Creating a Degree Plan
Key Takeaway
If you’re planning an individualized degree, you need two credits of Educational Planning which result in a degree plan and a rationale essay explaining that plan in the context of the Knowledge Foundations for your degree.
You will discuss degree design with your mentor/advisor as part of your Educational Planning course.
The Conceptual Framework of a College Degree
Structure and design are key concepts in planning a degree. Just as in a kaleidoscope or a puzzle, the pieces of an academic degree need to stick together to show a pattern of learning, because a degree is more than just a collection of individual courses. A university degree means that you know certain information and have certain skills but, more importantly, that you have consciously considered relationships among skills and information and have experienced some learning that “makes sense” as a whole.
The knowledge foundations listed for your degree help provide a structure for developing coherence in a degree, but you and your mentor also work at developing coherence in an individualized degree through your course choices, creating linkages as you investigate relationships among your courses and your goals, skills, and professional needs.
The Association of American Colleges publication on The Challenge of Connecting Learning talks about degree structure and design. Both ESU and the Association of American Colleges stress coherence and connection as key aspects of college degrees.
Ways of Creating Coherence and Connection
A degree needs to include components that introduce you to the various aspects and history of a field, as well as courses designed to teach the ways of asking and answering questions – the ways of thinking critically – that the field employs.
A bachelor’s degree with a concentration needs to have courses that show:
- a beginning – introductory courses in which you learn the vocabulary and main concepts of a field
- a middle – courses in which you learn the methodologies and applications used by practitioners in the field
- an end – chances to blend and apply knowledge and reflect on overall learning in the field
Also, there might be some connection among some of the courses in the degree. For example, degrees with concentrations in human services usually integrate courses in psychology and sociology to better grasp societal influences on people. Degrees with concentrations in literature usually integrate studies in history to provide a way to understand the literature of a certain time period. Degrees with concentrations in business usually integrate courses in sociology and communications to provide better understanding of how to communicate with individuals and groups. Some of the Knowledge Foundations in listed for degrees make this type of connection explicit.
Questions to Help You Consider Degree Design
- How do certain courses in the degree link with, support, and/or enhance one another (e.g., do some pieces of your general learning relate to and enhance studies in your concentration?)
- Is there an overall structure or design to your degree, a certain focus or line of inquiry?
- How have you addressed progression, or movement from introductory- to advanced-level coursework, especially if you are designing a concentration for a bachelor’s degree?
The Nuts and Bolts of Degree Planning – Degree Planning Tools
There are two main tools that you can consult to keep a running list of credit amounts and how you have fulfilled ESU degree Knowledge Foundations and SUNY General Education requirements.
You can get to both of them through your student home page:
- Degree Works – click on the Degree Works tile
- DPPlanner – click on the Degree Planning (Undergraduate) tile
These tools do the same thing in slightly different ways.
