (shows what/how credits transferred in to UW-Superior)
· copy of your program planning sheet (provided by your advisor when you entered the program
· course listing (available on the DLC website)
REQUIRED MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
You are required to consult with your advisor during each of the units of this course to discuss the material within the unit. These conferences can be conducted via the telephone, via e-mail, or in person.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
This is a pass-fail course. Successful completion of the course will be determined by your advisor based on submission of the Individualized Major Petition.
ADVISOR INFORMATION
Barbara Doherty |
(715) 394-8494 |
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Ron Harshman |
(715) 394-8464 |
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Sharon Lavine |
(715) 394-8499 |
Contents
UNIT I: UNDERSTANDING THE INDIVIDUALIZED MAJOR........................... 4
UNIT II: CLARIFYING YOUR GOALS........................................................ 5
UNIT III: IDENTIFYING YOUR PAST LEARNING.......................................... 8
UNIT IV: IDENTIFYING THE DISCIPLINES FOR YOUR MAJOR..................... 12
UNIT V: IDENTIFYING COURSEWORK FOR EACH DISCIPLINE................... 16
UNIT VI: DEVELOPING A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.................................. 14
UNIT VII: DEVELOPING A TITLE FOR YOUR MAJOR................................... 16
UNIT VIII: WRITING A STRONG SUPPORTING STATEMENT........................... 17
UNIT IX: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER...................................................... 20
UNIT I: UNDERSTANDING THE INDIVIDUALIZED MAJOR
Overview:
In Unit I, you are introduced to the concept and the requirements of an individually-designed major.
Objectives:
Upon completion of Unit I, you be able to:
· explain the concept of the individually-designed major,
· summarize the requirements of the individualized major.
Learning Activities:
The individualized major responds to a student whose educational goals cannot be met through existing academic programs. It is unique in that the student, in cooperation with an advisor, designs a major program based on personal, educational, and/or career goals.
1. Read the following characteristics of an individualized major:
· It may include new and past learning which is appropriate to current goals.
· It requires 54-57 semester credits. A minimum of 1/2 of the IM (27 of the 54-57 credits) must be upper division (i.e., junior-senior level courses numbered 300-400).
· It includes three areas of study (possibly a fourth, with proper justification).
· No one area may constitute more than 40% (22 credits) of the 54-57 credits of the major.
· Any one area may have 9 semester credits as a minimum. Each area should include new learning if at all possible.
· At least one of the areas of study must be from the liberal arts/sciences area and should constitute a substantial contribution to the major.
· It must have a purpose, a theme, a rationale. The areas of study must be related to this purpose.
· It includes a 2-3 credit learning contract (IDS 495) which integrates the competencies of the individualized major in a final learning project. (IDS 495 is the last course you will complete before graduation.)
· It must be approved by the advisor, the Individualized Major Committee, a faculty member for each area of study, the Director of the Distance Learning Center, and the UW-Superior Credits Committee. It will be scrutinized and it may take several drafts before it is finally approved!
Evaluation: None. Proceed to Unit II.
UNIT II: CLARIFYING YOUR GOALS
Overview:
In Unit II, you will be required to identify your goals. You will be directed to resources that may assist you in articulating your thoughts and explaining how your goals can be realized through the design of an individualized major.
Objectives:
Upon completion of Unit II, you be able to:
·explain how your career goals will fit into the design of an individualized major and its requirements.
Learning Activities:
Students who enter the Distance Learning Program at UW-Superior fall into two categories with regard to career goals:
1. those who know exactly what it is they want to do in terms of a career and
2. those who really don’t have a clue.
Some of us are very adept at setting goals (personal, career, short-term and/or long-range). These are the students who come to us and say, “This is what I want to do and this is when I plan to be done.” They are able to identify, set, and work meticulously at reaching those goals, step-by-step.
If your goals have been set, write them down and present them to your advisor.
On the other hand, if you really need assistance in developing or clarifying your goals, this section is for you.
Setting goals is a daunting task. What do I want to do? Maybe I want to work in human services. Maybe I want a career in ________________. Or better yet, maybe I can do _________________!
Goal setting is an important method of:
· Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life
· Separating what is important from what is irrelevant
· Motivating yourself to achievement
· Building your self-confidence based on measured achievement of goals
The process of setting goals and targets allows you to choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know what you have to concentrate on to do it.
Start by identifying a 5 year plan, 1 year plan, 6 month plan, and 1 month plan that you should reach to achieve your career plan. Each of these should be based on the previous plan.
The following broad guidelines will help you to set effective goals:
- State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively - 'Execute this technique well' is a much better goal than 'Don't make this stupid mistake'
- Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
- Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.
- Write goals down: this crystallizes them and gives them more force.
- Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Derive today's goals from larger ones.
- Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to set goals over which you have as much control as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control. These could be bad business environments, poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.
- Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (parents, media, society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may be naïve in setting very high goals. You might not appreciate either the obstacles in the way, or understand quite how many skills you must master to achieve a particular level of performance.
- Do not set goals too low: Just as it is important not to set goals unrealistically high, do not set them too low. People tend to do this where they are afraid of failure or where they are lazy! You should set goals so that they are slightly out of your immediate grasp, but not so far that there is no hope of achieving them. No one will put serious effort into achieving a goal that they believe is unrealistic. However, remember that your belief that a goal is unrealistic may be incorrect. If this could be the case, you can to change this belief by using imagery effectively.
Source:
James Manktelow, Author,
Mind Tools material.
Published by Mind Tools Ltd of Signal House,
Station Road, Burgess Hill,
West Sussex, RH15 8DY, United Kingdom.
Publication date August 2003.
Reproduced with Permission.
If you think you need more assistance with developing and/or clarifying your goals, there are three courses offered through the Distance Learning Center that may be helpful to you:
· IDS 297, Career Development and Life/Work Planning, 1-3 credits
Description: Assists students in identifying personal values, goals, strengths, and skills. Provides objective and subjective experiences for students to become aware of their assets, and to use feedback and interpretation in developing short- and long-rang goals.
· Psyc 390, Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (1-3 credits)
Description: By expanding your understanding of yourself and the people around you, you'll accomplish some enviable goals. You'll gain the insight required to communicate more effectively. You'll benefit from an interpersonal perspective that helps prevent conflict and stress. You'll become better equipped to maintain healthy relationships, both in your personal life and as a member of a work team.
· Psyc 390, Strong Interest Inventory (1-2 credits)
Description: The Strong measures your client’s interest in a broad range of occupations, work activities, leisure activities, and school subjects. The questionnaire compares how these interests are similar to the interests of people successfully employed in those occupations. It is used to help people understand their work interests and to illustrate the kinds of work in which they might be comfortable.
We
advisors encourage you to enroll in one or more of these ‘fun’ courses. If
you don’t need the academic credit (because you’ve previously earned many
credits in transfer), perhaps you can “audit” the course or simply refer to
the texts that are used in the courses.
· Bolles. What Color is Your Parachute?
· Sukiennik. The Career Fitness Program: Exercising Your Options
· Holland. Self-Directed Search
· Liptak. Career Exploration Inventory
· Myers. Introduction to Type
· Brownsword, Alan, It Takes All Types, Bay tree Publication 1987
· Hirsh, Sandra & Kummerow, Jean, Life Types, Warner Books 1989
· Jeffries, William, True To Type, Hampton Roads 1991
· Jung, Carl, Psychological Types, Princeton Univ Press 1976
· Keirsey, David and Bates, Marilyn, Please Understand Me, Prometheus Nemesis 1984
· Kroeger, Otto & Thuesen, Janet, Type Talk, Tilden Press 1988
· Myers, Isabel Briggs, Gifts Differing, Consulting Psychologists 1980
There is also a myriad of information on the web. Just enter “goal setting” or “career planning” in your search and thousands of resources will be available to you.
Evaluation:
After clarifying your goals, contact your advisor for a discussion. Be prepared to discuss how your goals can be achieved through the development of an individually-designed major.
UNIT III: IDENTIFYING YOUR PAST LEARNING
Overview:
In Unit III, you will work toward identifying your past learning and you discuss how that learning can be incorporated into your individualized major.
Objectives:
Upon completion of Unit III, you be able to:
· identify past learning, either academic or experiential,
· express how that learning will fit into your individualized major.
Learning Activities:
Review the prior learning options that are available to students:
1. Previously earned college credit
· If you have previous college credit that was transferred into UW-Superior, review the transcript evaluation that the Registrar’s Office completed and mailed to you. Or, you may print a copy of your transfer credits as they appear on your transcript by accessing your records via E-Hive.
· Identify the transfer courses that would fit into the overall design of your major.
2. Previously earned credits that did not transfer into UW-Superior (e.g., technical school credit or courses that have been evaluated by the American Council on Education).
· Students who have completed coursework at a technical college may be able to receive credit through a petition process. Discuss this option with your advisor.
· Students who have successfully completed programs listed in the National Guide to Educational Credit for Training Programs published by the College Credit Recommendation Service of the American Council on Education. Students seeking award of credit for a program must first determine if the program has been assessed by consulting the National Guide and then providing documentation of program completion to the Coordinator of Assessment for Prior Learning.
3. Experiential or
on-the-job learning that has taken place in your life.
If you can answer yes
to the following 3 questions, you may have an opportunity to earn
credit by means of a documented portfolio.
· Is your learning ‘college-level’ learning?
· Can the learning be documented?
· Can the faculty at UW-Superior evaluate it? (i.e., do we have a discipline that it will fit into)? Refer to page 10 for more information about disciplines.
