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Phase 1 Plan + Updates

During the Exploration phase of the program, we ask you to participate in a wide range of events, activities, and interactions that push your boundaries and expand your experience of other cultures and ideas.

Your Phase 1 plan should clearly convey your aims in the Exploration phase, and define a path to achieving them. We also ask you to lay out a timeline for the program as a whole, including any plans or ideas you have about your immersive learning experience (study abroad, study away, internship), ideas you may already have about a Discovery project or Civic Engagement project, plans for after college, etc. This is an opportunity to imagine what the next four years will be like, in light of your participation in CS. Aim for about two pages. You will update this plan each Fall while you are in Phase 1 of the program (usually your first 3 semesters)

Please review the competencies and artifacts associated with Phase 1 of the program, and then create a plan that:  

• Introduces you – tell us who you are, what your major is, what commitments and or contributions you have already          made to enacting positive social change, and what motivates you to follow the path you’ve chosen. 
• Identifies your issues of high interest – explain what major issues you want to tackle, what kinds of contributions do you hope to make, and how will you pursue those areas of high interest in the first phase of the program. Explain how you’d like to learn more about these issues, become more deeply involved in interactions connected to them, etc.
• Defines your growth goals – indicate which areas of engagement would be most meaningful to you as you start down the CS path of competency development. Be specific in defining your approach – look at the College and University Events Calendars, and identify activities that sound interesting. Consider your reading or watching lists and identify areas that coincide with your CS development plans. Think about your own interests and commitments and figure out how they align with CS competencies. Develop your growth plan based on these recognitions and choices.
• Indicates your plans for community service – what organization or what area of contribution you’re interested in, when you’ll begin to work with the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, what kind of service schedule you intend to keep.
• Chooses a format for unmediated or informal reflections – As you attend events, pursue new kinds of interaction, encounter new information in various media, and develop new skills and knowledge, you will make informal or unmediated reflections on those various activities. In your Phase 1 Plan, define how you will record these unmediated reflections: audio recordings, typed notes, some other tech platform? Imagine what form is likely to work for you, and what will help you consistently record unmediated reflections. This helps you to develop the habit of reflection, which is central to success in the program.           
• Estimates your program timeline – estimate when you aim to undertake your major program activities: your discovery and interpretation project, immersion experience (study away, study abroad, or internship funded by the program, and community engagement project. If you hope to pursue one or more of your areas of high interest in these projects, indicate here what you’re thinking about. The more we know about you and your commitments, the more effectively we can mentor you and help you connect with those who will support your development of these projects.

Submitting your work:

When you are ready to submit work to the Achievements System, make sure you are doing that within the specific tasks (or achievements) that are relevant. Once you submit something, an icon will appear on your program roadmap (the general screen where you can view your program progress). The green icon with a check mark means you have completed that task and that it has been officially approved. The yellow icon indicates that whatever you submitted is currently under review (meaning that you have done what you need to for the moment and program administrators are reviewing your submission). The blue icon with the pin is used for handful of achievements that require you to submit something multiple times. This might be, for instance, a project plan that requires additional updates. For submissions of this sort, once your plan has been approved, the blue pin icon will appear (indicating that you are "good for now, but will have to submit something else in the future" before the entire achievement has been completed). Finally, the red icon with the explanation mark means that something you have submitted has been reviewed, but not approved and requires revision. 

NOTE: This is a submission that utilizes the blue pin icon.