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Independent Course
Your opportunity to take the lead, apply your proficiencies, and explore your potential.
Independent Course Experiences promote Self-Direction - establish your project goals, workflow, and outcomes in collaboration with your instructor, while meeting key institutional requirements.
This site supports you in evaluating the options available, determining which is most aligned with your goals, and designing an Independent Course Experience to meet your objectives.
LDRV 391/491
One-on-One Mentoring
Moderately Adaptable
Skill Development & Guidance
Exposure to Professional Expertise
LDRV 399/499
Self-Directed Project or Study
Highly Adaptable
Initiative & Autonomy
Freedom to Explore Interests
Professor Favorite!
LDRV 393/493
UpSkill in a Professional Setting
Moderately Adaptable
Practical Work Experience
Application of academic knowledge to real-world issues
LDRV 399/499
Hands-On Research in a Lab Setting
Least Adaptability
Scientific Advancement
Transferable Research Skills
Not always available, but research work can be accomodated as an Independent Study easily.
Core Requirements for All Independent Course Experiences
Initial Requirements
Initial Requirements
Be in your Junior or Senior year of study.
Submit a Course Application & Proposal.
Receive approval from Faculty & Your Advisor (FYI: Faculty may also need approval from their Program Director and sometimes Department Head!)
For independent course experiences, there are many elements that the student and instructor get to decide on themselves (like what tasks you will do every week to meet your goals, etc.), but there are also some required elements.
All Required Elements are submitted via D2L and explained in detail there.
Additional core requirements are consistent across all Independent Course Experience Options.
Courses will be completed with a full-time faculty member as Mentor/Supervisor.
You must complete 45 hours of work per 1 unit of credit, per semester. (1-3 unit course options are available.)
Attend Live Synchronized Sessions. (Set individually with the supervising professor.)
Track & Report your time.
*The official course catalog is available here.
Disclaimer: Students should always discuss their scheduling and how to meet graduation and degree requirements with their academic advisor to ensure they graduate when and how they intend. The information provided in this support site is for informational purposes only and may not be 100% accurate as requirements can be different for individual students.
Acknowledgements:
Acknowledgements:
This site was originally designed + content created by Dr. Brandy A. B. Perkl. Julia Edgerton redeveloped it to be more student-focused in 2023 as part of her ICE experience! It continues to evolve and improve by passing through our students' lives, providing new samples, etc., and we thank them all for their diverse perspectives and unique contributions.
AI Usage Acknowledgement: Much of the site copy for this website was generated from original faculty and student content with some assistance and revisions generated via ChatGPT. OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (July 2023 version) [Large Language model].
Images used in the design of this course site are open-source and obtained via the University of Arizona licenses (Adobe, etc.) or via Google's open-source image search options.
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