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A practicum course affords students the opportunity to do the kinds of things they have learned in principle. It is, in short, learning by doing, or experiential learning. You have a choice of three practicum options (see below). All three options lead students to a more practical sense of what they have studied in their coursework, and importantly, each asks students not only to engage in practice for a semester but also to adequately reflect on and analyze that practice through journal entries and a final reflection/analysis assignment.
Practicum Options
Each of the three options below should engage students in about 8-9 hours each week. This figure is not an arbitrary number; it corresponds to the amount of time a student would be expected to spend on any upper-level course at UTRGV.
This option asks students to assist a faculty member in his or her research project(s). Students should choose to work with faculty they already know and who agree to mentor them during the semester. Note: the faculty member should be tenured or on the tenure track, though some exceptions can be made in unique circumstances.
This option allows students to receive academic credit for work they complete during an official internship, which can take place on campus, locally, state-wide, or nation-wide. An internship appropriate for HONR 3380 is one that lends itself to academic analysis and reflection, ideally but not necessarily related to the student’s course of study and career plans. Students should have a faculty mentor from UTRGV who helps guide their analysis and reflection.
NOTE: Students awarded an Archer Fellowship may substitute three hours of HONR 4680 for HONR 3380.
Practicum experiences do not always fall uniquely within just one of these categories; it is not uncommon for a practicum experience to overlap with two or more of these categories. This, however, does not affect the importance or relevance of the experience. Such a practicum experience is completely acceptable.
Required Coursework
The culmination of HONR 3380 involves a reflective writing assignment that allows students to think deeply and critically about their practicum experiences. This reflection assignment has three main goals:
- document what you learned and gained from the practicum
- discuss how the practicum allowed you to put into practice knowledge and/or theories you learned in the classroom and how the practicum influenced your views on classroom book learning
- explain how the practicum helped you shape or re-shape your understanding of your future profession and career goals.
During the semester in which the practicum is taken, students will keep a weekly journal in which they document and reflect upon their practicum experiences. The weekly journals should assist in the preparation of the reflection assignment.
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