Chapter 28: Educational Planning
Graciela Martinez; Elizabeth Shaker; Dave Dillon; and Linnea Spitzer
Educational Planning
Once you determine the goal(s) you wish to pursue, you are ready to declare your major/program of study and develop your educational plan. Many colleges offer educational planning online, connected through student portals and accessible anytime.
Your educational plan will allow you to track your progress toward your declared program and map out classes necessary to meet your goal. You are encouraged to discuss this plan with a counselor to ensure you have accounted for all necessary requirements! Because of the complexities and frequent changes with degree and transfer requirements, it is essential to review your educational plan with a counselor to ensure you are on the right track.
If you are not yet certain about your major, that is ok! Consider what program(s) may best suit you: a certificate, associate degree or transfer. If you have a general idea of what program you wish to pursue you can start focusing on your general education courses and consider taking some exploratory classes next semester to allow you to explore areas of interest.
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Activity 28.1 – My Major And My Educational Plan(s) |
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After reading through Chapters 26-27 Career Research and Exploration and Major and Career Selection, it is time to make a decision. Take into account the research you have gathered about different majors using the online resources addressed earlier in this section and answer the following questions:
The more you know about the requirements necessary to pursue the career field(s) you are considering, the better you can prepare and make yourself a competitive candidate! |
Develop a Skills Based Educational Plan to Align with Your Academic Plan
In this section, we have discussed choosing your major and developing your educational plan to satisfy the necessary requirements for a certificate, AA/AS, AA-T/AS-T and/or transfer goal. At this time, you should have a general idea of what requirements are necessary to achieve your academic goal. Now, we want to further develop your plan through incorporating a skills based educational plan. To get a better understanding of what a “Skills Based Educational Plan” is, view the YouTube Video titled “The Insufficient Degree” and start developing your Skills Based Academic Plan.
It is now time to develop your Skills Based Academic Plan. After viewing the YouTube Video above, think of the skill necessary for your desired career goal. Consider the knowledge you will need to know for this particular career and how you can start working on acquiring that knowledge now.
Table 28.1 My Career Goals
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Knowledge Needed |
Learning Method |
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Take a moment and review the “Counseling Roadmap” illustration on the following page.
Figure 28.1 – Counseling roadmap. (Image by Ian Joslin is licensed under CC BY 4.0)
Where are you on this roadmap? Are you at the start? Are you midway thr