Goals Introduction
Identifying your goals can help you plan your degree. Why do you want to get a degree? What are you interested in learning? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you think you need to learn to achieve your goals? What steps can you take toward achieving your goals? If you can seriously consider and answer questions about goals, you can translate that information into some concrete course choices.
Tools for Identifying Goals
The following tools may be useful in helping you to identify and state your goals:
- Iowa State University's pages on Goal Setting
- Writing Great Specific Goals - provides tips on how to write goals in a way that can help you implement them
- Personal Goal Setting - a business-oriented web page that contains useful information on setting SMART goals http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html
The Edupunk's Guide
You can access this text for free in a number of ways at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77938
There's good information on goals in these sections:
- pages 9 - 12 - How to Write a Personal Learning Plan
- pages 21-22 - What do you like? What do you want to be? Where do you want to go?
Some Goals Questions
Context
- Why do you want to pursue a degree?
- What type of degree (associate, bachelor) do you want to pursue?
Personal Goals
- How do you intend to use your degree?
- What knowledge, qualities, or characteristics do you hope to develop through your studies?
Academic Goals
- Do you want to strengthen any academic skills? (e.g., writing, math, research)
- What do you want to learn about in your degree?
Professional Goals
- Where would you like to be professionally in five or ten years?
- Are there studies that you can include in your degree to help you to reach your professional goals?
Terri's Interview
Goal Setting Worksheet
Understanding Goals
- "A Theory of Goal Setting by Locke and Latham" provides a very brief summary of standard goal theory, plus related links. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/theory-goal-setting-locke-latham-1879.html
- "New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory," an article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, provides an overview of goal theory and can provide some interesting concepts to consider, especially in the section on "Learning Goals." This is an article in an academic journal. http://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch/642/Articles%20syllabus/Locke%20et%20al%20New%20dir%20goal%20setting%2006.pdf
- "Goal Setting" provides an overview of different types of goals and the importance of goal-setting in education http://www.education.com/reference/article/goal-setting/
How do your Goals Relate to College Goals?
- Goals for Liberal Learning and College-Level Learning, American Association of Colleges & Universities, read sections A, B, C, and D on general goals of a college education http://www.greaterexpectations.org/briefing_papers/GoalsForLiberalLearning.html
- College Learning for the New Global Century, American Association of Colleges & Unviersities, read pgs. 12-17, sections on Essential Learning Outcomes, and Narrow Learning is Not Enough. http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/GlobalCentury_final.pdf