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210 Taking Career Initiative
Spring 2020 / 1 credit

This one-credit course explores the meaning and value of your liberal arts and sciences education to your future career -- no matter what your major.  

Through weekly discussion meetings, you will reflect on your experiences, your strengths, and the value of your liberal arts and sciences education at UW-Madison; research a career community that interests you through both digital social networks and in-person interviews; and practice techniques to communicate your value to a prospective employer in writing, in person, and online.

 

Level: Elementary
Requisites: None. Open to all students regardless of year or major.
Instruction mode: Face-to-face
Lecture: None
Discussion: day and time varies (50 minutes)
Credits: One credit.  

Credit hour requirements met by 50 minutes of in-person classroom instruction and two hours of expected out-of-class student work each week over semester of 15 weeks.

 

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Learning outcomes

• Develop and communicate a compelling personal career narrative about your path through a liberal arts and sciences education, with respect to a specific target career community.

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How does this course work?

This course involves three different modes for learning each week: individual preparation, written assignments, and group discussion.

• Preparation: Each week before discussion section you must do some independent preparation on your own.  This might involve things like working through a chapter of your Student Guide or textbook, downloading and reading an article by a career advising expert, watching a short video like a TED talk, or viewing a brief narrated presentation by the professor.  All of your preparation reading and viewing should be completed by Sunday evening at midnight before that week's discussion section.
  
  
• Assignments: Each week before discussion section you will be asked to complete one or two written assignments, uploading them to this course web site.  Together the assignments are worth roughly two-thirds of your total semester grade of one hundred points.  Most of these assignments have no single correct answer; they are meant to document and demonstrate your ongoing reflection, research, and communication work as part of the course.  Assignments are always due on Sunday evenings at midnight before that week's discussion section.    
  
  The assignments in this class are not difficult; however, is important to keep up with the work!  Your best tools to keep current with this class are here on the web site, in the menus to the left: the week-by-week list of Modules, the ordered list of Assignments, the Syllabus that tells you day-by-day what's coming next, and the Canvas Calendar which lists each assignment due date and discussion section meeting (as well as other optional activities).
  
  
• Discussion: Each week you will meet for one 50-minute group discussion section with your Teaching Assistant to go over the reading or video material you prepared for that week's topic, and to discuss the written assignments you turned in on the previous Sunday evening.  Attendance and participation are worth roughly one-third of your total semester grade of one hundred points.
  
  Discussion section is also an opportunity to work with a number of experts who help us with this course.  Several times during the semester, UW-Madison professional staff serving as career mentors will visit your section to provide specific help on things like building your resume and a personal brand, or understanding what kinds of skills employers value.   And several times during the semester, successful graduates from across the College of Letters & Science serving as alumni mentors will Skype into your section to discuss their own career paths and the ways that their liberal arts and sciences education helped them in their working lives.

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Textbooks

We use three textbooks for the course.  The first two are paperback textbooks that are available at the University Bookstore (they should cost about $20 each):  

• Katharine Brooks, You Majored in What? Designing Your Path from College to Career (2017) Links to an external site..  This book is a comprehensive guide to the job search process, written by an expert in career advising and targeted to liberal arts and sciences university students.  It should remain useful to you throughout your time at UW-Madison and beyond.
• Don Clifton, Clifton Strengths for Students (2017) Links to an external site.. This book has a unique code in it that allows you to take an online strengths assessment for one of your assignments. If you do not have a copy of this book, or if you purchase this book as a used copy, you will need to spend an extra $12 to directly purchase access to the online assessment.

We also use a 200-page custom textbook that you may download free of charge Download download free of charge

or buy in a printed, bound hardcopy from StudentPrint Links to an external site. on the 3rd floor of the 333 East Campus Mall building:

• Greg Downey, Working Toward Success: Building a Career in the Liberal Arts and Sciences (2019)  

 

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Syllabus at-a-glance

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The fine print

• Grading.  Assignments in this course are worth roughly two-thirds of your semester grade, and discussion section attendance and participation is worth roughly one-third.  Semester grades are computed out of 100 possible points on the standard A-F scale:

93-100 = A
88-92 = AB
83-87 = B
78-82 = BC
73-77 = C
63-72 = D
0-62 = F

Students tend to earn high grades in this course, by completing all of the assignments on time and with integrity.  However, you will only get out of this course what you put into it. The assignments cover tasks like reflecting on your experiences, putting together a resume, and setting up a LinkedIn site, which you'll have to do anyway -- so why not get some guidance and credit along the way?

