Academic Planning Learning Contract
A: PURPOSE (Learning Objectives)
The purpose of this study is to introduce you to the Empire State College environment and to develop your individualized curriculum, known as your "Degree Program Proposal" (DPP). To do this you will need to learn about ESC, the types of learning that we support and the services we offer. You will also need to think about and research your educational and career goals. In particular, you will explore your interest in your field of choice and options available within that field.
B. SPECIFIC LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Mentors at Empire State College use the Angel platform to communicate with students at a distance. Increasingly, this platform is used not only for distance learning through our Center for Distance Learning (CDL), but also in many of the hybrid studies that are taught individually or in groups. This study in Academic Planning is a hybrid study and it uses the Angel platform. Your first assignment is, therefore, to go to www.esc.edu/ole and take the student tutorial that comes up on the initial page.
The American Psychological Association has released the Sixth Edition of the Publication Manual, the official guide for writing in APA style. You will be asked in studies you take in the social sciences at ESC to write papers using APA style. Therefore, as part of this study, you are required to go to the new website that APA has developed to introduce students to how to write in APA style and to take the tutorial. You can choose to take the tutorial in Basics of APA Style or you can explore what is new in the Sixth Edition.
You are also expected to attend the monthly academic planning seminar, held from 6--8 PM on the third Tuesday of each month. Every student should bring at least 6 copies of one document that he or she would like to present for group feedback. These meetings are very helpful in that they give you an opportunity to meet other students and also enable you to get a first hand look at the beginning, middle and end of the academic planning process. Attendance is required.
To be completed by your first or second seminar meeting:
1. Take the Angel tutorial
2. Attend the group academic planning seminar, once a month. Schedule of meetings is on the Angel site.
3. Attend a portfolio workshop ASAP.
4. Read through the online Student Planning Guide(search this title in the home page search box and it will come up) and note questions to bring to the seminar. Pay particular attention in the Guide to pages 3-41.
5. See Marcelina Delgado in the administrative area and obtain a ESC photo ID. Register on the ESC website by logging in at My ESC.
6. Log onto the college website: www.esc.edu and explore the resources that are available to students. Check out the Areas of Study that interest you and take note of any requirements you may need to meet in pursuing your educational goals.
7. Complete the online APA tutorial.
8. Log onto the on-line Degree Program planner in the My ESC section of the college website (see the top line "DP Planner")
9. Fill out as much of the planner filled out as you can. (You can enter prior learning from your transcript --in exact order, with exact titles please!) Remember that we give transfer credit only for courses in which you have earned a C- or better.
In this phase of your degree program planning we want you to think about:
a) what you want to study,
b) the need to fulfill SUNY General Education Requirements, and
c) any requirements in your Area of Study.
Make sure that SUNY Gen Ed requirements and any requirements of your Area of Study are included in your degree program proposal. Also note that you are required to have at least 45 advanced level credits in order to graduate. All proposals must meet these requirements in order to be accepted.
Within these constraints, let yourself go wild!! Develop your Academic Wish List by thinking about what you have always wanted to learn. You can develop your plan by researching offerings available in the Term Guide, the CDL online catalogue, talking with your mentor and/or generating your own titles for these studies. Enter them in the Contract Learning Section. We can change this as we go along, as your research and ideas about your educational goals progress. Pay attention to the credit requirements! If you don't have enough credits, add more studies! If you have too many, delete those in which you have the least interest or those that do not further your educational goals. Studies at Empire State College are generally 4 credits each. Don't worry about not seeing courses in a catalogue or on-line -- your first draft should come from your heart!
Print out a preliminary degree program plan and bring it to the Academic Planning Seminar on the third Tuesday of the month (6PM).
For the third meeting the following should be completed:
1. A revised degree program plan based on your continued thinking and research: informational interviews, on-line exploration, other college catalogues. Include estimates for credit by evaluation essays. Remember that your total number of credits must be 128 in your final degree program plan. There are models of degree programs in the Guide received at the Portfolio Workshop as well as on-line at the college website: www.esc.edu.
2. An essay, your Degree Program Rationale (approximately three pages, typed and double-spaced) explaining the preliminary degree program you are designing, including educational and career goals. Explain how your concentration fulfills your educational and career goals. Explain in this essay how you arrived at this particular degree plan, including your reasons for your choices in general learning. You may want to use the outline for the degree program rationale that is available on my Academic Planning course website.
3. The SUNY Gen Ed grid should be completed. You can earn satisfaction for these requirements through transcript, prior learning or ESC studies.
4. Essays for credit by evaluation: If you are writing essays for evaluation, be sure to read the section entitled Outline for a Learning Description on page 29 of your Student Handbook (also available online). Make sure your essay begins with
Your name
Title of Learning
Credits Requested
How you learned
It should be written from the perspective of what you have learned, not what you did. It should begin with a statement of how long and in what capacity you have been involved in this learning. It should speak about how you have used this learning.
For the fourth meeting make all the suggested corrections to the essays, rationale, and preliminary degree program. Once these have been checked, the portfolio is ready for submission. Fill out the front cover, sign and check the folder cover to be sure the necessary materials and the correct number of copies are included. Please be aware that portfolios will be blocked from proceeding until all CLEP scores have been received by the college. If the Assessment Office sends you a note, your portfolio cannot proceed until you have complied with their requests. Please be aware that the process of assessing and evaluating portfolios is very labor intensive and takes quite a number of months to complete. It often requires revisions of prior drafts. A very useful document to read on prior learning assessment can be found on this link:
For the fourth meeting make all the suggested corrections to the essays, rationale, and preliminary degree program. Once these have been checked, the portfolio is ready for submission. Fill out the front cover, sign and check the folder cover to be sure the necessary materials and the correct number of copies are included. Please be aware that portfolios will be blocked from proceeding until all CLEP scores have been received by the college. If the Assessment Office sends you a note, your portfolio cannot proceed until you have complied with their requests. Be aware that this process is very labor intensive and takes quite a number of months to complete.
.C. METHOD AND CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION
The evaluation will be based on completion of all the above activities.