There are various assignments to help you learn about yourself, succeed in college, and plan your education. Note that you are required to complete a Comprehensive Student Educational Plan (CSEP) to pass the class.
About PDF Forms
Many of the forms and worksheets below can be filled out on the computer via a PDF reader, such as the free Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. While most Internet browsers have a PDF reader plug‐in and the form will open in your Internet browser, it is important that you save your work. To ensure you do not lose your work, and you can upload assignments:
- Download the form and save it to your computer.
- Open the form in the PDF reader software, such as Acrobat Reader.
- Fill out the form.
- Save to your computer.
Student Planner Assignment
Time Management: Using a Planner
A planner or calendar is an essential tool for keeping organized, managing your time wisely and meeting your deadlines. At the beginning of each semester, follow these steps to prepare and organize your time.
- Purchase, download, or use an online planner/calendar (See below for links to free calendars, planners for purchase and electronic calendars.).
- Fill out your planner/calendar with Bakersfield College important dates and holidays.
- Fill‐in any significant events that will impact your ability to study. For example, your work schedule, a planned trip out of town, family events such as weddings.
- When you receive your class syllabi, record assignment due dates and test/exam dates.
- Schedule regular study sessions. You may wish to schedule additional study time close to an exam date. It is also helpful to schedule stages for larger projects or writing a paper. For example, 3 weeks prior to due date 1 week of research, 2 days to outline, 5 days to write the rough draft, 2 days to edit, 2 days for someone else to proofread, 1 day for final edits, and print the paper 2 days before due date in case of printer glitches. There are online calculators to help you prepare such as:
- Review and update your planner/calendar weekly or daily as needed.
Learn more about organizing your time at BC’s Habits of Mind — Organize and click “Time Management/Schedule.”
Student Planner Assignment Directions
Fill out your free Bakersfield College Student Government Association (SGA) planner (See links below), or a purchased planner, using syllabi from all classes to indicate class meeting times, and when you will prepare for papers or tests. Document anything in your planner that is important for you to study. The Student Planner is due weekly.
Example of filled‐in planner/calendar .pdf.
Calendars and Planners
- Free Bakersfield College Schedule/Planner .pdf
- For Purchase
- BC Bookstore
- Generic planners can be found at office supply stores.
- Electronic
- Smartphones — If you have a smart phone, you probably have a calendar app installed with your operating system.
- Computer desktop email programs, such as Microsoft Outlook, come with a calendar.
- Mac users have a Calendar installed with the operating system.
- Google has an online calendar attached to Gmail. All BC students have a Google Calendar accessible through their Gmail account. Directions for using the Google Calendar.
Journal — Meet Your Professors
Over the next week, take the time to visit each of your instructors during their office hours (if they do not have office hours, visit them virtually through contacting them by email). A sample visit may include:
- Self-introduction
- Tell them this is an assignment and let them know your expectations and/or fears of the class.
- This assignment will force you to communicate with each of your instructors and will open the door for future communications.
Record your thoughts, impressions and feelings in a typed, one‐page paper, minimum 100 words. You may find this FMOOWP video useful.
Personality Mosaic
You may print the Personality Mosaic test and scoring sheet handout .pdf to fill out in writing, or you may use the Personality Mosaic self‐calculating form .pdf, so that you get your RIASEC code. You will need your RIASEC code to complete the O*NET Exercise. You will also need this to complete the Career Exploration Research Outline, and will need to attach your Personality Mosaic results to the Career Exploration Research Outline.
O*NET Interest Profiler
See the directions How to Obtain O*NET Results .pdf . This is used in writing your Career Exploration Research Paper and will need to be attached to the Career Exploration Research Outline.
Career Research Outline
This assignment is to help you prepare to write the Career Exploration Research Paper, below. You will need to complete a few exercises to complete this assignment.
Instructions:
- Complete Personality Mosaic Exercise, above, to find your three letter Personality Mosaic code (Holland’s RIASECRIASAC Hexagon code). You will need to attach the Personality Mosaic results to your Outline
- Next, complete the O*NET Exercise, above, to get a matching occupation portfolio. Print the results to attach to the Outline.
