Program Variations and Options
In addition to majors and minors, Elizabethtown College offers a number of alternative learning opportunities both on and off campus. On-campus study includes special learning options that emphasize individual study and close work with a member of the faculty. Off-campus opportunities include internships or joint programs with academic institutions or clinical facilities.
Independent Study
Independent Study (IS) is designed for students to pursue individual investigations and/or reading in an area of special interest, or to advance competencies in the major/minor area. Independent Study is initiated by the student and progresses largely unsupervised. Students pursuing independent study are expected to do extensive research, reading, writing, and/or creative work resulting in a major paper, presentation, work of art, or other learning outcomes agreed upon by the supervising faculty member and the student.
Independent Studies may not be used to replace a course listed in the curriculum, to fulfill any Core Program requirements, or to substitute for registering an internship, co-op, or field work/experience. Independent Studies counting toward major credit must be letter graded. Independent Studies must demonstrate significant emphases on academic involvements, activities, and outcomes.
To apply for an IS, students must have junior or senior status, plus a grade point average of 2.0 or higher. Independent Studies are registered between one to four credits per study. Please note: the ISC expects at least 4-5 pp. of writing per credit plus a detailed bibliography. Typically a student may carry only one Independent Study at a time. Two Independent Studies may be approved at the discretion of the Independent Study Committee. A maximum of 12 credits of independent study can be applied toward graduation. If study abroad is part of the IS, an approval from the study abroad office must be attached to the application. Any requests for exceptions to the Independent Study policy must be made to the Academic Standing Committee.
Independent Studies are not tied to the academic calendar; application deadlines are to be determined based on the completion dates of an IS. A completed Independent Study Application including the Independent Study Proposal must be submitted to Independent Study Committee via the Registration and Records Office. Registration for the spring semester begins in November and registration for the fall semester begins in April.
a) For Fall and Spring semester registrations, the IS application must be submitted during open registration but no later than 4:30 pm on the 1st day of classes for the Fall/Spring semester in which it will be completed.
b) Students who plan to register an independent study in the Summer or Winter term must submit their proposal to the Registration and Records Office at least two weeks before last day of the Spring or Fall semester prior to the Summer or Winter term.
c) The Independent Study Committee does NOT meet during the Summer or Winter term; therefore, IS Applications submitted after the dates listed above will not be accepted or reviewed.
Following approval by the Independent Study Committee, the Chair of the Independent Study Committee will forward the ISA to the Office of Registration & Records during the official registration period for the semester during which it will be completed. Students must add and register an independent study during the regular course add period of each semester. Forms are available in the Office of Registration and Records. Independent Studies will not be added to students’ schedules after the regular “add” deadline of the semester (i.e., 4:30 p.m. on the fifth day of the semester).
Directed Study
In contrast to independent study of a special topic, directed study is undertaken for a regular course in the curriculum that is not being offered in a given semester. For certain courses, this method of study should be used by the student who needs rather frequent conferences with the professor. Directed studies must be completed within the semester or subterm for which they are scheduled. In a directed study, the student works independently with a faculty member to achieve the learning outcomes of the selected course based on a learning contract. Please be advised, by course design, not all courses in the Catalog may be completed as directed studies.
Note: Students may request a directed study prior to beginning coursework and no later than the end of the course add period defined under “Academic Policies.” Registration forms are available in the Office of Registration and Records. For online programs, students must complete the request form in Jayweb.
Tutorials
The tutorial is used to register a course that is not offered in the Catalog. In this respect, it is different from a Directed Study, which is used to register a course that is in the Catalog but is not offered in a given semester. The tutorial is also different from the Independent Study. With an Independent Study, the student is responsible for proposing the content of the project (which is not in the Catalog) and then works largely independently on the project of their design. With a Tutorial, the faculty member is responsible for developing the content of the course and then works closely with the student to provide instruction in the topic. Tutorials must be registered during the regular course Add Period and are assigned a 379 course number. An additional surcharge of $150 per credit is assessed for the full-time student who registers for a tutorial. Full-time undergraduate students whose course load exceeds 18 hours as a result of a tutorial registration are charged the current part-time rate for tuition for those hours in excess of 18.
Internships
Through internships, Elizabethtown College offers students the opportunity to apply and augment their classroom learning with real-world experience. Internships can assist students with deepening and sharpening their personal learning and career goals. They provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge in work and practice settings, gaining confidence and skill as they integrate the abstract/theoretical with the practical and applied.
