Univ. of Washington, Geography 493 syllabus

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Geography 493, (2 credits)
Spring 2003
ASSESSING GEOGRAPHIC LEARNING

Contents of this page:

When, Where, Who

Objectives and Opportunities

Prerequisites

Requirements

Schedule

TIME, PLACE, AND INSTRUCTOR
Class Meetings: Thursdays 3:00 - 4:30 p.m., Smith Hall 415 (Geography Collaboratory)
Professor James W. Harrington, 408 Smith Hall, jwh@u.washington.edu
Office Hours: By appointment (send e-mail)

OBJECTIVES
The course has three salient student-learning objectives:
1. Self-representation: Each student should increase her/his ability to state her/his core knowledge (“What it means to be a geographer focusing on…”), skills (specific tasks that the student is able to undertake), and broad capabilities (such as team work, division of labor, problem identification (in what realms)).
2. Self-assessment: Each student should increase his/her ability to assess his/her level of mastery of core knowledge, skills, and capabilities, should be able to point to some of the experiences that led to the current level, and should gain some idea of how to increase his/her mastery in the future.
3. Professional strategies: Each student should develop some specific ideas for entering or advancing within a professional field; and should be able to relate her/his self-representation and self-assessment to some key requirements of the field.

OPPORTUNITIES
To assist participants' ability to attain these objectives, the instructor will arrange:

introduction and explanation of the undergraduate program's learning objectives
two-hour "dependable skills" workshop
two panels of visiting alumni
a panel of graduate and professional students
a departmental "exit survey" for participants to complete and assess
readings and discussions of how people begin and negotiate professional careers

PREREQUISITES
Senior standing as a Geography major at UW.

REQUIREMENTS
The key course requirements are

developing a portfolio that exhibits the participant's intellectual and professional development
developing a basic, professional resume (or a goals statement for application to graduate or professional school)
reading, discussing, and using published materials describing how people get professional jobs, prescribing how to conduct a search for employment, and how to select a graduate-degree program

Bolles, R.N. 2001. What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. Berkeley CA: Ten-Speed Press.
Granovetter, M. 1995. Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers, 2nd ed. Chicago: U. Chicago Press.

completing and discussing the Department's exit survey for majors

Students will be graded on all requirements, with an approximate weighting of 50:20:20:10. Total scores (on a scale of 0 - 100) will translate into final grades (on a scale of 0.0 - 4.0) approximately according to the scale below: the instructor may be more lenient than this.

**Schedule of Points and Grades**
TOTAL POINTS (OF 100)	FINAL GRADE
90 - 100 points	3.6 - 4.0
70 - 89 points	2.5 - 3.5
60 - 69 points	1.5 - 2.4
46 - 59 points	0.7 - 1.4
0 - 45 points	0.0

Incomplete work. [From the University Registrar's website] A grade of “I” (Incomplete) is given only when the student has been in attendance and has done satisfactory work until within two weeks of the end of the quarter and has furnished proof satisfactory to the instructor that the work cannot be completed because of illness or other circumstances beyond the student's control. To obtain credit for the course, an undergraduate student must convert an Incomplete into a passing grade no later than the last day of the next quarter. The student should never reregister for the course as a means of removing the Incomplete. An Incomplete grade not made up by the end of the next quarter is converted to the grade of 0.0 by the Registrar unless the instructor has indicated, when assigning the Incomplete grade, that a grade other than 0.0 should be recorded if the incomplete work is not completed. The original Incomplete grade is not removed from the permanent record.

SCHEDULE (assigned reading and synopses should be completed before the class meets)

Thursday 3 April
Introductions and overview
Learning objectives and outcomes
Portfolios (for learning, for presentation, for professional development)

Thursday 10 April this session will run until 5:15 in HUB 106B
Why and how to develop language for one's capabilities?
Bolles, Chapter 8

Thursday 17 April
Articulating abilities, skills, and their sources
What do you really want to do?
Bolles, Chapter 9

Thursday 24 April
Search strategies
Bolles, Chapters 2-5

Thursday 1 May:
Career strategies
Granovetter (Intro, Ch. 1-2, 5-6, Appendix A)
assignment: respond in writing to questions

Thursday 8 May
Career strategies (continued)
assignment: write a 500-word search and career strategy

Thursday 15 May
Career panel

Thursday 22 May
Career panel

Thursday 29 May
Graduate student panel
assignment: one-page resume

Thursday 5 June
Presentations of Portfolios
assignments: turn in portfolios and exit survey