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Cooperative Education Program
Standards and Guidelines
Definition of Cooperative Work ExperienceA cooperative work experience is on-or off-campus paid employment.
It augments formal classroom instruction. The experience is coordinated by a technical faculty member related to the major and by a member of the Cooperative Education office.
Requirements
- A student must have a minimum cumulative 2.0 grade point average and a 2.0 grade point average in the technical are to participate in a cooperative work experience.
- A student must have successfully completed at least 30 credit hours, 12 of which must be in the student's major area of study, and approval of a technical faculty member to participate in a cooperative work experience.
- Students already working may apply to use that experience to meet cooperative work experience requirements.
- Each student who is enrolled in a cooperative work experience must have successfully completed a prerequisite one credit-hour on-campus seminar. This can be taken as a co-requisite upon approval of the technical faculty member.
- At a minimum, each student is required to meet with the assigned technical faculty member at the beginning of the term, at the mid-term, and at the end of the term to discuss and evaluate progress in the cooperative work experience.
- Each student who is enrolled in a cooperative work experience must document learning outcomes to be achieved through the cooperative work experience,and submit these to the technical faculty member for approval by the end of the second week of the term.
- Each student who desires to participate in a cooperative work experience must contact the Cooperative Education office to receive or record a job placement assignment.
- Students who desire to participate in a cooperative work experience must be enrolled in a cooperative education course In their major in order to receive academic credit for the work experience.
Awarding of Credit
One credit shall be awarded for a minimum of one hundred clock hours of cooperative work experience that is scheduled during a quarter. A maximum of thirteen quarter credit hours may be earned in cooperative work experience, or any combination of cooperative work experience and practicum, over the associate degree program.
Evaluation
The technical faculty member visits the job site for a conference with the student and supervisor at the mid-term and for a final evaluation. Additional visits may occur. The technical faculty member will evaluate the student based upon pre-approved learning outcomes to be determined between the student and
the technical faculty member. The technical faculty member
assigns the course grade to the student after appropriate
consultation with the supervisor/employer. Students
participating in cooperative experiences will be graded on
pass/fail basis.
On-Campus Seminar
Students desiring to participate in a cooperative work experience will enroll in a prerequisite one-credit on-campus seminar. The seminar will meet for ten classroom hours during the quarter. The seminar's curriculum will encompass the
following topics:
- Developing a resume
- Developing learning outcomes for a cooperative work experience
- Expectations of students participating in cooperative work experiences
- Workplace ethics
- Interviewing tips and techniques
- Development of a portfolio for presentation to potential employers
Discussions with previous cooperative work experience participants regarding what to expect
Field Experience
Field experience is planned, paid work activity which relates to an individual student's occupational objectives.
With permission of a faculty advisor, the field experience replaces elective or required courses in a student's associate degree program.
The experience is coordinated by a faculty member
of the college who assists the student in planning the experience, visits the site of the experience for a conference with the student
and his/her supervisor at least once during the quarter or semester and assigns the course grade to the student after appropriate consultation with the employer/supervisor.
One credit (quarter or semester) shall be awarded for a minimum of twelve clock hours of field experience which is
scheduled during a week. A maximum of thirteen quarter
(or nine semester) credit hours may be earned in field
experience, or in any combination of field experience,
cooperative education experience and practicum
over the associate degree program.
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