August 31, 2009
This year, for the first time, all 1,300 freshmen at York College received from their academic advisors a three-ring binder containing a 28-page “Personal Strategic Plan” to help guide their academic and co-curricular choices.
A three-ring binder in the age of social media? Isn’t that a bit, well, old school?
“We thought about that,” said Deborah Ricker, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs at York. “We concluded that the act of the academic advisor handing the Personal Strategic Plan to the student is a bonding experience. It helps to solidify the partnership between the advisor and the student.”
It was more than a snap decision. YCP conducted focus groups with students about how they wanted to get the information. Ninety-five percent preferred the binder.
The information in it is intended to be used by freshmen in their periodic meetings with academic advisors and with other students who act as peer counselors.
“The idea is to have students be more deliberate about the curricular and co-curricular choices that they make,” said Ricker.
The Personal Strategic Plan includes sections on personal assessment (Who am I and why am I here?); academic, professional and personal goals (What do I hope to achieve?); my academic plan; related experiences (What additional experiences help me achieve my goals?); and reflection (Am I achieving my goals? Have my goals changed? Have I changed? What’s next?).
There are appendices including an academic worksheet for each student’s particular major, an explanation and list of area distribution requirements and the 2009-10 academic calendar. There are also places in the binder for students to store the student handbook for their major as well as receipts and copies of administrative forms.
“The binders are presented to freshmen on the last day of our four-day orientation to emphasize the goal for students to begin to take ownership of their college experience in cooperation with the academic advisors and all of the other many resources of the college that are available to them,” said Ricker.
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