Immersive Term & Scaffolded Undergraduate Research

Immersive Term

Degree Expectations

Students entering Franklin College as first-year students are required to complete a minimum of two immersive experiences during the three-week immersive term (at least 6 credit hours total) to meet graduation requirements. One of these two experiences must be an on-campus, immersive course during the student’s first year at Franklin College. The second must be an off-campus immersive experience, such as an internship (which may be a new experience, a continuation of a fall experience, or in conjunction with a spring internship), field experience, practicum, study away experience, undergraduate research opportunity, community-based project, or other approved off-campus, credit-bearing experience or independent study. Students cannot take a second on-campus immersive course to satisfy their second immersive term requirement. Students wishing to study abroad during their first year on campus may do so if they are accepted into the course. This study away experience will satisfy the on-campus immersive requirement. Students may do two study away experiences to satisfy both immersiveterm immersive experiences. Transfer students entering Franklin College as sophomores (fewer than 58 hours) must satisfactorily complete six hours of immersive term experiences. Entering juniors (58-90 hours) must complete three hours of immersive term experiences at Franklin College. A student entering with 91 hours or more has no immersive term requirement and needs to fulfill only 120 total hours for graduation. Note: A transfer student may petition the registrar for reconsideration of immersive term requirements if the requirements will impede normal progression toward graduation.

The same grading system shall be used in immersive term as in the regular semester, except that internships will be graded on a pass-fail basis. Students who fail an immersive term experience and who do not have time to complete all the required immersive term credits before scheduled graduation must either: 1. wait one year and take a course in the next immersive term, or, 2. obtain approval from the Registrar for a substitution course which will not count as part of the normal 120 semester hours for graduation or for any other regular requirements.

Because of the special short-term nature of immersive term, a student withdrawing from an immersive term course after the fourth class day of the term will receive a grade of F.

In order to be consistent with the academic purpose of the college and with normal practice during the fall and spring semesters, all students residing in the residence halls during the immersive term must be registered officially in an approved immersive term course, independent study, internship experience, or prescheduled institutional activity which requires on-campus residence. Withdrawal from an immersive term course requires leaving the residence halls within 48 hours.

No additional tuition and room fees are charged to students who are enrolled full-time in the fall. If students are enrolled full time for the spring semester and wish to begin coursework during immersive term, they should refer to the section “Expenses and Financial Policies” for tuition, room, and board costs. Part-time tuition fees are charged to students who are not enrolled in either the fall or spring semester full-time. Immersive term board is charged to all students living on campus during the immersive term. Some individual courses may require additional course fees. No refunds for or reductions in tuition and room are allowed for those students not enrolled in immersive term or who reside off-campus during immersive term.

Courses and Experiences

During the Immersive Term students concentrate on a single course of their choice for three weeks and fully engage with it in a way that is meaningful, significant, and unique to the topic and supplements the type of learning that takes place in a traditional semester. An immersive experience puts the student “in a new world” physically, intellectually/imaginatively, or both, and is engaging, allowing students to celebrate learning. Immersive Term

courses should stimulate discussion/debate and reflection. All courses must adhere to the credit hour definition in the 2022-23 catalog on page. 43.

On-campus courses An Immersive course may (1) allow students to engage with the topic in a hands-on way by generating a creative project such as a video, work of art, podcast, performance, etc., (2) allow students to engage with the topic by interacting with community partners or Professional Practitioners on campus or off campus (either in person or remotely), (3) allow students to engage with the topic in an off-campus setting or settings (e.g. museums, sporting events, concerts, speakers, parks, schools, government offices, non-profits, missions, etc.), or (4) allow students to engage with the topic intellectually through extensive and varied scholarship, or (5) allow students to engage with the topic imaginatively through active, in-class exercises. Immersive Term courses must offer students at least three of the above experiences. Immersive courses taught during the immersive term cannot require prerequisites and may not be departmental or liberal arts courses. The one exception is study abroad, which may qualify for international exploratory status.

Travel courses involve Franklin College faculty taking groups of students on study tours of particular foreign countries or other regions and cities of the United States. These courses have a thematic focus. Students can satisfy the international exploratory requirement with a foreign travel course over immersive term. Additional fees are charged for travel courses.

Independent study shall take the form of reading or research activity in a specific area by a student under the guidance of a faculty advisor. At least two weeks prior to registration, the student and the faculty advisor shall submit to the department chair and the Registrar a description of the project. Independent study may be pursued on or off campus. Off-campus independent study is open only to juniors and seniors, while sophomores, juniors, and seniors may participate in an on-campus independent study.

Some students may be interested in enrolling in immersive term courses on other campuses, including foreign study courses. Arrangements should be made early in the fall, and the student must have approval of the Associate Registrar.

Scaffolded Undergraduate Research

Through mentored experiences within the liberal arts and major-specific curricular offerings, students will incrementally develop skills that will facilitate the exploration and execution of a meaningful intellectual project or creative product. This experience empowers students to innovate and explore their interests. Within the LA Curriculum, components of the undergraduate research experience are integrated into First-Year Seminar, Reading and Writing Critically, Public Speaking, and the student’s math course. Students may work on individual or group research projects as designated by the departmental structure. Within the major, undergraduate research elements and associated technologies are integrated into a minimum of three courses across the span of no less than two years. The goal is to create a truly scaffolded student experience.

Research, Scholarship, or Creative (RSC) Work Outcomes  Students will demonstrate the ability to organize a professional-grade project proposal.  Students, with the guidance of a faculty/staff mentor, will demonstrate the ability to employ standards of RSC consistent with the standards of the project’s discipline(s) as defined by the faculty.  Students will demonstrate understanding and practice of research ethics within a disciplinary framework.  Students will demonstrate the ability to articulate what they have learned from the RSC experience in a public forum in a way that o reflects critical thought, o clearly outlines the research, scholarship, or creative work accomplished, o summarizes any major findings and their relationship to the student’s expectations, and

o explains how the project will impact the student’s future work.

Note: The above demonstration does not need to be an off-campus experience.