Practicum

This course is an experience-based, Embedded Education course offered to second-year students and above (including graduate students) completing experience-based work (an internship, volunteer placement, or job) during the fall semester. Students must have experience-based work in place and complete the required preregistration form prior to registering for this course. Experience-based work should begin by the end of the first week of class. Please see SLC EmbeddED on MySLC for more information, including how to register for SLC EmbeddED courses, info session dates/recordings, FAQ for students, and resources for finding experience-based work. Students are advised to begin looking for experience-based work opportunities three-to-six months before the fall semester, when possible. Over the semester, students explore shifting and inclusive definitions of work,  workplace culture, and strategies to support well-being through reading assignments, class discussions, experience-based observations, small-group work, workshops, events, panels, and engagement with peers and alumni. Topics will include workplace communication, diversity equity and inclusion, professional networking, stress management, work-life balance, sleep health, and restorative practices. Students are encouraged to engage in observation journals, experiential activities, and collaborative group work. Assignments include weekly homework, an alumni podcast recording, and a flow experience and job crafting paper. The goal is for students to integrate class material with experience-based observations, engage with campus resources, and develop a community of peer and alumni support—which students may utilize this semester and beyond. SLC EmbeddEd courses are graded pass/fail and meet remotely via Zoom on Wednesday evenings. Students have the option to enroll for three or five credits. SLC EmbeddEd courses are offered in collaboration with campus partners, including Career Services; Community Partnerships and Engagement; the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; preprofessional advisors, Alumni Relations, Health + Wellness, the Dean of Well-Being, and the Learning Commons.

Building a Professional Identity is an experience-based, Embedded Education course offered to second-year students and above (including graduate students) completing experience-based work (internship, volunteer placement, or job) during the spring semester. Students must have experience-based work in place and complete the required preregistration form prior to registering for this course. Please see SLC EmbeddEd on MySLC for more information, including how to register for SLC EmbeddEd courses, info session dates/recordings, FAQ for students, and resources for finding experience-based work. Students are advised to begin looking for experience-based work opportunities three to six months before the spring semester, when possible. Over the semester, students explore the process of building a professional identity through reading assignments, class discussions, experience-based observations, small-group work, workshops, events, panels, and engagement with peers and alumni. Topics include imposter phenomenon, diversity equity and inclusion, workplace communication, online branding, professional networking, mentorship and mentoring, work-life balance, and strategies to support well-being. Students are encouraged to engage in observation journals, experiential activities, and collaborative group work. Assignments include weekly homework, an alumni podcast recording, and a professional profile bio. The goal is for students to integrate class material with experience-based observations, engage with campus resources, and develop a community of peer and alumni support—which students may utilize this semester and beyond. SLC EmbeddEd courses are graded pass/fail and meet remotely via Zoom on Wednesday evenings. Students have the option to enroll for three or five credits. (Each credit option has its own course number; the credit option you select during registration or the add/drop period will be the credit option you will complete or attempt for the semester.) Students also have the option to enroll in each course a second time, as a returning student, with an emphasis on early career leadership and mentorship. SLC EmbeddEd courses are offered in collaboration with campus partners, including Career Services; Community Partnerships and Engagement; the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; pre-professional advisors; Alumni Relations; Health + Wellness; the Dean of Well-Being; and the Learning Commons.

In this course, you are going to take an idea for a passion project and take the first step in bringing it to life. You will design, execute, and publish a minimum viable project that validates your area of interest, develops your reputation in your interest area, and gives you valuable experience from which to continue moving forward. This type of project will help you to: clearly and concisely communicate your ideas, reflections, and insights; practice pitching your work to new audiences and potential partners and collaborators; build influence in a field or space that is new to you; develop your professional network in a meaningful and intentional way; engage with and activate rockstar mentors on a tangible projec; learn more about yourself, including your values, passions, and purpose; and gain valuable perspective and experience on what it takes to bring ideas to life. You are an ideal fit for this course if you have one or more of the following: an idea for a passion project that you want to bring to life; a business idea that you would like to explore and test; a particular problem that you would like to solve for a specific group of people; an initiative that you want to launch; a personal brand that you want to launch into the world; a specific job for which you want to competitively position yourself.

January 8–January 12, 2024
Monday–Friday, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM PT

This one-week filmmaking seminar, ConnectLA, is an immersive experience in which students will come together to explore opportunities in the film industry. The setting will be an ideal space to network, explore, and gain mentorship experience or connections in an environment conducive to learning under the guidance of faculty and industry professionals. It's a great start for students who are considering relocating to California upon graduation from school. Visit and hear from film-school alums and industry professionals: how they began the process of making contacts, exploring neighborhoods, and the creative ways in which they started to make inroads in the industry. Along with informative sessions, students will have the opportunity to explore technical aspects of the process through hands-on experience with film-industry technology currently used in production. The week will include production site visits, tours, and hands-on technical sessions with industry gear and crew. The program will be a fully guided experience offered in collaboration with Los Angeles-based rental facilities, instructors, and tech professionals. (January 2023 program highlights reel: www.vimeo.com/ifiny/connectla2023)
 

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In this research seminar, students will gain valuable experience through a weekly seminar meeting focused on research methods, research ethics, and contemporary research questions and approaches; a weekly lab meeting with one of the faculty members leading the research seminar; and individual and group conference meetings with faculty supervisors on a regular, as-needed basis. The seminar component will include readings on, and discussions of, research methods and ethics—both broad and specific to the research in which students are involved—as well as the discussion of contemporary research articles that are relevant to student and faculty research projects. All faculty and students involved in the research experience will take turns leading the discussion of current research, with faculty taking the lead at the beginning of the semester and students taking the lead as their expertise develops. Weekly lab meetings will also involve reading and discussing research articles and research-methods papers specific to the topics of research being undertaken by each student and faculty member. Students will be expected to learn the current research approaches being employed by their supervising faculty member, contribute toward ongoing research in the form of a research practicum, and develop and implement their own independent research projects within the labs in which they are working. Faculty supervising each lab will also be available to meet with students, both individually and in small groups, on an ongoing basis—as needed and at least every other week—in addition to the regular weekly, hour-long lab meeting. Students participating in the Psychology Advanced Research Seminar will be expected to attend and actively participate in weekly full-group seminars, weekly lab meetings, and regular (typically, at least biweekly) individual and group conference meetings; keep an ongoing journal and/or scientific lab notebook; select and facilitate group and lab discussions of relevant contemporary research articles (at least once for each meeting type); work at least 5 hours within a lab and/or community setting, as appropriate for their projects; contribute toward ongoing research and practice within their lab or community settings; develop, implement, and report on (in the form of a short paper prepared for possible publication and a poster at the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Poster Session) an independent research project; and provide their colleagues with ongoing verbal and written feedback on their projects.

This is a course for creative writers who are interested in exploring nonfiction as an art form. We will focus on reading and interpreting outside work—essays, articles, and journalism by some of our best writers—in order to understand what good nonfiction is and how it is created. During the first part of the semester, writing will be comprised mostly of exercises and short pieces aimed at putting into practice what is being illuminated in the readings; in the second half of the semester, students will create longer, formal essays to be presented in workshop.