Polk State College: 2018 Course Catalog Now Includes Full Year Academic Schedule
Polk State College is excited to announce the 2018 Course Catalog.
With planning and input gathered from department coordinators, program managers, academic deans, and full-time faculty, the Polk State College Catalog now includes a full year’s academic schedule. This provides students with flexibility and an opportunity for improved education planning.
Historically, the schedule listed in the Polk State College Catalog was for a single semester, limiting the ability to plan a full year’s course load. Now, with this new format, students can more easily arrange their schedules, taking into account work, vacations, internships, and more.
“The new format allows students the lead time to work with their employers and academic advisors to advance their educational goals in a timely manner,” said Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Donald Painter. “With the ability to plan a full year ahead, students can ensure that they get their course needs met to achieve their degrees.”
Vice President of Student Services Reggie Webb said, “With an annual schedule, students can plan their education at Polk State with greater ease. Students can map out multi-term course sequences such as ENC 1101 Composition I and ENC 1102 College Composition II, or make a decision to spread out courses like MAC 1105 College Algebra and BSC 2085C Anatomy and Physiology I over different terms. Students will be able to see, up to a year in advance, what we plan to offer and when.”
Another significant benefit of the yearly schedule is that it will assist students in developing and honing an essential trait of future leaders— strategic planning. Strategic planning requires the development of an action plan with a particular strategy to reach a specific goal. Now, students will be able to plan a yearly course schedule to ensure timeliness for academic and career success.
“As one of the beneficial components of the First-Year Seminar course, students are able to complete Education Plans based on current schedule information,” said April Robinson, dean of academic affairs at the Winter Haven Campus. “There are courses that are offered in only one session per year; therefore, a yearly schedule will ensure that students are strategically selecting their courses for each semester.”
The Polk State College Catalog building process took more than a year to complete, as it required College components to accelerate the completion of course scheduling and move the timeline up from a “per semester” process to scheduling several semesters at a time.
“We had to adjust our timelines to be able to collect a full year’s calendar in our normal process, which meant looking at not only the fall semester, but also the spring,” said Dr. Painter. “We also had to reference previous semesters to ensure we were including the most comprehensive and necessary course opportunities.”
Perhaps the biggest benefit of this change is to degree planning. Currently, students have access to a degree audit tool in Passport that helps them to develop a road map to graduation. The projected annual schedule bolsters planning and efficiency, assisting in students in degree completion.