• Extra credit.  Students may choose to complete several extra credit assignments -- supplemental activities to help you get the most out of this course, which also improve your grade. These are listed in the Assignments tab on the left. All extra credit assignments must be turned in via Canvas by midnight on the day before finals week.
  
  
• Absences from discussion section.  Students are expected to attend each discussion section, arriving on time and participating in the section activities, in order to earn full points for that section.  However, a TA may occasionally excuse a student from section for an emergency or medical reason.  Students should request an excused absence within 48 hours of the section meeting date.
  
  
• Late assignments.  Students are expected to turn in written assignments online through Canvas each week by the standard Sunday midnight deadline; assignments not turned in by the deadline will earn zero points.  However, a TA may occasionally grant a student an extension on an assignment for an emergency or medical reason.  Students should request an extension within 48 hours of the assignment due date.   
  
  
• Professionalism.  The topic of this class is how to connect your academic and extra-curricular university life to your future life in the world of work. Part of what we practice in this class is professional conduct, including such things as:
  
  • clear and timely communication
  • regular attendance and participation
  • respect for the views and experiences of others
  • appropriate use of personal electronics
  • constructive participation in discussion without monopolizing the discourse (which includes listening as much as talking)
  • appreciation for the returning alumni who give freely of their time to make this class succeed (such as following up with thank-you notes)
    
    
• Personal Electronics.  You may use a laptop, a tablet, a phone, or other personal electronics during class only to take notes or to explore resources related to the lecture. You may not use personal electronic devices during class for social media or any other recreational activity; to do so is disrespectful to the instructors, distracting to your fellow students, and wasteful of your tuition dollars. Judicious and effective use of personal electronics is a crucial workplace habit that you should learn and practice now.
  
  
• Academic Integrity.  By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UW-Madison’s community of scholars in which everyone’s academic work and behavior are held to the highest academic integrity standards. Academic misconduct compromises the integrity of the university. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, and helping others commit these acts are examples of academic misconduct, which can result in disciplinary action. This includes but is not limited to failure on the assignment/course, disciplinary probation, or suspension. Substantial or repeated cases of misconduct will be forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards for additional review. For more information, refer to http://studentconduct.wiscweb.wisc.edu/academic-integrity/
  
  
• Accommodations For Students With Disabilities.  McBurney Disability Resource Center syllabus statement: “The University of Wisconsin-Madison supports the right of all enrolled students to a full and equal educational opportunity. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Wisconsin State Statute (36.12), and UW-Madison policy (Faculty Document 1071) require that students with disabilities be reasonably accommodated in instruction and campus life. Reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities is a shared faculty and student responsibility. Students are expected to inform faculty [me] of their need for instructional accommodations by the end of the third week of the semester, or as soon as possible after a disability has been incurred or recognized. Faculty [I], will work either directly with the student [you] or in coordination with the McBurney Center to identify and provide reasonable instructional accommodations. Disability information, including instructional accommodations as part of a student's educational record, is confidential and protected under FERPA.” http://mcburney.wisc.edu/facstaffother/faculty/syllabus.php
  
  
• Diversity & Inclusion.  UW-Madison institutional statement on diversity: “Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.  The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background – people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.” https://diversity.wisc.edu/
  
  
• Other Rules, Rights & Responsibilities. See http://guide.wisc.edu/undergraduate/#rulesrightsandresponsibilitiestext
  

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Testimonials

After taking this course, students report that it works!

• 93% felt better prepared to utilize campus resources to assist with career planning.
• 85% felt better prepared to apply for an internship
• 85% of students felt better prepared to explore career options

 

Student reflection from summer 2016

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