Degree Design Lab/Integrative Professional Studies

Design your own major through Champlain’s Degree Design Lab. You’ll combine courses and real-world learning experiences to personalize your own education.

Champlain students sit around a table in a glass room listening to guest speakers at Hula, the business incubator space.

Create Your Own Major

Design your own college experience as an Integrative Professional Studies major. Graduate with a degree tailored to your passions.

Program Type: Major

School/Division: Robert P. Stiller School of Business; Division of Information Technology & Sciences; Division of Communication & Creative Media; School of Social Innovation; Core Division

Recommended Experiences: Internships; On-Campus Employment Opportunities; Study Abroad

Let us help you find...: Leahy Center; Emergent Media Center; Study Abroad; Admissions

Design the perfect degree for your future career

Champlain’s flexible, modular curriculum gives you the freedom to be creative and get a little messy with your education, while also providing structure and guidance to blaze your own path.

As an Integrative Professional Studies major, you have the opportunity to build your own customized degree. The Degree Design Lab will help you combine your varied interests, explore your passions, and create a focused plan of study to achieve your academic and career goals. When you graduate, you’ll be ready for your chosen career – 100% of 2022 Integrative Professional Studies graduates were working in their fields after graduation.

The Degree Design Lab is built on Champlain College’s values, including opportunities for study abroad, an ideal way to develop proficiency in Champlain’s Global and Cultural Understanding competency.

We feel strongly that intercultural understanding is not just important for professional success, but an essential component to being human. We’ve created customizable international learning opportunities specifically for DDL students, including a competitive summer internship abroad, service learning, and remote professional collaborations. Intercultural immersion is an important aspect of the Degree Design Lab, because it will engage students in experiences that highlight professionalism in a global context.

Study abroad experiences in Dublin or Montreal are also available to DDL students.

A student pays attention in a Marketing class at Champlain College.

How It Works

Choose Your Threads

Choose two to three minors or threads (AKA your academic pathway for the next 4 years) from a selection of career-focused programs. This is your chance to combine your passions and build an amazing foundation of expertise in each area.

Expand Your Thinking

Supplement your chosen subjects with Degree Design Lab courses that create connections with other fields and peers, allowing for true collaborative thinking.

Make Connections

You’ll work closely with a faculty mentor who will coach you through your studies. As an expert in interdisciplinary thinking, your mentor will help you gain the skills that employers want and develop as not only a professional, but a person.

Put it all Together

Throughout your college experience, you’ll tackle real-world problems and make significant impacts in a variety of local and global settings.

Facts & Stats

$67,500

The median starting salary for 2022 Degree Design Lab graduates

100%

Of 2022 Degree Design Lab graduates were employed or furthering their education within six months of graduation

100%

Of 2022 Degree Design Lab graduates are employed in career-relevant positions

The best way to love what you learn

As you progress through the program, you’ll take specific DDL courses that act as bridges between your chosen fields. These courses are designed to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative thinking, enabling you to integrate your knowledge and skills from different fields into meaningful and practical applications.

By combining different areas of study and fostering interdisciplinary thinking, you’ll graduate with a well-rounded skill set that will make you an adaptable and innovative professional in a rapidly changing job market.

What is the Integrative Professional Studies major?

The Integrative Professional Studies major at Champlain College is an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree program that allows you to design your own customized curriculum by combining two to three areas of study from a variety of academic disciplines offered at the College. It is a unique program that emphasizes creative problem-solving, experiential learning, and the development of essential skills valued by employers.

For example, if you enjoy video games, music, and analyzing trends, you could take courses in game sound design and data analytics to create innovative and interactive game experiences that use data-driven insights to improve user engagement and experience.

The Integrative Professional Studies major allows you to combine your passions and skills from different fields, allowing you to create a personalized educational path that aligns with your unique interests and career aspirations.
What is the Degree Design Lab?

At the heart of the Integrative Professional Studies major is the Degree Design Lab (DDL), where you’ll find a specialized academic initiative that provides a framework and support system for creating your personalized educational path in the Integrative Professional Studies major. With the DDL, you’ll design your academic journey around your unique interests, passions, and career aspirations.

