Curriculum for Integrative Professional Studies Major

With the Degree Design curriculum, you'll create a personalized mix of diverse subjects that emphasize real-world experience and interdisciplinary learning.

Degree Design Lab--Integrative Professional Studies Curriculum

In the Integrative Professional Studies major at Champlain College, you’ll create a personalized curriculum by combining diverse subjects through the Degree Design Lab. Foster interdisciplinary thinking and prepare for a dynamic job market through real-world projects, internships, and study abroad. Stand out as an innovative and adaptable professional.

Here are some sample combinations to inspire you and help you visualize the possibilities of the Integrative Professional Studies major at the Degree Design Lab:

Data Analytics, Marketing, and Communication: Refine companies’ digital marketing strategies by analyzing search engine algorithms.
Education, Communication, and Global Studies: Work internationally to empower underrepresented populations through improved educational opportunities.
Environmental Studies & Policy, Business: Found an environmentally conscious consulting firm that promotes sustainable practices.
Entrepreneurship, Professional Writing, Broadcast Media Production: Leverage creative and financial expertise to launch a niche social media platform and monetize content.

View the College Catalog for curriculum details.

Learning Outcomes for Degree Design Lab

First Year
Fall Semester
- DDL 110 Introduction to Inquiry
- DDL 186 Integrative Portfolio
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
Spring Semester
- DDL 190 Introduction to Project Design
- DDL 250 Competencies Review
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- MTH XXX Math Elective
Second Year
Fall Semester
- DDL 280 Basic Methods Toolbox
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX General Elective
Spring Semester
- DDL 251 Competencies Review II
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
Third Year
Fall Semester
- DDL 252 Competencies Review III
- DDL 325 Interrogating Professionalism
- DDL 401-412 Competency Demonstration (Anticipate scheduling one or two competency demonstrations in this semester.)
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- SCI XXX Science Elective
Spring Semester
- DDL 401-412 Competency Demonstration (Most will schedule three demonstrations this semester.)
- XXX DDL Internship or Thread Internship
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX Thread Choice
- XXX General Elective
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- Option 1 (15 credits) - View Catalog for details
- Option 2 (15 Credits) - View Catalog for details
- Option 3 (16 credits) - View Catalog for details
Spring Semester
- Option 1 (13 Credits) - View Catalog for details
- Option 2 (13 Credits) - View Catalog for details
- Option 3 (12 Credits) - View Catalog for details

This course introduces students to the central concepts of a Champlain College education: inquiry, integrative thinking and learning, and interdisciplinarity. Students will learn how to explore and create knowledge using a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies, including the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Through this integrative, interdisciplinary framework, students will learn how to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of each academic field of knowledge and recognize the interplay of multiple perspectives, including their own.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course serves as the starting point for students who wish to pursue an individualized degree program through the Degree Innovation Design Lab. Faculty mentors will help you design a personalized learning plan based on your prior experiences and future goals. You will also consider each of the Champlain College Competencies, and begin to reflect on how proficiency might be achieved and demonstrated throughout your educational journey at Champlain. An introduction to thinking about professionalism in context will establish the critical habits of mind necessary for success in the program. Finally, you will create your reflective competency portfolio and begin to build your capacity for self-directed learning.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course provides a project design space for students enrolled in the Degree Design Lab Program to develop and explore a sustained interdisciplinary question through a collaborative problem or project. While the collective project may be pre-determined, students will be challenged to identify how their multiple professional foci OR other compelling passions might contribute. Faculty will help students to identify the project, facilitate implementation, ensure appropriate breadth and depth of subject matter, and encourage awareness of how the experience can be used to build and demonstrate competency. Students will develop their own questions and determine their own research path for the liberal learning that will help them achieve their goals. Students will actively share ideas, engage in ongoing discussions, provide feedback, and refine work accordingly. This course is designed with an eye towards increasing independence and sophistication, and will allow students at different points in their process and with different perspectives to contribute to each other's work.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course provides space for Degree Design Lab students to review progress in the college competencies, gather preliminary evidence of learning, and receive feedback that will help them to identify areas of strength and areas that need further development.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

This hybrid course introduces the wide variety of methods and applied skills required for social science and humanities fieldwork. Students will develop practical skills in grounded theory, analog/digital tools for ethnography, data analysis, and mapping. The complementarities of quantitative and qualitative methods will be explored via naturalistic research design. Class members will develop and carry out a set of mini-research projects related to one of the specific locations of Champlain College (on or near the Burlington, Montreal, or Dublin campuses).

Prerequisites	Take DDL-110 or by permission of instructor.
Credits	3

Prerequisites
Credits	1

Prerequisites
Credits	1

Work experiences often compel the inquiry-driven learner to ask, why are things done this way? This course will help you answer that question. We will examine professionalism as a concept theoretically and historically. Then, you'll build connections between your DDL academic work and internship experiences by theorizing and contextualizing those experiences through frameworks from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

Prerequisites	Take DDL-186 and DDL-190. Partake in an internship concurrently.
Credits	3

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