Individual Study

Plan Ahead

Make sure to review relevant policies for any Individual Study you want to pursue to ensure you meet the minimum requirements. 

If you want to start individual study for a specific quarter, you should start working on it at the beginning of the previous quarter (except fall internships, which should be planned in previous spring quarter).

Meet with an Academic Advisor to talk about how an internship or individual study will fit into your academic journey and future plans. Consider how many hours per week you have to devote to an internship, based on how many credits you want to earn.

College Funds for Individual Study

College funds may be available to support your plans for individual study. Check out the following resources as you make your plans for your contract:

• Student Capstone Fund - due by 5 pm on Friday of Week 3 of the quarter for which the funds are requested.
• Student Conference Travel Fund - due at least two weeks before the travel date.

Suggested Timeline

To help you think about planning your workload, there are some standard estimated hours of work per week that are expected based on the number of credits you are taking. This grid is only a guideline. Consult with your sponsor for specific expectations of your workload and time commitment.

Graduate credit to hours: 2 credits/10 hours and 4 credits/20 hours 

You may already have an idea of where you want to work based on personal or professional connections. In that case, you can start the paperwork. Otherwise, there are many ways to find a good place for your internship.

• Students can search for internship opportunities through our student employment platform, Handshake and learn more on the Student Employment site. 
• The Center for Community-Based Learning and Action has information about internships in community-based organizations.
• Faculty who teach in your area of interest may be aware of organizations that have hosted Evergreen interns in the past.
• You can approach an organization that's doing work that interests you and see if you can negotiate an internship with them.
• If you are applying for an internship that is high demand or where you don't already have a connection, you may need to write a resume and cover letter. You may also be interviewed for the position. Academic and Career Advising can help you prepare.
• If you feel like you are not making progress in finding internships or don't know where to begin, reach out to Luis Apolaya Torres, Assistant Director of Internships, to inquire about available internship opportunities and to receive help with application materials. Luis Apolaya Torres - Book a Consultation

Your internship organization must complete an Internship Site Agreement if it hasn't already done so in the last year unless it is an official Washington state government agency. Your supervisor at the site will be considered your field supervisor for contract approval and evaluations.

Programs with Internship Support

You may view a list of internship organizations that have previously supported Evergreen students in the Resources section. Evergreen hosts many programs in its curriculum that include internship placements. Participation in these programs requires reaching out to faculty in advance to arrange for internship placements, and some require submission of an application. The following is the list for the 2024-25 academic year:

• Psychology Capstone: Clinical and Counseling, Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
• Evergreen Multimedia Arts Internships, Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
• Gateways for Incarcerated Youth, Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
• Native Pedagogy in Education & Social Work, Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
• The Spanish Speaking World, Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
• What is Education for at This Moment in Time and Place?, Fall 2024 - Winter 2025
• Organic Farm Internship, Fall 2024
• Writing, Communication, and Leadership for the Common Good: Creating Change, Fall 2024
• Student-Originated Studies (SOS): Community Aid and Disaster Resilience, Winter 2025
• Washington State Legislative Internship, Winter 2025 and Spring 2025
• Climate Policy and Action: Internship, Spring 2025
• Business, Management, and Entrepreneurship Internships, Spring 2025

You may view a list of internship organizations that have previously supported Evergreen students in the Resources section.

About Sponsors

You must have a faculty or staff sponsor for your internship or individual study. Sponsors expect to see a working draft of your proposal at the time you are approaching them to be your sponsor.

For internship students, you may be able to identify this sponsor before or after finding your internship site. 

What is a Contract Proposal?

• A contract proposal is meant to fill a specific purpose or offer deeper study into a concept touched on in a program you’ve taken. 
• A contract is not intended to substitute for an existing program that you would otherwise be able to take. Sponsors will take this into consideration when deciding whether or not they will accept your proposal.
• Well-developed contract proposals will be met with the most willingness from sponsors – it is in your best interest to develop your contract around a topic you are passionate about and ensure that it meets the standards of college-level learning before approaching a potential sponsor.
• A sponsor may participate in helping you shape your individual learning proposal before finalizing it; however, they typically will not consider your proposal unless you already have a draft contract when approaching them.

Who Can be a Sponsor

Any full-time member of the faculty who has been teaching for at least one year can sponsor individual learning. Additionally, there are some members of the college staff and some part-time faculty who are authorized to sponsor a limited number of contracts. 

Evergreen Tacoma Students: Proposals for Individual or Internship Learning Contracts will be pre-approved by the Tacoma Program Individual Study Review Committee prior to being approved. If approved, students may proceed with developing the learning contract. 

