Overview
"The concept of an inquiry-driven learner is anchored in the premise that the twenty-first century landscape is one in which change-cultural, economic, political, interpersonal, environmental-has become the defining feature. From our personal spaces to our places of work, our communities, our nation-state, and across the globe, change and uncertainty affect us all."
by -Conrad & Dunek, 2012, p. 59
The project for the course is the creation of your academic plan of study and rationale. Your academic plan helps you shape both your prior coursework and your future course enrollments into a coherent rationale for the curriculum choices you make and how those choices prepare you to achieve your personal and professional goals. While the academic plan of study is the culminating artifact in this course, you will also be submitting your professional goal statement, academic resources and time management plan, and your plan of study rationale in various milestones and in a compiled final portfolio. Specifically, this project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course for feedback and revision. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Four, and Five. The final submission will occur in Module Seven.
In this assignment, demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
- Appraise the personal and professional value of obtaining a degree in general studies.
- Devise a personal strategy for effective time management utilizing available resources and technologies.
- Communicate ideas clearly and professionally for multiple audiences.
- Apply inquiry-driven learning to assess and validate academic and career choices.
- Assess prior academic learning and life experiences to create an academic plan aligned with one's chosen career path and the goals of the university's general education program.
Prompt
Your academic plan of study serves as both a proposal and a rationale for the curriculum choices you wish to make in the General Studies degree program. This academic plan is much more than a list of coursework you have completed or wish to complete. A plan of study asks you to think about the major themes and connective ideas that have shaped your academic career, ultimately providing a coherent proposal for the characteristics you wish to embody as a college graduate. Additionally, you will explore how your coursework and academic experiences meet your own career and personal goals as well as the goals of general education and liberal education at SNHU. Your final academic plan of study will provide you with a comprehensive proposal that can assist you in effectively managing your time and resources as you prepare for graduation, provide a coherent narrative of your academic experiences that you can discuss with future employers and colleagues, and be used as a road map to meet your long-term goals.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed in your final Academic Plan of Study and Rationale (please submit your plan in the following order):
I. Professional/Personal Goal Statement: Make sure to incorporate feedback throughout the course when finalizing this statement.
a) Provide a short statement (approximately three to four sentences or one complete paragraph) that details your career and/or personal goals.
b) The statement should be concise and written effectively for a professional audience.
c) The statement should incorporate feedback from previous milestone submissions.
II. Domains of Study
a) Provide three major domains of study related to the broad goals of inquiry-driven learning. Each domain should have at least three courses in your academic plan that are aligned with the domain.
b) Provide a short description of each domain of study and the relevance of the domain to your professional and/or personal goals.
III. General Studies Concentration
a) Identify your chosen concentration in the General Studies program and provide a short description of why the concentration is important to your professional and/or personal goals.
IV. Coursework
a) Provide a list of all coursework completed to date (either in previous institutions or at SNHU). Identify any courses that align with your domains of study (every course does not have to align with a domain).
b) Identify all coursework you plan to take in future terms, their alignment to your domains of study (and concentration), and the planned term of enrollment.
V. Academic Rationale Paper: Include a two- to three-page paper that addresses the goals of inquiry-driven learning, its relevance to your own academic experiences, and the personal and professional value of obtaining a liberal education in general studies. Specifically, your paper should accomplish the following:
a) Provide an introduction that describes the goals of inquiry-driven learning using appropriate course resources for support.
b) Discuss how your chosen academic plan relates to the goals of inquiry-driven learning and its impact on your own personal and professional goals.
c) Provide a detailed rationale of how your degree in general studies meets your personal and professional goals.
VI. Format and Presentation
a) Your completed academic plan of study and academic rationale should be a professionally written document suitable for an academic audience.
b) Your submission should be free of any grammatical, spelling, and stylistic errors.
c) The completed proposal should include a cover page with your name, degree concentration, and expected date of graduation; a table of
contents; and a references/works cited page using APA or MLA citation format accurately.
Milestones
Milestone One: Professional/Personal Goal Statement
In Module Three, you will submit your professional/personal goal statement. The goal statement should be a concise, targeted statement (no more than four sentences or one paragraph) that identifies your long-term personal and/or professional goals. These goals can be your career goals ("I am seeking leadership roles in nonprofit environmental advocacy organizations") or personal goals related to your academic study ("I will publish my science-fiction short story within one year of graduation"). This assignment should be submitted as a document with your name and preferred concentration of study. Please refer to the BA General Studies Concentrations document located in the Module Three resources folder. This milestone is graded using the Milestone One Rubric. Feedback should be incorporated into your final academic plan of study.
Milestone Two: Action Plan
In Module Four, you will submit a sample action plan that identifies your major educational goals, time management plans for meeting those goals, and the benefits to meeting your goals successfully. You may wish to use the action plan tools included in your Module Four resources, but you are not limited to a specific template in your submission. Your action plan should detail three major educational goals that you wish to complete in preparation for graduation. The action plan should list specific time management steps by detailing short-term SMART goals to be met in the process of achieving the long-term goals.
Milestone Three: Academic Plan of Study Draft
In Module Five, you will submit a draft of your academic plan of study. The draft should include three domain area titles, your chosen concentration, a short description of how your concentration is aligned with your professional/personal goals, a list of all completed coursework, and a proposal for any future coursework to be completed with planned term dates of registration. You will also identify which of the completed/future courses align to your domain areas. The academic plan of study should be submitted using the Academic Plan of Study Template located in your Module Five resources folder. Feedback should be incorporated into your final academic plan of study.
Final Submission: Academic Plan of Study and Rationale
In Module Seven, you will submit your final academic plan of study and rationale paper. The final plan of study should include your revised
professional/personal goal statement and provide your domains of study, a short description of each domain and its relevance to your goals, your chosen concentration, and your completed plan of study including your completed and future coursework. You will also include a two- to three-page rationale paper that details how you approach inquiry-driven learning in your academic career to meet the goals of general education. The paper should draw from appropriate course resources to support the rationale and description. The completed academic plan of study and rationale paper will be submitted together as one final document and is graded using the Academic Plan of Study and Rationale Rubric (in this document).