Professional Development Plan Assignment

Part 1: Professional Goals

Professional Introduction

Start off with a clear paragraph that describes your academic and professional goals. Include the name of your specialization, if relevant, and possible career goals and special academic interests. List past professional and personal efforts that you will likely carry into future work. This paragraph will be extremely useful to assist those assigning mentors who will guide your academic work after SBSF 8005 is completed.

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Professional and Academic Background

Discuss your education and work history, using detail to help create a clear picture of the chronology, locations, and type of work or study involved. You do not need to provide elaborate detail here as you will be discussing the nature of your past pursuits in Part 2.

Goal Statements and Their Relation to Academic Research

Here you will answer the question of how your graduate study at Walden will contribute to meeting your overall goals. Be sure to discuss both your goals and how you expect to achieve them through academic research. Here, you might refer to your tentative dissertation topic.

Reflection of Walden’s Mission Statement

Discuss how Walden’s mission statement corresponds to your own philosophy and goals. Be sure to demonstrate that you have read the mission statement by using specific examples from the statement itself.

Attainment of the Doctoral Degree Related to Goals

Discuss how a doctoral degree from Walden will help you attain your goals. Why did you choose this route above all others?

Part 2: Educational Background and Research Proficiency

In this section, discuss your academic and relevant personal proficiencies. Consider using subheadings to separate different sections of this part of your narrative. See the resources on the Writing Center website for instructions on formatting APA headings.

Academic Coursework in the Social and Behavioral Sciences

This is your chance to elaborate on your educational background and competencies.You may choose to list in bulleted form your most relevant courses.

Academic Coursework in Other Fields

Here you should elaborate on your educational background, competencies, past research, relevant coursework, publications, and other academic achievements. You may choose to list in bulleted form your most relevant courses.

Professional Presentations, Seminars, Training, and Workshops

Discuss any training, skills, or other experience related to your professional endeavors.

Volunteer Work

If relevant, discuss work you have done in your community that has inspired your current course of study.

Past Research, Publications, and Teaching Assignments

If relevant, discuss past research you have been involved with, along with any of your teaching assignments. If you have published research in the past, list the publications.

Access to Research Materials

Describe the availability of databases, information technology, and other research materials necessary for graduate study. Think about local libraries, resource centers, and your professional contacts to which you may have access.

Academic and Research Strengths and Weaknesses

In this section you should analyze the strengths and weaknesses you bring to graduate study, the opportunities or assets you have to help you, and any situations or conditions that may pose a threat to your success. You should also give your faculty a sense of how they may help you meet your goals, so give an honest account of this analysis.

Conclusion

Wrap up this section with your perspective on your readiness for graduate study.

Part 3: Plan of Study and Program of Study Form

Overall Learning Goals

Describe your goals for study at Walden, using as much detail as you can at this point. How do you plan to use Walden’s course offerings? What are your goals for the courses you plan to take?

Description of Coursework

Discuss your plan for taking courses here at Walden. Be sure to browse through the course catalog, paying attention to the differences among the courses and the content they will include. Think about each course in your POS, and spend some time here discussing what you hope to learn from these courses.

We understand that your ideas will change and develop as you move through the program, but we want you to get your creative ideas flowing, identify reasons to spend more time with the resources for your studies and in dialogue with other scholars and fellow students, and be more prepared for your first conversations with your instructors.