Learning Plans

This is not as terrible as it sounds. Not only that, but this is almost the single most important part of a Portfolio.

It is sometimes described as a sort of contract, but that is not quite right. It is rather more of a research design or plan of action for the learning process of a semester. After you have finished with your Portfolio, it is the basis for deciding whether you fulfilled the curriculum you set up for yourself. The Learning Plan helps you define, organize, plan, carry out, analyze and evaluate your learning experience and your Portfolio.

A document that does all that is intimidating to many; but it makes a difficult process easier because it is set up in a systematic way, and the whole thing is done in cooperation with your faculty advisor. The intimidation comes partly because you are put in control of your own curriculum. Your advisor guides and advises, and maybe keeps you from doing projects in war zones, but the big choices are yours. In a way, the Learning Plan can be easier than the rest of the Portfolio, because Friends World gives you a structure for it, a number of points which must be included in order to really flesh out your expectations for your learning. The next eight sections deal with each of these.

A.2.a. GOALS STATEMENT (What you want to do with your life!)
A.2.b. LEARNING OBJECTIVES (What you intend to learn this semester)
A.2.c. PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS (The specifics of your courses and projects)
A.2.d. METHODOLOGY (How you're going to do these)
A.2.e. RESOURCES (What you're going to learn from)
A.2.f. TIMETABLE (How you're going to organize your time so that you actually finish and get credit)
A.2.g. CREDIT BREAKDOWN/LEARNING PLAN SUMMARY (To fulfill graduation requirements of subject areas, and to help the registrar)
A.2.h. EVALUATION CRITERIA (How are you going to know whether you succeeded or not?)

Here is a paragraph from the Student Handbook on flexibility and the Learning Plan:

...Important changes may occur in your Learning Plan once you embark 
on your studies -- and the fact that a project does not work out does 
not necessarily mean failure on your part.  You must "go with the flow" 
and learn to salvage valuable learning from unplanned eventualities.  
As long as any changes in the Learning Plan are discussed with your 
advisor and are made in a timely way, they should be viewed as part of 
the learning process.

Change is part of life and part of learning. Don't excuse yourself from creating a Learning Plan because you're not sure how definite your project is. If your plan or your project changes, that is part of your learning cycle, and you should be able to document it. The Learning Plan is not written in stone. It is normal to have a few adjustments in plan or false starts while your work is progressing (although your advisor obviously needs to be involved in these adjustments). Get it out of the way early on, and you will thank yourself.

EVERYTHING ELSE HANGS ON THE LEARNING PLAN. Get into it as soon as you can.

Workshop Discussion Sparks

The role of the Learning Plan in the (planning segment of the) learning cycle
flexibility in Friends World education

Inspired and Creative

Rigorous Training

There are lots of projects and exercises throughout this Guidebook dealing with the Learning Plan. Look especially in the section on TRANSLATING EXPERIENCE INTO A PORTFOLIO (C).

AAAAAGGGHHHH!

Wait, this isn't as terrible a task as it seems! The only reason for the whole thing is to spell out on paper some information on what you want to do. The Learning Plan is basically just a description of why, how, what, where, and with whom you are doing it. To clarify what it is that you want to do, talk with people (esp. your advisor), write in your diary, draw it, etc.

See Also

Student Handbook and its appendices
the sections A.2.a through A.2.h, listed above, on each part of the Learning Plan
HISTORY OF PORTFOLIO (B.1)
PURPOSE OF FRIENDS WORLD (B.2)
EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION/LEARNING CYCLE (C.1)
QUESTIONING ASSUMPTIONS (C.2)
RELEVANCE AND DIALOGIC LEARNING (C.4)
INTEGRATION (C.5)
PROCESS AND PRODUCT (C.6)
PRIORITIZATION (G.3)
TIME MANAGEMENT (H.8)
HOW A PORTFOLIO IS ORGANIZED (A.1)
ADVISING (I.5)

Contribute to the Portfolio Resource Guide!!!

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