Pathfinder Guidebook · FYE 100 Module 6 · Map Your Path — Academic Planning
10 Essential Skills in this module
  • 1Communication
  • 6Professionalism
  • 9Knowledge Application
  • 10Information Literacy
Lesson 6.1

Skill Spotlight: Knowledge Application

Turning what you know into real decisions.

About 5 minutes 2 of 8 in this module
9
10 Essential Skills · #9

Knowledge Application

What this skill is

Knowing things is the starting point. Applying what you know to real decisions is the skill.

Knowledge Application is the bridge between learning and doing. Knowing your interests, your strengths, and what programs exist at OCTC is a start. The skill is connecting that knowledge to real decisions about your academic path, your career direction, and your life, in ways that are thoughtful, specific, and honest about your actual situation.

It may be the most important skill in college, because it's the one that makes everything else useful. Without it, you collect information but don't go anywhere with it. With it, what you learn becomes a tool for moving forward.

Knowledge Application turns "I know that" into "I did something with it."

Where you're headed

Below, in plain terms, is the difference between where most students start and where you're headed.

See also

Lesson 1.2 explains Benchmark, Milestone, and Capstone.

  1. Benchmark Where you're starting

    • You can name the kind of work you're interested in and how it connects to career opportunities.
    • You can describe the basic knowledge, skills, and abilities your career direction requires.
    • You explore careers with your strengths, interests, values, and goals in mind.

  2. Milestone Your target

    • You use what you've learned to solve basic problems related to your career path.
    • You can explain the ideas behind putting knowledge, skills, and abilities to work in your field.
    • You reflect on your experiences to judge how well a career fits you, and can explain your reasons.

The shift from Benchmark to Milestone is the shift from exploring possibilities to making informed, reasoned choices, and being able to explain why.

Where it shows up in this module

Module 6 is where Knowledge Application gets concrete. Along with learning about programs, you'll connect what you know about yourself to real academic decisions with real deadlines.

  • Interpreting your Career Coach results. Taking an interest assessment is a start. Working out what the results mean, and how your interest types connect to real programs, is Knowledge Application.
  • Connecting interests to programs. Knowing programs exist is different from knowing which one fits your situation, goals, and timeline. Making that connection is the skill.
  • Planning strategically. Knowing that a math course comes before biology, that a program has an application deadline, and that prerequisites come in sequence, and planning around it, is this skill in action.
  • Preparing smart advisor questions. "What classes should I take?" is a Benchmark question. "I'm interested in nursing. What do I need to finish this semester to stay on track for the next application deadline?" is Milestone. The specifics come from applying what you know.

In your own life

Reflect
  • Think of a recent decision, about school, work, or life, where you used something you'd learned to figure out what to do. What did you know, and how did you apply it?
  • What do you know right now about your academic direction? What do you still need to find out, and where would you go to find it?
  • What would it mean to walk into your Success Coach appointment with a specific plan and specific questions, instead of "I'm not sure what to take next"?

How it shows up later

Knowledge Application is one of the three assigned skills for your STAR(T) Stories at the end of the course, and it's the skill this course assesses through them. You'll write or record one story that shows it in action.

The planning you're doing right now is possible material. A moment when you connected what you know about yourself, like your interests, strengths, and goals, to a real academic or career decision is exactly the kind of specific, honest story the capstone is looking for. Start noticing those moments, because they're happening whether you're paying attention or not. The STAR(T) Stories Guide at the back of this book walks you through the whole capstone, with a practice guide for each story.

Skill definition and Milestone indicators are based on the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education's Kentucky Graduate Profile (opens in a new tab).