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A Faculty Guide to partnering with the Academic Internship Program (AIP) in the classroom….
AIP in the classroom is a type of experiential learning that engages students in the community as an integrated aspect of a course. These experiences are linked to specific learning objectives of each course, are offered in many departments, demonstrate the creative expertise of faculty committed to extending disciplinary work into local communities and can be designed to meet identified community needs. Students are engaged in active, collaborative, and inquiry-based learning experiences and reflect on that experience in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility. As university-level pedagogy has evolved to embrace numerous non-traditional methodologies, experiential learning has grown to a prominent position. University faculty recognize a need to provide experiential learning opportunities in their courses and programs to make learning more relevant for students. Courses with an experiential learning component provide students with guided opportunities to encounter first hand the issues they read and study about. Students are required to apply academic learning to settings outside the traditional classroom and are challenged to use their experiences in those environments to think more critically and deeply about the subjects they are studying. Please refer to Faculty and Student Feedback for specific comments and list of courses using AIP in the Classroom. HOW TO DO AIP IN THE CLASSROOM Contact the Academic Internship Program, the facilitating department on campus for academic experiential/service learning. AIP staff will work with you to first identify the orientation of the experiential component of your course: service learning, which includes an integration of theory and practice, with an emphasis on civic responsibility, or, a more practice based experience focusing solely on practical application of theory. The AIP staff develops the placements, meets with your students, places your students and tracks their progress, all based upon your criteria . Please refer to the Step-by-step Curriculum Development and Faculty Support Guide. If I incorporate an experiential component, must it be a required part of the class? It depends. In some classes, the experience is an integral part of the course. Students who choose to enroll in this type of class are expected to participate in the experiential component in the same way that they are expected to complete a research paper or make a class presentation. In other classes, the experiential component is an option and may replace another class assignment. How much experience should I require students to complete in a quarter? The minimum number of hours is 30. Often this is done as 5 hours per week for 6 weeks. The AIP staff cannot begin to meet with students until week one of the quarter which means that of-site work usually begins week 3. Often times professors want to end this component at the end of week 8 in order for students to pull together their final projects/papers. Following the university policy of 12 hours per week for a 3 unit course, professors may allow students to count their 5 hours per week as part of the total of 12 for the six week period. Will planning a course with an experiential component take too much of my time? It does take time to set up the logistics of the class and to respond to individual students. Remember, that after initial input from you with regard to your goals for the class and the types of placements you feel would be appropriate, the AIP staff member takes on the role of meeting with the students, setting up the positions, placing the students and tracking their progress. Does the experiential component take too much class time? You are still in charge of what class time is used for. Students can reflect on the experience outside class through journals and logs and more formal papers. Research, however, indicates that devoting time in class to discussing experiences that emerge will increase student learning and satisfaction with the course. If the students' experiences become texts for the class, they will integrate what they are learning as they discuss, make connections to course materials and listen to the experience of others. How do I evaluate the students' performance? Most professors do not change their evaluation technique, but assume that the experience heightens student learning. You might have specific assignments devoted to reflecting on and integrating the experience, incorporating analysis and critical thinking.
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