- Use Career Coach, My Next Move o*net Interest Profiler, or other sources of your chosen occupation to fill out the Career Research Outline .docx form. See the Career Research page for more Resources.
- Attach the results from the Personality Mosaic, O*NET results, and career research sources of information about your chosen occupation to the Outline and submit.
Career Exploration Research Paper
It is important that you complete the first part, the Career Exploration Research Outline above, before beginning the paper.
This assignment is designed to help students choose an initial career pathway. For some of you this is the first step in this direction, for others you may have already chosen a major and/or career. Wherever you are in the career development process, this assignment will help you.
Developing a career plan helps relieve some of the anxiety we all face when making important life choices. Choosing an initial goal motivates students to complete both their educational and personal goals. Life is a series of choices and education and training are ways to create a better life. You are the only one that can choose to create a quality life for yourself.
Instructions
In a 500‐word typed essay identify the things you like about your favorite career. Discuss:
- Your Personality Mosaic results
- O*NET Interest Profiler results
- Your related major
- The potential job characteristics
- Job growth or decline
- Expected salary
- Why you chose this field
- What is specifically meaningful or important to you about that career?
Resources
Documents to help with writing your Career Exploration Research Paper:
- Career Exploration Research Paper Printable Instructions .pdf
- 5 Steps in Career Development Model .pdf
- Career Decisions Thinking Cap Worksheet .pdf from CareerCafe
- Know Yourself Venn Diagram Worksheet .pdf from CareerCafe
- Roads to Success Worksheet .pdf CareerCafe
- Set A Career Goal Worksheet .pdf from CareerCafe
- Visualize Career Possibilities Worksheet .pdf from CareerCafe
- O*NET Interest Profiler to help you find a career path by obtaining your 3 highest scores of the Holland personality code (RIASEC) found from the Personality Mosaic exercise.
- What do you want to do for a living? My Next Move Interest Profiler
Catalog Exercise
Purpose & Instructions
This exercise is intended to help you become familiar with the current BC Catalog.
Instructions:
Using the online BC Catalog, answer the questions on the Catalog Exercise. To fill out the Catalog Exercise form .pdf in Adobe Acrobat Reader, follow these steps:
- Save the file to your computer in a place where you can retrieve it. Do not try to fill out the form in your web browser.
- Open the saved form on your computer in Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Fill out the form using a hard copy catalog or the online BC Catalog.
- If you get stuck on a question, hover your cursor over the answer box and a hint will appear.
- Save the document with your answers to your computer. Close and open the document to make sure that your answers are still there.
- Upload your assignment where designated in the online class software.
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, get Adobe Acrobat Reader for free.
Student Educational Plan (SEP) Preparation Assignment
- Print a copy of the section about your BC major to bring to class or have on hand as you start your Student Educational Plan. You may make a copy from a physical BC Catalog, or print a copy from the Online BC Catalog .
- Print your major articulation courses using assist.org.
- Get your placement for Math and English.
- Make an appointment with a counselor for self-guided placement by calling (661) 395-4421.
- You will need your high school transcripts.
- For more information see BC Placement.
- Read How To Complete a Student Educational Plan (SEP) Summary .pdf for your educational planning for BC, CSU, or IGETC transfer.
- Bring the General Education Pattern that pertains to you.
- Gen Ed Patterns can be found on the Forms page.
- If you plan to transfer, see the Transfer Checklist
Student Education Plan
The Student Educational Plan (SEP) is the plan of courses to complete your education goals. This is often called the Comprehensive Student Educational Plan (CSEP) because it is a comprehensive plan or map to your education goals. We will complete the CSEP for this class.
Note: a completed CSEP is required to pass this class. It is also a requirement for matriculation.
CSEP Assignment
In CANVAS, the Comprehensive Student Educational Plan (CSEP) ingredients are divided into weekly modules.
- CSEP 1: Major
- CSEP 2: Choose one of three General Education Patterns
- Option 1 – BC General Education AA or AS
- Option 2 – CSU General Education
- Option 3 – UC (IGETC) General Education and IGETC STEM
- CSEP 3: Semester by semester plan
- Final CSEP: Corrected CSEP 1, 2, and 3 on one form digitally signed by you
How to create a Comprehensive Student Educational Plan (CSEP)
Expanded Directions
Note: Like all other PDF forms on my site, make sure that you download and save the forms to your computer, open in a PDF reader, like the free Adobe Acrobat DC, fill out the form, and save. Simply filling out the form in your browser is likely to result in losing your work.