Graduate Students: Sponsors for graduate learning contracts must be pre-approved by the program director. Refer to your graduate program office to find out which faculty are approved to sponsor.

Determining an Appropriate Sponsor

Your sponsor must be someone who has sufficient expertise in the area in which you are working to support and evaluate your work, learning from the experience and award appropriate academic credit.

You will want to make sure that there is no conflict of interest between you and your potential sponsor. 

Initial steps to find a sponsor

1. Contact current or past faculty with whom you have worked. Someone who knows your work, academic background and abilities and who has helped you develop your academic direction.
2. Get a recommendation from current or past faculty with whom you have worked. Program faculty may also be able to recommend whom among their colleagues you might want to consider working with.
3. Summer Contracts: Check the summer sponsor list for faculty willing to take contracts over the summer.

Go to My Evergreen and select “Individual Study Contracts.” 
Once there, follow the online application prompts. 

Help Wiki

Internship Learning Contracts

Once you have a site and a field supervisor, you’ll need to complete a contract in My Evergreen in which you spell out your planned internship activities as well as your learning objectives.

In order to earn academic credit for an internship, your work must lead to college-level learning. So for example, you can't earn credit for an internship that just involves filing papers, but could for an internship that involves developing a database system.

Individual Learning Contracts

You must have a faculty or staff sponsor for your contract. Faculty expect to see a working draft of your ILC proposal at the time you are approaching them to be your sponsor. 

Once you have a commitment from a potential sponsor, you will negotiate and get feedback from him/her on specific learning objectives, learning activities, subcontractor support, academic support, evaluation and appropriate award of credit. Use the online contract process to share a draft contract to begin negotiation with your sponsor.

When developing a contract both the student and sponsor should discuss use of technology with regard to working on the contract over the term. The faculty sponsor’s requirements for use of technology by the student must refer to technology that the college currently administers and supports. 

Finalize Your Internship Learning Contract

When your internship is ready for approval, you will mark it “Ready for Approval.” in My Evergreen. All required approvals will appear in your contract as a checklist.

Registering Your internship: All approvals must be done by the internship deadline prior to academic dean approval. Once a dean approves the internship, you will “Accept Term and Conditions” of the internship and it will move forward in the registration process.

Documenting Your In Program Internship: Once all approvals are complete within the contract you will “Accept Term and Conditions” of the internship and it will be confirmed. You do not need to register your contract with Registration and Records.

Finalize Your Individual Learning Contract

When your Individual Learning Contract is ready for approval, you will mark it "Ready for Approval." All required approvals will appear in your contract as a checklist.

Registering Your Individual Learning Contract: All approvals must be done by the deadline prior to academic dean approval. Once a dean approves it, you will "Accept Term and Conditions" and it will move forward in the registration process.

Documenting Your In Program Individual Learning Contract: Once all approvals are complete within the contract, you will "Accept Term and Conditions" of the ILC and it will be confirmed. You do not need to register your contract with Registration and Records.

Evergreen students are always seeking new learning experiences!

An internship allows a student to gain academic credit by hands-on learning with an organization or business. The internship contract is negotiated between you and the student, spells out the number of hours per week the student will spend at the internship site, the activities the student will perform, and the learning that the student expects to gain from the experience. It will also specify who in your organization will serve as “field supervisor,” and how that person will provide oversight and evaluation of the intern.

Internships need to provide students with a learning experience comparable to what they might gain from academic study. For example, a student couldn’t earn credit for an internship that just involves filing papers, but could for an internship that involves developing a database system. If you have questions about whether your internship opportunity qualifies, please contact the Deans Office.

Handshake is our online resource for internship openings, as well as for part or full-time jobs and volunteer opportunities for students.

Handshake

Once you’ve created a Handshake account, you will be able to enter or update information on internships, including:

• The type of internship you have to offer
• The qualifications you seek in an intern
• How students should apply

Students will contact you directly, and you choose whom you would like to interview and select.

For more information about your role in the Internship Learning Contract process, please review the Field Supervisor Guidelines.

Thank you for your willingness to supervise an Evergreen intern. We appreciate your commitment to our students—you help them bring the theory they receive in the classroom to applied learning through experiences at your organization. In other words, you help a student’s education come to life!

If you have questions about your role as Field Supervisor, or have problems with your intern, please reach out to the Academic Deans’ Office.

Your Role as Field Supervisor

Ensure that your organization and The Evergreen State College have a signed Internship Site Agreement on record. 

