Experiential Requirement

Requirement

To complete the Experiential Requirement, all students must successfully complete at least one approved experiential course. This course may be a part of a student’s major, and may be an approved curricular project. The identified courses that satisfy this requirement are:

1. A semester- or year-long Study Abroad program
2. A travel-centered course
3. A Bassett Internship
4. An approved field study or directed research project
5. A student teaching assignment

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Rationale

Students concentrate in a major area of study and receive a background in general education in a liberal-arts tradition, but successfully applying this education outside the classroom requires practice prior to graduation. Thus, all students should undertake supervised, directed learning experiences such as internships, study abroad, and undergraduate research.

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Goals

Directed learning experiences should increase the student’s understanding of the relationships between the R-MC curriculum and external entities, and provide an opportunity to apply what is learned in the classroom to novel situations outside it.

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Learning Objectives

While learning objectives vary from one experience to another, the common objectives of the experiential requirement are that student will:

1. Acquire and use knowledge and theory in practical applications with real-life problems and situations.
2. Acquire a deeper understanding of professional fields, and relate this understanding to the realities beyond the classroom.
3. Gain career perspectives.
4. Learn more about themselves.
5. Practice skills in critical thinking, communication, and working with others.

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Criteria

1. The experience must be supervised and approved by a faculty member and must earn academic credit.
2. Students must meet periodically but regularly with the supervising faculty to assess a student’s progress and to ensure that a student is complying with stated requirements.
3. Students should articulate in writing the personal goals they expect to achieve in the experiential course and maintain journals or lab records in which they reflect on their progress.
4. Students must prepare a final written report detailing their experience and must deliver an oral summary acceptable to the faculty or staff of the appropriate department.