Week 6 Discussion: Your Personal Plan and Educational Journey We are coming to the end of the term – and you are about to embark into the world of Walden University as you’ve completed the first step in your educational journey with us. Do you have any final thoughts or reflections you want to share with your instructor or classmates? Feel free to use this space to interact and congratulations on completing this crucial and important first step with us! Click on the Reply button below to reveal the textbox for entering your message. Then click on the Submit button to post your message.

Week 6: Your Place in the Virtual World

How many students … were rendered callous to ideas, and
how many lost the impetus to learn because of the way
in which learning was experienced by them?

—John Dewey, 1938, philosopher and educator

This term, you have explored ways of being, seeing, and knowing in a technological world. You have looked at both academic and non-academic sources to help us gather ideas about how each of us will learn to shine in this new environment. From your social media profile to your email signature line, you are taking up real estate in an online, virtual place. You will all need to become more aware of how your own cultural lens impacts how you learn, share thoughts, and act online. Part of the transformational aspect of education is through the exposure to new ideas. This week, you will concentrate on pulling all the various assignments from this course into a personal reflection. You will craft a personalized plan for academic and professional success.

Before you begin on the readings and assignments this week, please take a minute to review the work you did during the first week of this course. It has only been a  five weeks, but you want you to reflect on the ways that you’ve become more at ease in an online setting since you started here at Walden.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Develop a personal education success plan
• Identify the impact of technology on future professional plans
• Identify your role in the Walden community
• Analyze the supports needed for your success
• Create visual representations of aspirations

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Assignment Rubric

Document: Personal Success Plan Checklist and Worksheet (Word document)

This document will guide the development of your Personal Success Plan.

Document: Week 6 Reflection Final Draft Revision Guidelines (Word document)

This checklist will help you revise the rough draft you wrote in Week 4 to turn it into the final draft that you’ll submit this week.

Week 6 Reflection Assignment Rubric

Document: Undergraduate Template and Paper Advice (Word document)

This document is a template file that you can Save As and use to write papers using AWE and formatting of scholarly writing. The template includes writing advice and suggestions as well as instructions on how to use it.

Required Media

Scholars of Change

These videos illustrate the stories of Walden students who are supporting social change and making a difference on the world.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016a). Scholars of change: Andrea Baer. [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016b). Scholars of change: Reis Woollen. [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.

Laureate Education. (n.d.). Scholars of change. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from https://www.waldenu.edu/about/social-change/scholars-of-change

Walden’s Social Change Initiative

Walden University (n.d.) Social change: What type of social change agent are you? [Interactive media] Retrieved from http://impactreport.waldenu.edu/

Take the quiz to see how you might become a change agent.