Through the Degree Design Lab, you’ll work closely with faculty mentors who are experts in interdisciplinary learning. They will help plan your coursework, identify appropriate assignments, and maximize your experiential learning opportunities. This collaborative and hands-on approach will encourage you to think critically, explore different fields of study, and make meaningful connections across disciplines.

Sample Courses in the Degree Design Lab Major

Check out some of the engaging and hands-on courses you’ll have to choose from.

First Year

DDL 110 Introduction to Inquiry

DDL 186 Integrative Portfolio

Second Year

DDL 190 Introduction to Project Design

DDL 280 Basic Methods Toolbox

Third Year

DDL 290 Intermediate Project Design Lab

DDL 325 Interrogating Professionalism

Fourth Year

DDL 350 Degree Design Lab Practicum

DDL 380 Advanced Methods Toolbox

See the Learning Outcomes for the Integrative Professional Studies major.

View Full Curriculum

This course introduces students to the central concepts of a Champlain College education: inquiry, integrative thinking and learning, and interdisciplinarity. Students will learn how to explore and create knowledge using a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies, including the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Through this integrative, interdisciplinary framework, students will learn how to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of each academic field of knowledge and recognize the interplay of multiple perspectives, including their own.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course serves as the starting point for students who wish to pursue an individualized degree program through the Degree Innovation Design Lab. Faculty mentors will help you design a personalized learning plan based on your prior experiences and future goals. You will also consider each of the Champlain College Competencies, and begin to reflect on how proficiency might be achieved and demonstrated throughout your educational journey at Champlain. An introduction to thinking about professionalism in context will establish the critical habits of mind necessary for success in the program. Finally, you will create your reflective competency portfolio and begin to build your capacity for self-directed learning.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course provides a project design space for students enrolled in the Degree Design Lab Program to develop and explore a sustained interdisciplinary question through a collaborative problem or project. While the collective project may be pre-determined, students will be challenged to identify how their multiple professional foci OR other compelling passions might contribute. Faculty will help students to identify the project, facilitate implementation, ensure appropriate breadth and depth of subject matter, and encourage awareness of how the experience can be used to build and demonstrate competency. Students will develop their own questions and determine their own research path for the liberal learning that will help them achieve their goals. Students will actively share ideas, engage in ongoing discussions, provide feedback, and refine work accordingly. This course is designed with an eye towards increasing independence and sophistication, and will allow students at different points in their process and with different perspectives to contribute to each other’s work.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This hybrid course introduces the wide variety of methods and applied skills required for social science and humanities fieldwork. Students will develop practical skills in grounded theory, analog/digital tools for ethnography, data analysis, and mapping. The complementarities of quantitative and qualitative methods will be explored via naturalistic research design. Class members will develop and carry out a set of mini-research projects related to one of the specific locations of Champlain College (on or near the Burlington, Montreal, or Dublin campuses).

Prerequisites	Take DDL-110 or by permission of instructor.
Credits	3

This project sandbox space is for DDL students to explore an interdisciplinary question, problem or project. Students can either identify a project that connects their multiple professional foci OR one that incorporates other passions and interests. With faculty mentorship, students will develop their question and determine their research path. This course is designed with an eye towards increasing independence and sophistication, and allows students at different points in their process with different perspectives to contribute to each other’s work. Students may enroll more than once.

Prerequisites	Take DDL-180 and DDL-190. Take DDL-280
Credits	3

Work experiences often compel the inquiry-driven learner to ask, why are things done this way? This course will help you answer that question. We will examine professionalism as a concept theoretically and historically. Then, you’ll build connections between your DDL academic work and internship experiences by theorizing and contextualizing those experiences through frameworks from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

Prerequisites	Take DDL-186 and DDL-190. Partake in an internship concurrently.
Credits	3

Degree Design Lab students who enroll in this course will complete a pre-approved off-campus or on-campus internship or other work-based experience. Internships offer the opportunity to apply and develop skills and aptitudes developed in the classroom in professional settings while gaining other relevant skills and professional connections. Internships are completed under the guidance of an on-site supervisor and a faculty sponsor, who in combination with the student will create a framework for learning and reflection.