CSEP 1: Input courses required for your major.
Use the CSEP Part I – Major .pdf to collect the information and turn in.
- For an Associate degree, get your list from the BC Catalog online
- For an Associate degree for transfer (AA-T), get your list from the BC Catalog online
- For transfer to a CSU or UC, go to assist.org and make a copy of the pre-major courses required for your transfer college and major
- For private or out-of-state colleges and universities, go to their website, click on admissions for undergraduate and then the link for transfers. We usually recommend that you send an information request email to their transfer advisors so that you can get the most up-to-date information
CSEP 2: Review the appropriate general education plan you follow.
- Choose one of three General Education Patterns from the BC Catalog online and fill out the corresponding form:
- For students that wish to earn a degree at BC: CSEP 2 Option 1 — BC General Education .pdf
- For students that wish to transfer to a CSU, such as CSUB: CSEP 2 Option 2 — CSU General Education Pattern .pdf
- For students that wish to transfer to a UC or private institution: CSEP 2 Option 3 — UC (IGETC) General Education Pattern .pdf
- Certificate earners do not have to complete general education requirements
- Read through the list of general education courses required and highlight those you have already taken or are currently enrolled in.
- Read the course descriptions in the online Bakersfield College catalog and choose the general education courses you still need to take and indicate your choices by circling them on your general education pattern
CSEP 3 Semester‐by‐Semester Plan
Now that you have determined which classes you are required to take, it is time to plan when you will take them.
- Use the CSEP 3 Semester‐by‐Semester Plan .pdf to map out each semester to reach your goal. See this CSEP 3 Semester-by-Semester Worksheet example .pdf.
- Begin with the current semester on page 1.
- Match numbers on the education plan with the numbers on the general education pattern from the catalog.
- Input course in the abbreviated format found on the general education. For example, “ENGL B1a.”
- Do not write “Expository Composition,” “English B1a.” or just “B1a.”
Final CSEP
A corrected CSEP 1, 2, and 3 on one form and digitally signed by you is required to pass this class.
- Transfer the information from your corrected CSEP 1, CSEP 2, and CSEP 3 to the Comprehensive Student Educational Plan (CSEP) .pdf .
- Be sure to total all units in your major, general education and/or electives
- Do not count units that are not degree applicable, such as Math B70 to transfer.
- Do not double count units for a course that meets both a major and a general education requirement.
- 60 units are required to graduate from Bakersfield College, which include your major and general education.
- Be sure to digitally sign your Final CSEP.
- Upload to CANVAS.
SMART Goals Outline
Using the goal exercises we completed in class:
- The Decision Making Process handout .pdf
- Three Questions .pdf [page 16 of the textbook]
- and Life Works handout .pdf
Rewrite your stated goals into an outline of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) Goals in your textbook, pages 18–19. The form is also available for you to print & write SMART Goals Outline .pdf or type & print SMART Goals Outline .pdf.
Diversity Paper
Diversity and tolerance is important at school, at work and in society. First, watch the Shadow of Hate documentary video:
Then, write a paper based on the following quote:
For those who have seen earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.
Donald E. Williams ~ Former NASA Astronaut, Retired US Navy Officer
Library Workshop
The Library is your friend. For your best foot forward in college, attend any Library Workshop, or Engl 34 class. Show me proof of attendance to complete this assignment.
This is a heavily weighted assignment; do not procrastinate. The number of workshops is limited during the semester and are not usually available towards the end of the semester. Make sure to check the BC Library website for the schedule of workshops now and attend as soon as possible.
Final Reflective Paper
Please review your notes, journals and other assignments from this class and reflect on what you have learned about yourself as a student as well as those strategies that you have already put to use or plan to put to use throughout your college life and career. Write a 3‐page typed essay on your reflections.
The Final Reflective paper is due during the Finals Week. There is no “final” exam. If you turn in ALL of your assignments during the week before Finals Week, you will not have to come to class during Finals Week!