Degree Planning

GU101 Student Success
Assignment W8 (70 points)
“Degree Planning”
This week, we introduced the idea of general education – the core courses you will take before you jump into your program of study. In this assignment, you will explore the Grantham University catalog to determine which general education courses you will be taking, along with the elective courses that round out your education.
You will definitely need to read the online catalog in order to complete this assignment. 
Review Section 7 in the catalog for the General Education program description, categories, and list of courses.  Make sure you understand why we require students to complete the General Education slate of courses.
Then look for your degree program in Section 8 of the catalog.  You will see each program listed by college (School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and Computer Science, School of Nursing and Allied Health).  After reading the description of the program and the student learning outcomes, you will see the tables that list the General Education courses, the Program Core, and the electives.
Once you have read these sections in the catalog, you are ready to start this assignment.  Your job is to write a response to each of the following four prompts:
Prompt 1: General Education Requirements
A.  To start this assignment, write a paragraph explaining the reason why we require students to complete the General Education courses (you may need to refer to section 7 of the catalog for this rationale). 
B.  Then using this template list and then describe the courses you will take to complete the General Education requirement for your program.  In some programs, you have choices – in other programs, you do not have choices (they tell you which courses to take). 
Prompt 2:  Program Core Requirements
A. In a paragraph state your degree program and explain why you chose your program of study.  In your answer explain how will this program of study will help you in your career advancement?
B. Next, in the same template as Prompt 1, list and describe the courses you are required to complete for the program.  Be sure to point out which courses are pre-requisites for more advanced courses.  This is important because you must enroll in these courses in sequence – you have to pass the pre-requisite before you can attempt the higher course.
Prompt 3:  Electives
Each program has a different number of electives that you can select to complete your degree.  Take note of special requirements, such as the fact that some electives have to be chosen from the program (versus those that can be chosen from any course listed in the catalog). Also note whether the elective must be a course numbered 300 or above.
A.  In the same template as Prompts 1 and 2, include the courses you choose as electives
B.  For each elective include a statement explaining why you are interested in the course in the table
Prompt 4:  Sequencing of Courses, Credit Hours and Graduation Requirements
This is the truly important part of this assignment. Some courses have pre-requisites, which means you have to take a designated lower-level course before you can take the advanced course.  
A.  In your template, make sure to designate all classes that have pre-requisites in your template.
How to set up your assignment for submission:
Include your written paragraphs for Prompt 1 and Prompt 2 above the table in the template. Then, once you’ve completed both the written prompts and the table contents, submit the entire assignment as a single file to the dropbox.
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Here is the grading rubric for this assignment.
MEETS OR EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS
(7-10 points)
DOES NOT MEET EXPECTATIONS
(1-6 points)
ABSENT
(0 POINTS)
PROMPT 1:
THE REASON
Explained why students are required to complete general education courses
Did not appropriately explain why we require students to complete general education courses
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment
PROMPT 1:
LIST AND DESCRIBE
Properly identified the general education requirements per the selected program of study
Did not appropriately identify general education courses
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment
PROMPT 2: EXPLAIN WHY YOU CHOOSE PROGRAM
Explained why they choose their program of study and career advancement
Explanation lacked detail of program of study, why they choose it, and how it’ll help career advancement
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment
PROMPT 2: LIST AND DESCRIBE COURSES
Correctly list and describe the courses required in the program core
Did not correctly list and describe courses specified for the program of study
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment
PROMPT 3:
ELECTIVE COURSES
Provided list of elective courses they’d like to take
Lacked full list of elective courses
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment.
PROMPT 3:
EXPLANATION WHY INTERESTED IN COURSES
Provided a thoughtful explanation of why the student is interested in the selected electives
Explanation lacked sufficient detail about why the student wanted to take the selected electives
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment.
PROMPT 4:
SEQUENCING OF COURSES (PRE-REQUISITES)
All pre-requisites are identified,
Not all pre-requisites are identified,
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment
PROMPT 4:
CREDIT HOURS AND MEETS GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Correctly listed the credit hours for each course and includes appropriate number of credit hours needed to graduate with the selected program of study
Did not correctly list the credit hours for each course and did not include the appropriate number of credit hours specified by the program of study
Did not attempt this aspect of the assignment