Week 3, Spring 2008 - Student Scholarship

One of the best aspects of being a Liberal Studies major is the ability to pursue your interests even if there are no classes available to assist you. LIS 380 Exploration of Learning Resources, LIS 499 Independent Study, and AST 301 ECCE: AST Project allow to you develop a class around your academic interests.

Admittedly, it takes some up-front effort to develop your own course so it’s much easier to simply take a traditional class, but the up-front effort can pay off huge dividends. Remember, this up-front effort will involve you considering what you’d like to learn, what resources you’ll use to learn it, your method for learning it, and how you’ll present or document your learning at the end. This means that the resulting class should incorporate the sort of learning you enjoy and it should perfectly match your learning style – remember Kolb? So, consider all of the classes you’ve taken in which you’ve said, “this would have been a great class if only . . . .” The up-front work of developing an independent study is your chance to fix all of the “if onlys” so that you end up with your ideal class.

I’ve helped a lot of students consider independent study ideas and, just as there are many types of LIS students, there are many types of independent study ideas as well. But, all of their ideas share one thing in common: they’re all fun. I’m not saying that all of the ideas are my idea of fun, but their ideas are certainly fun to them. So if you’re considering an independent study, the first question you should ask yourself is, “what do I enjoy?” Too often, we forget to think of academic interests and scholarship in these terms but you know from experience that your favorite courses are the ones you enjoyed, even if they meant working yourself ragged.

Some students actually enjoy reading scholarly journals and writing about their findings – they tend to get PhDs and teach at universities – but there are other options when you have the chance to design your own course. Maybe you would enjoy writing a series of essays about U.S. politics. Maybe you would enjoy promoting local conservation efforts by developing a webpage. Maybe you would enjoy studying local history by developing a walking tour. Maybe you would enjoy writing the Great American Novel (or at least the first chapters.)

If you’re considering an independent study and don’t know where to start or just need someone to help you brainstorm, give me a call. Realize that independent studies do not have to conform to traditional semester boundaries so it’s possible to start and complete one at any time.

I would like to spend a future podcast discussing independent studies and I’d like to talk to students who have done them. If you’ve completed one or you’re in the middle of one and you’d like to discuss your experience, let me know.

Have a good week.


This weeks links –

1st Annual College of Arts and Science Webposium
LIS Independent Study Proposal Form