Special Features: Resources to Support Student Learning
Last Updated: July 2007
Independent Student Learning
Marietta College students are afforded a number of opportunities to develop the skills necessary for independent learning. More than half of the academic departments at the College have an active internship program that provides students with valuable business/research experience. These include Art, Biology and Environmental Science, Communication, Economics, Management, and Accounting, Education, History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Religion, Mass Media, Petroleum Engineering and Geology, Physical Education, Sports Medicine/Allied Health, Physics, and the Theatre departments, as well as the McDonough Leadership and Physician Assistant Studies programs. While the requirements and procedures for an internship vary across departments, a general model includes a minimum number of work hours for each hour of academic credit, an evaluation by the student’s employer, and a formal report (written and/or oral) summarizing the internship experience. The range of experiences is wide and cuts across industries, occupations, and locations.
In addition to active internship programs, many academic programs offer courses and/or other opportunities featuring experiential learning components. For example:
- The Economics, Management, and Accounting Department offers a course (Management 451, Business Consulting) that allows “student teams [to] work in the field as consultants to local businesses and economic development agencies.” Clients are typically small businesses or non-profit organizations with not enough time to do the research or conduct a survey that would help the organization to better serve its clients or to grow. Students work under the supervision of a faculty member on a matter of importance to the client, ultimately providing written and oral reports.
- The Geology Department offers a two-week demonstration field trip each May to various localities in the United States or Canada (Geology 306, Demonstration Field Trip).
- The three fine arts departments on campus (Art, Music, and Theatre), by their very design, offer extensive experiential learning opportunities to students.
-
Art
- A variety of two- and three-dimensional studio-based courses, many incorporating real world scenarios
- Annual Senior Show (Art 488: presentation, exhibition/ presentation installation, publicity, and public reception)
- Annual Student Show
- Outside exhibitions
- Internships, field experience, and apprenticeship work
- Portfolio and self-promotion (Graphic Design 488: portfolio presentation, self-promotion, and professional practices)
-
Music
- Applied study (voice, classical guitar, piano, all orchestral instruments)
- Composition and conducting study (Music 201, and MUED 301 and 302, applied and independent study)
- Ensembles (five choral groups, three instrumental ensembles, Jazz, Band, Symphonic Wind Ensemble)
- Musicals (minimum two per year)
-
Theatre
- Auditions for main stage and studio productions (5-7 full productions and a variety of one acts per year)
- Stagecraft, lighting, and costuming (Theatre 103, 107, and 109)
- Auditioning (Theatre 266)
- Directing (Theatre 303 and 304)
- Scriptwriting (Theatre 348)
- Comedic performance (Theatre 354)
Several other programs also offer opportunities with an important experiential learning component to them. These include Education, Leadership, and Modern Languages.
-
Education
- Student teaching semester
- Summer Reading Camp (Education 410/663: education majors work with children from Washington, OH and Wood, WV counties to diagnose and address reading difficulties)
- The Harmar Project (Education 361: tutoring partnership in the area of reading difficulties with Harmar Elementary School in Marietta)
-
Leadership
- Local service learning (S.U.N.S.H.I.N.E. Learning Station, Ohio Reads, Ely Chapman Education Foundation, Arbors Rehabilitation Center, EVE, Inc., Incredible Community Playground, Marietta Middle School, Marietta YMCA, O’Neill Senior Center, Habitat for Humanity, Harmar Elementary School)
- International service learning (Australia, China, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa)
-
Modern Languages
- Study abroad (required of Spanish majors)
- Summer coursework abroad (e.g., Portuguese 101 and 102 offered in Brazil, summer 2004)
- Internships in sister institutions in Brazil and China (participants engage in teaching English as a foreign language)
- Collaborations between Marietta College students of a foreign language and international students who speak that language
