Career & Life Planning
COUNS 110 | 100% Online | College of the Canyons
Fall 2023
Hello and welcome to Counseling 110! My name is Erika Torgeson and I'll be your online instructor/facilitator for the next several weeks on your career exploration journey. I'm excited to have you join my class and I hope you are able to takeaway some great information that will support you further in your academic and career goals.
I do my best to provide a structured and easy to navigate online class experience to help meet students where they are at. Whether you're brand new to Canvas and online learning or you're an experienced online learner, I hope you'll find this space engages and prompts deeper awareness of yourself.
How This Course Works
This is a fully online course and will be conducted through our course modules in Canvas. (We will not have any in-person and/or Zoom meetings).
You will learn in a community of your peers. Please keep in mind this is not a self-paced course and you will be interacting with your peers throughout each of our weekly modules.
COC Official Check in. By Tuesday of Week 1, you will need to complete the first introductory discussion post to be considered "present" in the class. To complete this task, you will log into your Canvas account either through your MyCanyons student dashboard or the Canvas icon at the top of the College of the Canyons homepage. Once logged into our Canvas classroom, you'll follow the instructions to complete the "Orientation to Class" module which will then unlock the Week 1 module to complete the first discussion post.
This class is organized into one-week modules that open each Sunday morning at 12am for the upcoming week.
Each module contains readings and videos, interactive discussion boards, assignments, and sometimes a quiz to check for understanding.
My Commitment to You
I recognize that over the last several years and prior to COVID, it has become increasingly stressful to be a student. With challenges in balancing work, family, and school obligations, coupled with difficult societal stressors, your lives may feel heavier than normal. These stressors affect your ability to process information and managing your learning -- the way you feel informs your ability to learn. Give yourself grace as you try your best. I am committed to being flexible throughout this course to support you towards your academic success. I will support and guide you through this course to help you grow into a stronger learner.
My Teaching Philosophy
My hope and intent for the class is to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity: gender identity, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, and culture for reviewing various career information. And, my hope each students’ diversity and experiences will help bring a rich perspective of stories, resources, and collective community.
I believe everyone is capable of learning and the differences each person brings into a course, enriching the learning cohort. Each person learns at a unique rhythm, and the online environment provides a luxury of thinking, processing, and reflecting. I design my courses to encompass inclusion and celebrate the diversity of our learning community and to encourage each student to connect the course content into their lives.
Our Pact
What you can expect from me:
I will treat you with dignity, respect, and be flexible in supporting your individual needs.
I will provide you with a clear, organized course that is designed to ensure you meet our course outcomes in a meaningful manner.
I will provide a variety of assignments to ensure your learning needs are met.
I will be actively present in your learning.
I will provide a supportive and safe environment for you to share and discuss ideas with your peers.
I will reach out to you when I sense that you need support.
I won't be perfect. I am human and will make mistakes at times. I will review mistakes as an opportunity to learn and grow.
What I will expect from you:
You will exhibit dignity and respect toward me and your peers.
You will strive to be an active participant in this course and aim to meet due dates.
You will maintain an open line of communication with me so I understand how to support you.
You will contact me if you have a concern with meeting a due date.
You will strive to regularly contribute to collaborative activities to ensure other members of the community have ample opportunity to read/listen, reflect, and respond to your ideas.
You will do your best to have patience with technology. Anticipate there will be hiccups, expect them. We will get through them together.
You will give yourself grace. Expect to make mistakes. You are human and mistakes are part of learning and growing.
Course Overview
What is this class all about?
Counseling 110 introduces self-assessment tools to identify college majors and careers by clarifying interests, skills, abilities, values and personality type. Students will examine the decision- making process, self-management, life roles, and goal setting. Also included will be a review of labor market trends, career research, interviewing skills, resume and cover letter writing, and job search strategies.
Goals for the Class
To assist students as they examine their major and career options. Student goals will be to have a better understanding of what they want to major in and what their future career plans are. The course objectives include:
Understanding the career planning and decision-making process
Finding a career path and/or major consistent with individual skills, values, interests, and personality style
Recognizing the skills needed to succeed in a particular occupational field
Gaining resume writing and interviewing skills
Having a better understanding of oneself
Student Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students who have regularly attended and completed all assignments will be able to:
assess and evaluate personal characteristics including their skills, values, interests, abilities and personality traits as they apply to academic, career and personal decisions throughout one's lifespan.
