/ Offices/ CAS Registrar/Independent or Directed Study for Faculty

Independent or Directed Study for Faculty

This page contains information for faculty regarding the Independent or Directed Study process.

Independent or Directed Studies allow students to pursue faculty-supervised study of topics not offered in the regular curriculum. Such experiences range from directed studies in which an instructor provides considerable supervision to independent studies in which student consult with faculty to develop a more autonomous project or course of study.
This agreement acts in lieu of a syllabus for a regular course. It assists faculty and students in determining that activities are worthy of academic credit as well as setting goals for learning.

INSTRUCTIONS

The student will consult with the faculty sponsor to develop learning objectives. The faculty sponsor should be in an academic department or program related to the type of independent/directed study being completed by the student.

To help students and faculty design the independent/directed study, there is a Worksheet for Internships document found below. Note that this is not the official agreement. It is a worksheet that helps the student and sponsoring faculty member discuss learning objectives and prepare the information necessary to complete the official Learning Agreement.
The student will submit the Independent/Directed Study Learning Agreement and will receive an automated response and a copy of the Learning Agreement when it is submitted. The student must forward that response to the sponsoring faculty member.
Using the response forwarded by the student, the faculty member will complete the Independent/Directed Study Faculty Approval form.

FORMS

Worksheet for Independent/Directed Study - helps you and your student prepare the learning objectives and helps the student prepare to answer the questions on the Independent/Directed Study Learning Agreement
Faculty Sponsor Approval form for Independent/Directed Study (Should be completed after reviewing the student learning agreement)

Note that students can find the link to the Worksheet and the student learning agreement on the Student Independent/Directed Study webpage.

DEADLINE

We strongly urge you to submit the Independent/Directed Study learning agreement and approval during priority registration, but it can be completed during the add/drop period. Keep in mind that the form and approvals from student and faculty sponsor must all be submitted no later than 4pm on the last day of the add/drop period.