see attached essays instructions

In essay form, 1-2 pages, write the results of your reflection about who you are, what you have done so far, and what you want to do. This writing has two purposes:

1. The process of writing your thoughts helps you refine and sort through them, perhaps realizing the main things you want to do or accomplish.

2. This writing will eventually become the introduction and first part of the Goals and Contexts section of your rationale essay.

Keep your writing clear, concise, and audience appropriate (don't overshare personal details on matters that might compromise your privacy - such as health history. If you want to discuss a medical condition in relationship to your choices, keep the details on a "need to know" basis).

For this section of the rationale:

Add your reflections about what you want to learn to your initial reflections about what you want to do to create a draft of the Goals and Contexts section of your Rationale Essay.  This section should provide a thorough introduction to your prior learning and experience within the context of your chosen area of study and concentration. Tie this in to your goals (academic, professional, person, near and future).

About the Rationale Essay:

This essay goes to an assessment committee formed of three faculty mentors from different fields, and one assessement professional. They will decide whether or not to approve your degree plan. Take this opportunity to briefly introduce yourself to the committee. This section of the rationale essay is intended to help readers on an assessment committee understand some of your background, your hopes, and what you want to accomplish in your degree.

For this section, they need to know (in clear, brief, succinct terms):

(1) who you are and what interests you. (2) what learning and experience you bring to the college that is relevant to the degree you plan to pursue. (3) what you would like to study during your time at the college (and why). (4) how this applies to your future academic, personal and professional goals.

Write about the career you would like to have, the sort of graduate school you hope to attend, or any other goals you have. Many of my mentees are in artistic fields, so they may write that they plan to write books, or continue their career in theater and film, or pursue a career in game design and development. Your goals don't need to "fit in a box." 

Feel free to structure your information and express yourself in your own way.  You don't need to follow a set "template" (though I provide one since most students find this helpful). Just make sure all of the right ingredients are in your essay.

As you write your essay, keep in mind that an assessment committee member who is a faculty member in business may have a limited understanding of your discipline if it is in an artistic field, just as an arts faculty member may know little about expectations in a management field. It's up to you to explain these things clearly, and provide support for your statements (such as career position postings where relevant, information on bachelor's degrees from other colleges, pages on expectations of a field from a professional association, and so on).

Consult:

• Student Degree Planning Guide chapter on Writing Your Degree Program Rationale

• Sample Rationale Essays 

• Writing about Goals

Write a brief essay discussing your Prior Learning. This is important even if you don't plan to request PLA credits, because any prior learning and experience you have can be relevant to your goals and degree plan. Also, prior learning can help meet some of your guidelines. For example, if you are accomplished in an artistic field, but don't need to request PLA credits, you could include a discusion of your artistic work, expertise and experience, and add that to the "technical proficiency," and if appropriate, "awareness of current developments and critical perspectives" section of the arts guidelines. I have had students who are pursuing digital media arts degrees, and have extensive employment experience in marketing, add that to their knowlege section of the essay (without requesting PLA, since they also had a large number of transfer credits from prior college work). If you have an existing portfolio, adding a link to that can support this section. Or, consider creating one for your advanced project if you are an advanced student.

Questions to consider:

• Do you have learning in specific areas?  If so, what are the areas? How did you acquire this learning? How does it tie into your proposed area of study and concentration? If you worked for specific companies that clearly have a focus in the field you are discussing, be sure to provide those details in your writing. If you acquired the learning via a hobby, and, for example, sell items using eBay, Etsy or an equivalent social media site, include that level of detail. If you are an artist who has participated in curated exhibits, be sure to provide details on those, and, if possible, links to the websites announcing the exhibit. The same would apply if you have done graphic design work, or developed websites and are describing your learning in those areas.

• Do you intend to pursue PLA credit in your degree?  If so, in what areas?

Optional PLA Request

The following is optional. Ideally, if you plan to pursue PLA requests, you would enroll in the Educational Planning Workshop course with me, which I have designed to specifically walk you through the creation of your prior learning essays (and portfolios, if in an artistic field). Since PLA learning essays, done well, require time, effort, and focus, doing them under my supervision as part of the Workshop is a good way to go. However, if you only have one or two requests, don't want to take the Educational Planning Workshop, and want to write up Prior Learning Essays in this course, then this section is for you.

So, IF you decide (in consultation with me) that it's appropriate for you to pursue credit through PLA, then:

• You could write at least one PLA request for credit.  Your initial writing will be in draft form for my feedback.  

• Finalize your request based on my feedback.

• Submit your PLA request in the assignment space of this course.

• Once you and I agree that your PLA learning essay in final form, you'll submit the credit request through PLA Planner, where you can also track the progress of your request.

• Be sure to review the sample learning essays that I provide in the resources section.