• Your primary responsibility is to support the intern's learning, to provide training and oversight as needed, to keep track of the intern's progress throughout the quarter, and to submit your assessment of the intern's progress to the faculty sponsor.
• Keep in mind that, while we hope the intern's work will help your organization, the internship is intended primarily to benefit the student and enhance their learning.
• Make sure you've read the internship contract, and that you and the student are in agreement about:
  • How often you will meet or communicate (we strongly encourage that this happen at least weekly);
  • What kind of supervision and support you will provide;
  • The activities the student will perform; and 
  • The learning outcomes that the student can expect to gain from those activities.
• At the end of the quarter, you will write an evaluation of the intern and send it to the intern’s faculty sponsor, who writes the official evaluation that goes in the transcript. We encourage you to also meet with the intern to go over your evaluation and discuss their internship learning experience.

Questions to Help You Evaluate the Intern

You do not have to answer these questions in writing your evaluation; they’re just suggestions to help you reflect on the intern’s performance and write a thorough evaluation of their work.

Performance and contributions as a member of the organization

• Has the intern developed an adequate understanding of your organization's purpose and functions?
• How well has the intern succeeded in performing routine tasks associated with their position?
• In what specific ways, if any, has the intern contributed to the ongoing program of the organization?
• Since the beginning of the quarter, has the intern progressed as expected in their ability to:
  • Work effectively with decreasing amounts of direct supervision,
  • Accept responsibility for tasks of increasing complexity, difficulty, or scope, and
  • Exercise initiative when appropriate (and refrain from exercising initiative when it’s not appropriate)?
• Has the intern been dependable?
• What have been the intern’s outstanding performance strengths?
• What attributes of performance still need improvement?
• What specific suggestions, if any, would you offer the student for maintaining or improving their performance and achievement in the future?

Personal and professional development

• How well has the intern succeeded in meeting any deadlines associated with their work?
• Have the intern’s general demeanor and attire been appropriate for a person in their position? If not, what changes would you suggest?
• How well has the intern worked with others?
• Based on your observations of the intern’s performance to date, how would you describe their potential for success in a career in the field in which the internship has been conducted or a related field?

Achievement of learning objectives

• Which of the learning objectives described in the contract have been achieved?
• If one or more objectives have not been achieved, what progress, if any, has the intern made toward each?
• Do you have specific examples or evidence that would document the intern’s progress toward, or achievement of, each objective?
• What other skills, abilities, or special knowledge, if any, has the intern developed this quarter?

Signs of a Successful Sponsor and Student Contract Commitment

• Student approaches faculty or staff sponsor with a completed draft of a contract at least a quarter before the quarter in which the sponsorship is desired.
  • Tip: Students are encouraged to use the online contract process to create a draft for you to provide feedback early in development. Communicate to the student that you would like them to create a draft contract using the examples online and have the student release a draft for your review. Use the Academic Deans’ Contract Review Criteria to clarify the subject matter and conditions of the contract.
• An important academic element is awarding of credit—the sponsor, subcontractor or site supervisor should have academic qualifications or professional expertise in the area of credit awarded.
  • Tip: Advanced preparation is particularly important if the student needs to secure a subcontractor or site supervisor as well as a faculty sponsor. Sometimes turning a student’s proposal down can be an important learning experience—the results of their previous choices may have a direct effect on their current desires.
• Student has a record of completing programs and of receiving full credit.
  • Tip: Once a student has released a draft of the contract with you listed as the sponsor, you can view their academic history by logging into your Sponsor Contract View online. 
• Student has the academic or experiential background to pursue advanced study in a contract and can demonstrate an understanding of the quarter timeline and meeting the workload within this timeframe. In addition, the student understands the time invested per credit hour matches our expectations in programs—rough rule of thumb is 400 hours of work for 16 credits.
  • Tip: Use the Activities Timeline to help the student understand their workload and managing it within the timeframe. In addition, it provides a detailed grid illustrating time invested per credit hour earned.
• Students commonly seek individual or internship contracts when all else has failed for them—late registration, programs full or cancelled, multi-quarter programs not accepting new students after first quarter.
  • Tip: Lack of self-motivation in these areas can be a predictor of failure in an individual or internship contract. These cases often show up well after the start of the quarter in which the sponsorship is requested. While it's theoretically possible for a student to write a novel in a quarter, facts indicate that it's unlikely. A common request for individual study is for traveling and keeping a journal. Without further academic work, these activities in themselves are not creditworthy—journals are, by definition, rough drafts.

Becoming a Faculty or Staff Contract Sponsor

If you would like information on how to become a faculty or staff contract sponsor, please contact the Academic Deans Office