Prerequisites	Take DDL-186.
Credits	3

In this course students will apply various social science and humanities research methodologies to course projects that intersect with the Degree Design Lab and Champlain College competencies. In addition, students will create interdisciplinary knowledge around topics of their own choosing, particularly in areas of work and professional life that engage global institutions, cultures, and systems. Students will construct a full research proposal, including research questions, an annotated bibliography, a methodological approach, and a timeline for completion throughout the semester.

Prerequisites	Take DDL-280.
Credits	3

You might also be interested in these…

Based on your interest in the Degree Design Lab//Integrative Professional Studies major, we thought you also might like to check out these other academic programs and opportunities.

Majors
- Creative Media
  
  Develop your self-expression in our Creative Media major, and learn the businesses side of interdisciplinary production, digital creation, and entrepreneurship.
- Digital Humanities
  
  Be a digital pioneer. Bring the fullness of your human self to the study of emerging technology, including Artificial Intelligence, and make sure the digital future is humane as well as human.
- Game Business & Publishing
  
  Gaming is global, and its future requires business leaders who understand the industry. Champlain College is a hub for gaming – study Game Business & Publishing and learn alongside your future peers.
- Graphic Design & Visual Communication
  
  Be a design thinker. Harness your creativity through print and digital graphics. Start building your portfolio right away.
Minors
- Digital Marketing Minor
  
  Get the fundamentals of marketing down in the modern digital workplace. Use web-based tools to study metrics, enhance search engine optimization, assist in web development, and more.
- Global Studies Minor
  
  Explore current issues, history, and languages of specific regions and countries around the world. Engage with theories and perspectives on political, economic, and social dynamics of globalization.
- International Business Minor
  
  Identify the opportunities and challenges of navigating the variety of international markets, cultures and geopolitical contexts that arise when conducting business on a global scale.
Areas of Study
- Individualized Studies & Undeclared
  
  Learn what you love, and love what you learn.
- Business & Data Analytics
  
  Drive change at the intersection of information and impact.
- Education, Humanities & the Sciences
  
  The born educator, the team player, the change maker, the advocate.
- Law & Society
  
  Uphold a system of justice through meaningful public service.
- Creative Arts & Communication
  
  Bring ideas to life in unexpected ways.

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Real World Experiences

Champlain has forged partnerships with local businesses and nonprofit organizations that will provide you with opportunities for hands-on work in various industries.

YOUR CAREER OUTLOOK

Learn more about our career-focused education

By the time you graduate, you will…

Demonstrate professional expertise in their chosen fields of study, as well as the agility to apply their expertise across and between multiple professional contexts
Recognize and apply appropriate interdisciplinary and integrative strategies for solving complex problems
Contextualize “professionalism” and the professions within broader social and cultural conditions
Apply critical judgement that is predicated on asking good questions and recognizing the value of diverse perspectives

You’ll find a career that intersects all of your interests.

More Inside Degree Design Lab/Integrative Professional Studies

Overview

Design your own major through Champlain’s Degree Design Lab. You’ll combine courses and real-world learning experiences to personalize your own education.
Curriculum

With the Degree Design curriculum, you'll create a personalized mix of diverse subjects that emphasize real-world experience and interdisciplinary learning.
Faculty

In Champlain's Degree Design Lab and Integrative Professional Studies major, you'll be guided by faculty experts in interdisciplinary learning. They'll help you design an education that is personalized, fosters innovative thinking, and prepares you for a dynamic job market.

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Degree Design Lab/Integrative Professional Studies

Create Your Own Major

Design the perfect degree for your future career

How It Works

Choose Your Threads

Expand Your Thinking

Make Connections

Put it all Together

Facts & Stats

The best way to love what you learn

Sample Courses in the Degree Design Lab Major

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Fourth Year

You might also be interested in these…

Creative Media

Digital Humanities

Game Business & Publishing

Graphic Design & Visual Communication

Digital Marketing Minor

Global Studies Minor

International Business Minor

Individualized Studies & Undeclared

Business & Data Analytics

Education, Humanities & the Sciences

Law & Society

Creative Arts & Communication

Sign Up To Get Stickers + Helpful Info

Real World Experiences

YOUR CAREER OUTLOOK

By the time you graduate, you will…

You’ll find a career that intersects all of your interests.

More Inside Degree Design Lab/Integrative Professional Studies

Overview

Curriculum

Faculty