OFFICE OF ASSESSMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Senior Practicum Guidelines
(as revised and approved by Faculty Senate 5-7-04)
The following guidelines apply to Practicums within the State of Hawai‘i and refer to both the process of conducting Senior Practicums and what should be produced from the course. Practicums outside the State of Hawai‘i will include additional requirements.
Process
1. Faculty should make annual visits to Practicum sites to insure that the site continues to offer an appropriate Practicum experience.
2. The faculty, student, and site supervisor must complete the UH West O‘ahu Memorandum of Agreement that includes the functions, objectives, and tasks for the Practicum experience. The Memorandum of Agreement describes the responsibilities and scope of assignments for the student and site supervisor.
3. The UH West O‘ahu Memorandum of Agreement should be completed by the beginning of pre-registration the semester prior to enrollment in the Senior Practicum course.
4. Students must complete all prerequisites before registering for Senior Practicum courses unless exceptions are given by the discipline.
5. All faculty who teach or supervise Senior Practicums at UH West O‘ahu must attend a mandatory workshop on Teaching the UH West O‘ahu Capstone Courses prior to teaching or supervising the course. No faculty will be able to teach Senior Practicums without first having attended at least one workshop. All faculty, including those teaching Senior Practicums as classes and independent study, are required to attend at least one workshop.
6. Students and faculty should agree on (a) a well-defined set of goals and objectives, (b) scheduled meeting times, and (c) section and/or draft due dates before beginning work on the Practicums. These agreements may be in the form of syllabi or written contracts.
7. Senior Practicums must adhere to all writing-intensive guidelines.
8. Senior Practicum students and faculty should hold a minimum of six structured meetings during a semester.
9. Students should work closely with faculty during all phases of the Senior Practicums. Responsibility for completion of the work rests with the students.
10. Students must submit a minimum of one outline and one draft of the Senior Practicum paper to the Senior Practicum class instructor (and the supervising faculty member when that faculty member is different from the class instructor) before submitting final papers.
11. Grades will be assigned by the faculty. The evaluations of the site supervisor will be taken into consideration; however, the site supervisor will not be asked to recommend a letter grade. Grades must be based on the following guidelines:
1. a. At least 40% of the grade on written products, per writing intensive guidelines.
2. At least 10% of the grade on oral presentations.
12. When the Senior Practicum is taught as a class and when students work with a supervising faculty member different from the Senior Practicum class instructor, the grade will be given by the Senior Practicum class instructor in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
Product
1. Students must complete at least 160 hours of supervised experience with a minimum of 120 hours spent at the Practicum site.
2. Students must complete regular journal entries about the Practicum experience. The journal should include a log of hours, tasks completed, reactions to tasks, etc.
3. Students must complete a paper related to the Senior Practicum. The content and length of this paper are to be determined by the faculty.
4. Students must give an oral presentation about their Practicum experience.