Guidelines
Each School has a process for students to request internships.
Internships will normally be graded Pass/No Pass. Programmatic exceptions must be approved by Academic Council and be noted in the Catalog as letter-graded experiences.
Students enrolling in internships must have minimum cumulative and major grade point averages of 2.00. If a Program sets a higher grade point average standard, and if the internship is required for graduation, the higher standard must be approved by Academic Council.
Internships must be registered during the semester in which the work is completed. In the case when internship hours clearly overlap two terms (e.g., begins in April and ends in June), the registration of the internship can be split (e.g., two credits registered in the spring term and two credits registered in the summer term for an internship experience that is four total credits). Summer internships cannot be registered during spring or fall semesters.
An internship can be taken for up to 12 credits. To be awarded academic credit, students must work a minimum of 40 hours over the course of the term in which the internship is registered for each credit awarded. At least two-thirds of these hours should be spent working directly with the employer organization/institution (whether remote/virtual or onsite), with the remaining time spent on related classroom/academic activities.
Each Program will establish its own criteria for related activities and expectations for awarding academic credit to internships, including whether students can engage in multiple internships over the course of their college career and the maximum number of credits that students in their programs can accrue through internships.
To prevent potential conflicts of interest, students must disclose any familial relationships with employees or owners of the organization at which they want to intern. Students may not intern at a company owned or managed, fully or in part, by a family member, nor may the on-site supervisor be a member of the student’s family or anyone working under supervision of a family member. In addition, a student’s full-time job, continuation of a part-time or summer job may not serve as an internship. Any exceptions to these prohibitions would be unusual and require the approval by the School’s Dean.
All internships must have a faculty supervisor and an on-site supervisor. The intern must have regular contact with the on-site supervisor during the term of the internship. At the end of the internship, the on-site supervisor will be asked to submit a written evaluation to the faculty supervisor, describing the work and responsibilities of the intern and providing an evaluation of the intern’s level of performance and progress during the internship.
Internships must be registered no later than the third Friday of the regular fall or spring term. This additional registration time is provided to enable students to collect their on-site supervisor’s signature on the Internship Contract form. For summer internships, registration must be by the end of the first week of the internship.
The Internship Contract or syllabus must specify the goals and objectives of the internship, the activities necessary to reach those goals, and the methods by which the student will be evaluated. An Internship Contract must be signed by the student, the on-site supervisor and the faculty supervisor.
Consult the appropriate Academic School for more detail on its internship policy.
Study Abroad Programs
Elizabethtown College, through the Study Abroad Office, provides guidance and support to students in all majors who want to study abroad in a semester, summer, or short-term program. The Study Abroad Office promotes, supports, and coordinates all study abroad programming and works with faculty to encourage overseas experiences.
Students may participate in a wide variety of semester-long, study abroad opportunities with our affiliated and partnering programs, which currently include specific locations from API Study Abroad; Amizade; Bifrost University; CIS Abroad; The School for Field Studies; International Studies Abroad (ISA); ISEP; KCP International; Nihon University; Kansai Gaidai University; Northumbria University; Arcos Learning Abroad; Institute for Field Education (IFE); The Education Abroad Network (TEAN); University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC); University of Oviedo; and Queen’s University Bader International Study Centre. More information about applying to participate in study abroad programs can be found on the Study Abroad Office website at www.etown.edu/offices/study-abroad.
In addition to these opportunities, Elizabethtown faculty members regularly lead short-term educational experiences to locations around the world to make international study more accessible to our students. These programs typically provide credits to students who successfully complete all the requirements. In past years, faculty-led, short-term programs have traveled to Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Gambia, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
For more information about the Study Abroad Office, please visit www.etown.edu/offices/study-abroad.
Washington, D.C., Semester with The Washington Center or American University
Elizabethtown College provides students an opportunity to “study away” in Washington, D.C., and take advantage of the resources of the nation’s capital. Students participating will work with the policymakers and business professionals who play a vital role in American government and culture. Both, The Washington Center and American University programs include full-time internships and courses. Students interested in the program should contact the Study Abroad Office for more information. Students participating in the program must acquire study away approval from the Study Abroad Office, which includes completing off-campus course approvals from the Office of Registration and Records.
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