PATH 1100X Assignment Details – ENTR, ENVC, GLOB, MUSE, SELF

The details below are copies from the course Moodle for students who need to complete the work when the Moodle is unavailable. Assignments will need to be saved and uploaded to the course Moodle when it becomes available. Not all assignments can be done ahead of time, but this can give you a head start.

PATH 110 has:

• 3 written assignments
• 1 required, in-person conversation with other PATH 110 students (schedule late in the semester)
• 1-2 “read and acknowledge” assignments (depending on Pathway).

PATH 1100X Assignments

1.    Initial Reflection Notes

Take some time to consider and record your thoughts about each of the following questions. Here are the guidelines:

• Priority: Thorough, deep self-reflections with specific details to explain your thinking.
• Record your thoughts in whatever way you prefer – journal entry style (free-write), simple bulleted notes, etc.
• Grammar and spelling aren’t really a consideration, but your notes should be easy to read and understand.
• There isn’t a length requirement; we are just looking for depth, insight, and specific details to explain your perspectives.

Reflection Questions

1. Why are you interested in this Pathway?
   • What specific experiences and knowledge have prepared you to pursue this Pathway or do you see contributing to your development in this Pathway?
   • Discuss your personal lived experiences, academic work from high school or college, and/or career-oriented experiences such as volunteer work or paid jobs. 
2. How do your specific interests, values, and preferred work environment fit with this career area? Discuss how your priorities, personality, and passions would line up with careers related to this Pathway.
   • We strongly recommend using self-assessment tools for insights into these connections, even if you already know what career you’re pursuing.
     • Click here for career-related self-assessment tools
3. How do you see yourself using the experiences and knowledge gained in this Pathway? You might consider future careers you are interested in learning more about.
4. Who are two people who have been and/or could be mentors (resource) for you as you embark on the Pathway? Why have you identified or selected these people?

Upload your completed notes.

2.    Career Readiness Assessments

Part 1 – Form: Self-Assessment

1. Complete this self-assessment of your career readiness  in the eight areas identified by NACE as particularly important to employers right now. Be thorough, thoughtful, and honest so you can develop specific goals for improvement and better see your growth later when you come back to this assessment.
2. Once you’ve completed the assessment form, select and mark three or four of the eight career competencies to be your focus areas. You will later ask supervisors to assess you on these focus areas and use them to set goals for professional growth.
   • Consider choosing the following:
     • At least one area you consider to be a weakness of yours
     • At least one area you believe to be a strength of yours
     • Areas that are particularly crucial in your field of interest (noting that all eight are important in every 21st century career). For example, technology for a data analysis job or communication for a marketing position.

Upload your completed self-assessment (with focus areas marked).

Part 2 – Form: Supervisor/Coworker Assessment

Choose a professional adult you’ve worked for or with that would have a strong sense for your career readiness. These are typically the same kind of people that would serve as references for a job. You could choose a:

• Manager
• Coach
• Adult coworker
• Club or org supervisor (professional, not student)
• Supervisor of volunteer work
• Neighbor you’ve done work for (if you’re a first-year or sophomore)
• Etc.

Ask them to Assess You

1- Ask the chosen person if they’d be willing to complete a career readiness assessment about you. Be sure they know you’ll see their completed form and that it’s for your own reflection and career growth.

2- Fill out the student portion of this form (link), then give/email it to the person you chose. It can easily be completed digitally.

3- Provide these instructions to your supervisor/coworker:

• Be as honest as possible so it’ll be helpful for reflection and growth
• Ideally complete the whole form. If they don’t have time for that, they can do just the marked focus areas.
• Email the form back to you
• Recommended: ask them to send it back by a certain date, usually 1-2 weeks from when you send it, even if you don’t need it then. This will help them remember to complete it for you.

 Upload your supervisor/coworker assessment form.

Part 3: Reflection

*Writing and/or uploading this part is not currently required, though it’s strongly recommended for much greater professional growth.

When you receive their completed form:

1 – Review and consider their feedback

2 – Compare it with your own assessment, especially noting similarities and extreme differences

3 – Use all of this information to reflect on your current career readiness and set goals for growth.

4 – Find someone – friend, professor, peer advisor in APEX, tutor, etc. – who is willing to serve as an accountability partner. Tell them your goal(s) and ask them to check in with you about about your progress every month or so and/or at the time you set to achieve the goal. Note: If you’ve asked a friend, consider offering to do the same for them if they have a goal they’re trying to meet.

Reflection Questions – Comparing the Two Assessments

• What were areas that both of you agree are in need of growth? What are some specific steps could you take this semester to begin to grow in those areas?
• Were there any areas where your assessment was quite different from that of your supervisor/coworker? What might be some reasons for the discrepancies? If you believe the other person might actually be right, where did your assessment come from? If you believe they are wrong, why might they have that view of your career readiness? How should these new thoughts impact your professional development goals?
• What were areas you both agree are strengths for you? What could that mean for your career direction? What are some specific ways you can continue to build and utilize that strength area this semester?

Reflection Questions – Career Readiness Growth Goals

Considering these comparisons as well as your own observations of your strengths, growth areas, and skills crucial to your career(s) of interest…

• What are 1-3 areas you’d like to really focus on growing? These might be the areas you chose as “focus areas” at the beginning of this project.

Within each of those focus areas:

• What specific skill(s) would you like to improve?
• What are specific ways to practice those skills and how can you do that this semester?
• How could you measure your growth with those specific skills? Note: there should be actual numbers involved to make this an objective measurement.
• What is a realistic timeline for these changes? What are incremental checkpoints you could use to track your progress?

Finally, as you review these career readiness assessments and your reflections on them, what are 1-3 SMART goals you’d like to set to further develop your professional skills? Use this resource (link) to help you write high quality goals that you can actually meet.

Again, the reflection portion of this assignment is strongly recommended and can be uploaded, but it is not required. However, we recommend at least taking notes on your thoughts and goals as this will increase their quality and the likelihood that you’ll take action.

If you’d like feedback on this assignment or to review it with someone, please schedule a meeting with your Pathway Peer Advisor, the Pathways Coordinator (booking link) , or your Pathway advisor. Email Becky Webb if you don’t know who your Pathway Advisor is.

3.    Reflection Conversation

Participate in a conversation with other students from your Pathway about your reasons for joining the Pathway, career goals, opportunities for networking, and more. This mandatory 1-hour conversation will happen on one particular evening each semester. Check your course Moodle and/or the Pathways website to find out when it’s happening and add it to your calendar.

Discussion topics will include:

• Initial Reflection Notes
• Career Readiness Assessment Assignment 
• Ideas for related internships and jobs
• How to complete your Pathway

Completing your Initial Reflection Notes and the Career Readiness Assessment assignment) before this conversation will provide a richer discussion. 

As you all discuss your goals, motivations, and experiences, you’ll look for insights that might be useful. Be open to looking at yourself and your career ideas from a different angle and even revising your goals. Consider, too, that each of these people could be valuable connections for you on your career journey, both at Wooster and into the future. Consider pursuing further career conversations with these folks on your own after this meeting.

Take notes on aspects of the conversation that are interesting or potentially valuable for you as you will need to reference this conversation in the final assignment of this course. Suggestion: review the details of the final “PATH 110 Cumulative Initial Reflection” assignment before you go to this event.

It is also recommended, but not required, that you discuss your reflections with a mentor and/or a connection you have in the career field, such as someone you listed for question 4 of the Initial Reflections assignment. If you have that discussion before this Pathway Reflection Conversation, you might have additional insights to bring to your fellow Pathway students!

After you’ve attended the event, upload 1-2 sentences describing your key takeaway(s) to receive credit for attending. 

4.    Cumulative Initial Reflection

Write a final reflection on this initial Pathway experience. 

1. Discuss:

• your thoughts on each of the four questions from your initial reflection notes 
• your reflections from Career Readiness Assessment assignment & any goals you set.

This should be the bulk of your final reflection paper. Important note: Your Pathway advisor will not have seen your initial reflection notes or career readiness assessment work, so you should include some or all of the content from those notes / reflections. 

2. Briefly discuss the reflection conversation from the PATH 110 meeting. What were 2-3 ways the conversation impacted your career reflections? What were some benefits of having this conversation with other students on a similar journey?

3. Discuss your final, overall thoughts on what you discovered about yourself and your career direction as you completed the tasks in this PATH course. 

Upload your 400-700 word (about 2-4 pages) reflection here.  

Note to ENTR students – you will need to email your completed reflection to Dr. Abramo and request a meeting to review it with him. At the conclusion of the meeting, ask him to sign your reflection (or a post-it). You will upload his signature along with your reflection.

5.    Read & Acknowledge: PATH 330XX Timing

You saw this in PATH 110. Please review it again to be sure you understand the requirements for this Pathway.

Your next Pathway course, PATH 330XX, has some unique timing concerns to be aware of.

Your next Pathway course, PATH 330XX, has some unique timing concerns to be aware of.

Please read through this information, which was also included in your PATH 110 course, and then submit a short sentence indicating that you’ve read and understood how to plan for and complete your career experience (EL) for the Pathway.

Note: You might want to begin these steps this semester.

PATH 330XX: Experiential Learning

This course asks you to complete an authentic, hands-on experience in one of the career areas you’re exploring. It is more than simply having an experience, however.

In order to maximize the benefits and learning you gain, you will deliberately walk through goal setting, planning, and “preflection” (pre-reflection) before you complete the career experience.

During and after your experience, you will spend time considering what you learned about yourself from the experience and how those lessons might impact your next career steps. Completing this thorough, guided process is what makes this “experiential learning” rather than just an experience.

**Note that this course will require you to complete some components BEFORE you register**

Steps to complete PATH 330XX:

Before Registering:

1. Explore a range of possible experiences that will help you further your career goals.
2. Plan your EL experience, taking advantage of resources and assistance offered by faculty or staff on the Pathway team, someone from the Experiential Learning office in APEX, COW alumni working in the career field, and/or your own connections in the field.
3. Discuss your planned EL with a faculty or staff person from your Pathway’s team. Gain unofficial approval.
4. Complete the EL Approval Form to receive official approval for your EL.
5. Register for or plan PATH 330XX to match with the time you’ll finish your EL. 
   • Ex. – if you do your EL in the summer, take PATH 330XX in the fall
   • Ex. – if you’ll finish your EL during the fall semester, take PATH 330XX in the fall
   • Ex. – if you’ll finish your EL at the very end of the fall semester, take PATH 330XX in the spring
   • Ex. – if your year-long student job on campus will be your EL, take PATH 330XX in the spring 

During the Course:

1. Complete your EL experience (can be done before or during PATH 330XX).
2. Upload your EL Verification Form.
3. Submit your post-EL reflection.

When you’ve fully read and understood this information, please write a brief statement indicating that you’ve read and understood this information. You may include any questions you have or email them to Pathways@wooster.edu

6.    GLOB only – additional Read & Acknowledge text about extra experience requirements.

Updated: 13 Jan 2026