Generally, life
experiences are gained from on-the-job training, vocational-technical
training, workshops/seminars attended, and independent study. A documented
portfolio is prepared by the student which is then evaluated by the faculty.
If the faculty evaluators recommend credit and the credit is approved by the
university administration, it can be used to fulfill graduation requirements
for the baccalaureate degree.
It is important to note that you will not be awarded credit for the
experiences that have taken place in your life, but rather, for the
learning that has taken place because of these experiences.
Evaluation:
If you have prior learning under any of the above categories, discuss the specifics with your advisor for possible inclusion into your individually-designed major.
UNIT IV: IDENTIFYING DISCIPLINES FOR YOUR MAJOR
Overview:
In Unit IV, you will be introduced to “disciplines”, also known as “areas of study,” and how they will be used in your individually-designed major.
Objectives:
Upon completion of Unit IV, you be able to:
· prepare a list of three UW-Superior disciplines that will be included in your individualized major.
Learning Activities:
1. Read the following:
The individualized major will consist of three disciplines (areas of study). Identify the disciplines that you tentatively plan to include in your major. A discipline is defined as: an area of study or an academic field in a college/ university. The disciplines should fit together and reflect a unity of purpose. For example, Social Work, Psychology, and Business fit together is one wants to work in a social service agency in a supervisory/managerial position. With proper justification, a fourth discipline may be added.
The following list includes the disciplines that may be able to be used in an individualized major, providing there is a faculty member in that discipline that would be willing to serve on your faculty advisory panel. This statement is important because not all disciplines on the UW-Superior campus have faculty who are familiar with or approve of the concept of the individualized major. Your advisor will be able to provide guidance here.
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If you have sufficient transfer credit that could constitute an area of study, such as a foreign language, military science, etc., contact your advisor to see if it could be included in your major.
Do not select a broad designation, such as: Social Sciences or Liberal Arts. Categories such as these are multidisciplinary and there is no one person who would be willing to approve a multi-disciplinary area of study.
Areas of study (disciplines) you want to use in your individualized major (select three, maybe four):
a.
b.
c.
d. (with proper justification)
Evaluation for this unit:
Contact your advisor with your choice of disciplines. Explain your rationale for using those 3 or 4 areas of study. Be prepared to state a strong case as to how the disciplines fit together.
UNIT V: IDENTIFYING COURSEWORK FOR EACH DISCIPLINE
Overview:
In Unit V, you will be given the opportunity to select specific coursework that will be included in each discipline of the individualized major.
Objectives:
Upon completion of Unit One, you be able to:
·prepare a list of coursework for each discipline that will be included in your individualized major. This list may contain coursework from past learning (academic or experiential) or new learning that will take place.
Learning Activities:
1. Review the list of courses that are offered through the Distance Learning Center. Access the Distance Learning web site: http://www.uwsuper.edu/distancelearning
2. Review the list of courses that are offered in an online format through the UW-Superior on-campus program. Access the UW-Superior web site:
3. Familiarize yourself with the mode of course delivery referred to as “Special Topics” and/or “Learning Contracts.” http://www.uwsuper.edu/distancelearning/_______
4. Discuss ‘new learning’ options with your advisor. Examples:
· On-campus courses at UW-Superior.
· On-campus courses at another college or university close to your home.
· Distance learning courses offered through other national distance learning programs.
5. Develop a list of courses for each discipline, keeping in mind the following information:
· The major requires 54-57 semester credits.
· A minimum of 1/2 of the IM (27 of the 54-57 credits) must be upper division (i.e., junior-senior level courses numbered 300-400).
· At least one of the areas of study must be from the liberal arts/sciences area and should constitute a substantial contribution to the major.
· No one area may constitute more than 40% (22 credits) of the 54-57 credits of the major. Exception: If you have identified the maximum (22 credits) in a particular area, you may still add the IDS 495 course to that discipline.
· Any one area is allowed 9 semester credits as a minimum.
· Each area should include new learning if at all possible.
5. Add IDS 495, Capstone Experience, to the discipline of your choice. Usually it is the area of study which is the primary focus of the major. Note: If you have identified the maximum (22 credits) in a particular area, you may still add the IDS 495 course to that area.
IDS 495: An integration of the competencies of the individualized major in a contract format. General education co-requisite for the Distance Learning Center individualized major will be satisfied by successful completion of this learning contract. Instructor of record is determined from faculty panel of the major depending on the focus of the learning contract. Students should register for IDS 495 as the last or one of the last course enrollments. Instructions are available on the Distance Learning Center web site.
Evaluation: Discuss the areas of study and the specific courses under each area with your advisor.
UNIT VI: DEVELOPING A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Overview:
In Unit VI, you will be provided with basic information about how to develop the purpose of your individually–designed major. You will be provided with an example that may assist you in the understanding of the purpose of an individually-designed major.
Objectives: