A major is a group of courses required by a college or university in order to receive a degree or certificate –– an area you specialize in, like Accounting or Chemistry. There are certain core courses in the specialization that everyone is required to take, along with several elective courses.
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A major is a specific subject area that students specialize in. Typically, between one-third and one-half of the courses you'll take in college will be in your major or related to it. At some colleges, you can even: Major in two fields.
The following are tips for writing a course description:The course description should be no longer than 100 words.Write from a student-centered perspective.Use present tense and active voice.Use clear and simple sentence structure and language.Use gender neutral language.More items...
A course outline is a document which includes the basic components to be taught such as learning activities, assessments, and evaluations of an online course. It is used to plan the creation of a course.
A major is the subject that's the main focus of your degree. Most of your courses will be in your major and you'll graduate with a degree in that major, e.g., Bachelor of Science in Public Health, Bachelor of Arts in History, Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Geomatics.
In the US, you could say "My major is physics" or "I'm majoring in psychology." to talk about which major field of study you are focusing on at university. If you said "My subject is physics", that would sound like you want to give a presentation and your topic is physics (for example).
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A course description serves to state the rationale for the course and give an overview of key content covered, skills and knowledge to be learned, and how it will benefit the student.
The course title (sometimes also called the course name) and number are important identifiers for your course. It is a good idea to use titles and numbers that are easy to understand and remember. The course enrollment track specifies the type of certificate, if any, that the course offers.
Course context (also referred to as situational context or situational factors) is the reality of the system we are teaching within. To design effective courses, all decisions made during the backwards design process should be through the lens of our specific course context.
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A course outline gives the basic components of the course required to be taught by all instructors; whereas a syllabus describes how an individual instructor will teach that course in terms of specific assignments, dates, grading standards, and other rules of conduct required by that instructor.
To earn a bachelor's degree, you must declare a “major.” A major is simply a “major area of focus” for your college studies....Examples of college majors:Anthropology.Biology.Business Administration.Chemical Engineering.Communications.Computer Science.Economics.English Language and Literature.More items...•
Major is the specific field of study whereas bachelor is an academic degree offered by colleges and universities. It is not enough to tell that you are doing your undergraduate level course; that is bachelor's level degree, until you specify the name of the major you have taken.
Your major subject acts as the core of your course, providing you with in-depth knowledge of a particular area and helping to focus your studies.
Four yearsTypes of academic degreesAcademic degreeTypical completion timeAssociate degreeTwo yearsBachelor's degreeFour yearsMaster's degreeTwo yearsDoctoral degreeFour years1 more row
A major is the subject that's the main focus of your degree.
An undergraduate program is the first level of university studies and what you study after finishing high school.
If you have questions about majors, minors, options. or specializations, contact the faculty that offers your program for advice.
A faculty is made of up academic departments and professional schools that are home to programs, professors and advisors, research labs and classrooms, as well as study and social spaces.
What is a faculty? A faculty is made of up academic departments and professional schools that are home to programs, professors and advisors, research labs and classrooms, as well as study and social spaces. There are six faculties at Waterloo: Arts, Engineering, Environment, Health, Mathematics, and Science.
Waterloo offers more than 180 graduate programs.
An option provides depth to your degree and usually requires six to eight courses.
Some students know what they want to major in before college, while others need extra time to decide. Many colleges ask prospective students to list a major on their college application, but it's usually not mandatory.
Before you choose a major, it's important to determine if there are any prerequisites required. For instance, some majors require taking specific high school classes or intro-level college courses. Other majors call for a minimum high school or college GPA.
Declaring a major is an important decision that you should make carefully. Here are some benefits of declaring a major:
If you're undecided about which field you want to study, here are several examples of popular college majors. In addition, you'll find the types of courses you would take and different career options available.
Many factors go into choosing a field of study in college. For help making this important decision, consider these tips:
If you're interested in having a broader education, a single major may not be enough. Adding a minor to your academic plan allows you to widen your field of study with another focus.
Choosing a major is an essential step toward getting your college degree. Now that you've learned more about declaring your major and the benefits of doing so, you can start thinking more about where you want to study. On Coursera, you can earn your bachelor's degree in a number of popular majors from storied universities.
Locate similar courses at other institutions if your course is new (or you would like some new ideas). Talk to your colleagues in your discipline area or go to the Web to find courses.
This Creative Commons license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon our work non-commercially, as long as they credit us and indicate if changes were made. Use this citation format: Course content selection and organization. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo.
Spiral – Key topics or concepts are revisited throughout the course, with new information or insight developing each time.
A “major” in college is the specific area of study you’re focusing on while you’re on your path to earn your degree. This speciality is ideally in line with the career you’ll want to go into after graduating, so some students may like to choose a very specific major while others may prefer something more broad.
A major plays an important role in a college degree because it ensures that you are taking the amount of coursework required to earn your bachelor’s in a specialized field of study. Otherwise, your college degree would just be made up of random classes without focusing in one area.
Your degree program can be thought of as a combination of your major and degree. While there may be cases in which a school does not require their students to declare a specialization (i.e., major, minor, certificate program, etc.), most will by a certain deadline of your academic career.
Well, now that you know what a major is, a degree is what you earn at the end of completing your major and other college coursework requirements. You can earn your degree in whatever major you choose as long as you complete the course work. There are several kinds of academic degrees you can pursue. Not all degrees have majors; that typically ...
A degree specialization is an opportunity to take your major to the next level by taking on what’s known as a minor or a concentration. This can be a great way to supplement your major with a more specific course of study that will either make you more specialized in your field (for instance, a major in education with a minor in a foreign language so that you can work in ESL communities), or to broaden your candidacy in general, (for example, majoring in engineering but minoring in English literature).
This is a good first example of how a degree and major overlap. In order to earn your bachelor’s degree, you would need to take 120 credits altogether. In order to earn your bachelor’s degree in a specific major, 36 of those 120 credits need to be in your major.
Bachelor’s Degree. A four-year degree in which you choose a major and graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in that major. The two most common are Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts.
A college major is the area of study that a student will specialize in when pursuing a degree at a college or university. The choice of a major is the most important step a student makes. Some colleges do not let a student declare a major until the second year of college. View Schools.
When choosing a major, a student should assess his or her interests and objectives, Stanford University advises. Students should choose a major that they are passionate about, instead of strictly following a career choice . A student should also evaluate academic strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you prefer to do lab work rather than research in a library, then a major in history would probably not be your best choice. Stanford advises a new college student to visit departments in areas of interest. By doing so, you can question the department advisors and department heads about the type of education you will receive. You may find that the coursework and lab work in a particular major is not a good match for you.
The student's choice of specialization plays a significant role in the time spent at a university, according to Stanford University. Many universities clearly define the student's coursework, and others may give the student the ability to take other courses within their field of choice. A university typically defines educational courses in core ...
A subject is an area of study, like history. A major is a concentration of studies, usually with specific requirements (i.e., number of courses required and in what particular courses). A course is a specific class that often lasts for one or two semesters. An example would be Advanced Geometry.
Example: Literature or Biology. Major: A plan of instruction covering a specific theme of a subject, like English Literature, American Literature, French Literature.
A small college might just have a major in Biology, a large one might have majors in Mammalogy, Ornithology, Herpetology, Bo tany, etc. Course: A module of instruction in one facet of the major. Colonial American Literature, 20th Century American Literature, or Cellular Biology, Ecology, Biology of Reproduction, etc.
Education majors can be divided into three categories. One is based on a
Subject: A broad category of subject matter. Example: Literature or Biology
A bachelor degree can be awarded by different faculty (or school) at a given university or college. A BA is a bachelor of art, given by the faculty of arts, a BS is a bachelor of science, offered by the faculty of science, and so on.
A course is taught by one professor, meets 1 to 5 times a week for approx. 16 weeks. You study one specific subject. Eg: US History till 1860, Modern poetry. (see Carnegie Units The Waning of the Carnegie Unit (essay)
The exact course of study for a communications major can vary from one college to another, but in general, the field focuses on what is described as "the art of effective communication." Communications is a broad, interdisciplinary field in which students typically study public speaking, group communication dynamics, argumentation, rhetorical strategies, and different forms of media.
Careers in Communications. At the heart of a communications major are broad, transferable skills in critical thinking and the effective conveyance of information. These skills are applicable to a wide range of jobs, so it should come as no surprise that communications majors pursue diverse career paths.
According to PayScale.com, students with business communication degrees have the highest salaries, with a median starting salary of $46,400 and median mid-career pay of $88,500. For a typical communications degree, the median starting salary is $44,300 and the median mid-career salary is $78,400. Students who major in mass communication or broadcast communication may find median salaries slightly below these ranges.
According to PayScale.com, students with business communication degrees have the highest salaries, with a median starting salary of $46,400 and median mid-career pay of $88,500. For a typical communications degree, the median starting salary is $44,300 and the median mid-career salary is $78,400. Students who major in mass communication ...
University of Wisconsin - Madison: With a largely undergraduate focus, Wisconsin's Department of Communication Arts offers two tracks for the bachelor's degree: Rhetoric and Communication Science and Radio-TV-Film. Students in other majors can earn a Digital Studies Certificate through the department.
University of Pennsylvania: Another selective Ivy League school, Penn's world-renowned Annenberg School for Communication offers undergraduates five concentration options: Advocacy and Activism, Audiences and Persuasion, Culture and Society, Data and Network Science, and Politics and Policy. The program also has a strong public service option.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor: Michigan's Communication and Media Department leverages its extensive alumni network to provide students with valuable "shadowships" in which they can see the profession firsthand. Areas of study include mobile communications, gender and media, health and media, and globalization.