Technology Needs
To assist in your continuous success in the course, you will need to have access to internet and either a desktop or laptop regularly each week. It will be a struggle to get through the course using a phone or tablet and to help reduce this frustration, College of the Canyons has several areas to access technology and internet at both Valencia and Canyon Country Campuses:
You will also need to ensure you have access to Microsoft Word or Google Docs, ability to access PDF files and view videos. We will interact with various technology platforms such as Padlet, Flipgrid, PebblePad (ePortfolio), and Jamboards along with career assessment tools. I will provide direct links to these platforms and indicate which assessments will require creating a free profile to access assignments.
Class Communication
The main forms of communication we'll use will be the Canvas Announcements and Inbox features. The quickest way to get a hold of me is through the Canvas inbox option, which is connected to my email. I try to respond to emails within 24-48 hours if you have questions and/or need to clarify any information from the course.
Textbook
We will be using Open Educational Resources (OER) materials for this course, which is a free online textbook. A digital copy will be listed in Canvas along with a hard copy on reserve at the Valencia and Canyon Country Libraries. If you wish to purchase the Counseling 110 OER text, you will be able to do so in the bookstore for about $8.
Success Tips
Be Proactive
Make it a goal to log into our course every Sunday or Monday to preview the new week's module. Carefully read through the week's Module Overview page, which will include the week's learning objectives and to assess the workload.
You'll be able to view the Canvas calendar feature to view the deadlines for assignments and each learning task will have the deadline listed. Having a mental picture of what's ahead and a plan to achieve it is the best thing you can do to prepare for each week.
Plan to Submit Early
I know this one is hard and I even struggle with this in the courses I take! Set a personal goal for yourself to have all of your assignments done at least 24 hours in advance of when they are due.
Why? Because life happens and when you wait until the last minute, you're more likely to have problems meeting a due date. I am here to support you when things go awry but procrastination will always be your worse enemy.
Communicate
As much as I wish I had the powers to feel when something comes up for a student, I sadly do not have this gift. If you identify a challenging meeting a due date, just reach out and let me know.
I am grateful for your efforts to inform me. Really! When possible, contacting me before a due date will keep you and I in sync and ensure you don't get overwhelmed by unfinished work.
Use the Canvas To-Do List and Calendar Features
They are so helpful! If you're on a computer, you'll find all of these goodies on the right side of our homepage. If you're on a phone using the Canvas student app, you'll find them at the bottom of your screen.
Course Onboarding
Due Dates for Week One
Tuesday, Aug 22 at 11:30pm (PST - Pacific Standard Time)
Complete Discussion #1 Prompt to introduce yourself to the class. There will be question prompts to start with and feel free to include additional information. You'll also respond to two classmates' posts to start connecting with your peers
Sunday, Aug 27 at 11:30pm (PST - Pacific Standard Time)
Complete remaining learning tasks for the week. Be sure that you click through each page under the Orientation and Week 1 modules so you'll have access to the Week 2 material.
Important Class Dates
Drop Refund: By Aug. 25, 2023
Add Deadline: By Aug. 31, 2023
Dropping a course WITHOUT receiving a “W”: By Aug. 31, 2023
Petition to take a course Pass/No Pass: By Oct. 02, 2023
Dropping a course WITH receiving a “W”: Between Sept. 1 thru Oct. 02, 2023
Drop/Withdrawal Policy:
If a student has not been active in the course for more than one week, I will reach out to provide additional assistance. Students can withdraw from courses through their MyCanyons student portal, and clicking on the lime green “My Registration” box. Help with dropping from a course can be found through the Admissions & Records Office @ www.canyons.edu/admissions.
Grading
This is a 3-unit course with an assigned letter grade. It is CSU transferable course, which fulfills the CSU GE Area E - Lifelong Learning and Self-Development requirement, and also counts towards elective units for an associate degree. Students will be graded on the completion of all assignments, discussion posts, and quizzes. All assignments must be turned in on time according to the posted deadline for each assignment to be counted towards full credit. It is the students’ responsibility to submit assignments by the posted due dates. I try to grade assignments within 72 hours of due dates.
Grading Scale based on Canvas percentage calculations:
100 – 90 = A
89.9 – 80 = B
79.9 – 70 = C
69.9 – 60 = D
59.9 – below = F