Independent Study and Internships

Independent Study

Opportunities for independent work are available through all college departments. A student, with the approval and consent of a faculty member, may enroll for independent study provided that the following guidelines are observed.

Application forms, which describe the independent study project, are available from the Registrar's Office. The form must be completed and filed with the Registrar prior to beginning the work.

• All applications for independent study must be co-signed by the student, the student's advisor, the faculty member who will assign the final grade, and the appropriate department chairperson.

• A student may not enroll for more than 3 credits of independent study in any one session without the permission of the Curriculum Council.

• Independent study does not substitute for regularly scheduled course work.

• A faculty member may refuse to supervise an independent study project only with the permission of the Provost.

• A faculty member may, at the beginning of an independent study project, require that the work be done on a Pass-Fail basis. See Pass-Fail option regulations under Policies and Procedures.

Internships

An internship is an opportunity for students to gain valuable hands-on experience under the careful supervision of an experienced professional. It is also an experiential learning opportunity where students take substantial responsibility for setting their own goals and focusing on their practical and professional education.

Through The College of Idaho's Internship program, students have the opportunity to work in a diversity of professional settings in an environment focused on student learning. Such high-quality academic internships require: (i) the engagement of students in a substantial professional experience and the performance of one or more professional skills; (ii) the provision of direct supervision of and multiple opportunities for student performance and feedback from a field-placement supervisor; and (iii) the provision of opportunities for student self-assessment and critical reflection.

The College of Idaho's Internship program combines this fieldwork experience with a contemporaneous class designed to provide students with the opportunity to engage in vocational discernment and self-reflect on the transition from college to profession by exploring topics, such as the dynamics and politics of the workplace, confidentiality and ethics, bias and cultural competency, and how to obtain good feedback. The HIPs Division provides oversight and evaluation to ensure the opportunity is providing a substantive academic experience for the student, including mid-semester/term site visits or other methods of communication with the field supervisor. The grade for the course is based on a student’s performance in both the classroom component and the fieldwork component of the College’s Internship program.

Students who are in good academic standing (i.e. currently have a cumulative GPA of a 2.0 or above) may participate in The College of Idaho's Internship program, and it is also the College's preference that students do not participate in the Internship program until they have completed at least four semesters at the College (or for transfer students, at least 60 credits).

As part of its Internship program, the College has developed partnerships with diverse organizations for consistent and regular internship placements for C of I students. The College also encourages you to discover or develop your own internships and relationships—really showing your initiative and allowing you to be scrappy and develop skills necessary to create unique opportunities or connections. The College, though, typically does not approve students to complete off-campus internships until—at the earliest—the summer before their junior year. This is because students typically do not have the requisite foundational knowledge to contribute meaningfully to the internship host’s core services.

For all students interested in participating in the College's Internship program, students must complete the following steps after securing an internship offer:

• Complete the College’s Internship Application; and

• Ensure that their internship host completes the College’s Internship Site Agreement; and

• After receiving approval of the internship placement from the HIPs Division, enroll in INT-497.

In order to secure one credit of internship, the intern must work a minimum of 39 fieldwork hours. For two credits, the minimum requirement is 78 fieldwork hours, and for three credits, the minimum requirement is 117 fieldwork hours (and so on). Please take note of the word "minimum." Regardless of the number of credits a student is pursuing, students not only need to hit the minimum threshold for the number of enrolled credits, but also need to ensure they meet the obligations to the internship host site. If students register for two or more internship credits, they are permitted to count up to ten (10) hours of the work associated with the classroom component of the course towards their total required fieldwork hours.

Typically, no more than three (3) credits may be earned with any one internship host; however, in limited circumstances, the HIPs Division, in consultation with departmental chairs and Academic Advising, will approve up to six (6) credits for a single internship experience. Additionally, students are only eligible to receive up to nine (9) internship credits to count towards the 124 credits required in the undergraduate program.