Get Started: Define Your Individual Study Contract

Get started by defining your Individual Study contract at my.evergreen.edu

Define your Contract

• Login at my.evergreen.edu
• Click on Individual Study Contracts
• Create a title and select a term to start a new contract
• Click the Start button at the top of the screen
• Define your contract and fill in the required information for all fields
  • You can save your progress on any page by clicking Save. To view your overall contract completion progress, press the Return to Summary button. Be sure to save before returning to your summary page if you have made any changes.

 Contract Type

• Specify your contract type between Individual Learning Contract (ILC) and Internship Contract. If you would like to do an internship with an ILC component, select Internship Contract. You can specify the credit break down later.
  • If you are unsure if your contract is an internship, consider if your work will benefit a person, business, or organization in any way (paid or unpaid). If so, it is an internship. This includes a position in which you are already employed in.
• Specify if you will be earning undergraduate or graduate credit. If you are an undergraduate and would like to earn graduate credit, discuss the possibility with your sponsoring faculty.
• Specify if this contract is an in-program contract or individual study. In-program contracts occur as part of a program or course a student is already registered for, and individual study contracts occur separate from any program or course listed in the catalog. An in-program contract does not have to be registered with Registration and Records but must still be completed and documented in the contract system.
  • The ILC system asks you to indicate this with the question "Are you creating this contract for work you will be doing as part of a program/course you are or will be enrolled in?"
    • Individual learning contracts that are intended to be registered for credit must answer “No” to the question.
    • In-program learning contracts that are intended as part of coursework that is already registered must answer “Yes” to the question.

 Credit Amount

Determine how many credits your contract will be. If you are creating an Internship Contract with an ILC Component, the Total Credits number must be greater than the Internship Credits number. The difference (Total Credits - Internship Credits) will yield the number of ILC Credits you are intending to receive.

Example:

A screenshot of the individual study contract page for specifying the number of credits. This specific contract is a 12 credit internship with an ILC component. The contract has 8 internship credits and 4 ILC credits. (12 - 8 = 4)

Prior Study

This page verifies whether the student has taken enough prior coursework through interdisciplinary programs to register for individual study. If the student has not taken enough prior coursework, the ILC portal will prompt them to request an exception to this policy, which will be reviewed by the Dean of Experiential Learning prior to their approval. You can find the full list of eligibility policies in the ‘Individual Study Policies’ section of the Individual Study website: https://www.evergreen.edu/academics/experiential-learning/individual-study#:~:text=Individual%20Study%20Policies.

Contract Background

As individual study contracts are for advanced work, detail what past education or work experience prepares you for your contract. Providing a list of related previous faculty is optional.

Objectives and Activities

Learning Objectives: What do you want to learn?

Learning objectives are statements that specify the skills and knowledge that you plan to acquire or enhance. The skills may be academic, technical or artistic; the knowledge should concern related subjects or topics. Objectives are what you plan to learn, NOT what you plan to do.

Activities: What will you do to meet your learning objectives?

In this section, list the activities you plan to complete to meet each of your learning objectives. For assistance in planning your activities for the quarter, use the Activities Timeline document

What my sponsor will evaluate

Describe the work you plan to complete to demonstrate your learning to your sponsor. This work is often illustrated through the things you have produced during the contract. For example, papers, a portfolio, research reports, journals, annotated bibliographies, performances, presentations, etc.

Note: If you add any text to a new row, your contract will be marked as incomplete unless you have text in every box of that row. Please make sure that every Learning Objective has corresponding text in the “Activities” and “What My Sponsor Will Evaluate” boxes. If you are unsure of how to flesh out your contract, seek feedback from Academic and Career Advising (advising@evergreen.edu) and your contract sponsor.

Contract Sponsor

• All contracts require an Evergreen staff or faculty sponsor. You will be asked to search for sponsors by last name. Sponsors must have undergone training before being eligible for sponsorship and must have expertise in the subject area of the contract. Have your sponsor contact the Academic Deans (deans@evergreen.edu) if they have not completed this training or if you are unable to find them as an available sponsor in the system. Faculty and staff must have completed their sponsor training by the end of week 5 in any quarter in order to sponsor contracts for the following quarter.
• Field supervisors are required for internships. You will be asked to include their name, position, organization, email, and phone number. All other information is optional. Currently, our https://interns.evergreen.edu/ site is not making new accounts, so field supervisors who do not already have an account there are not expected to make one.
• Subcontractors are optional and available for ILC and Internship contracts. They are typically needed if your sponsor (and field supervisor if you have an internship) do not have expertise to adequately evaluate a portion of your contract.

Contract Description

You will first write a brief description (written in future tense and third person) of the activities and learning objectives that you have listed in your contract. At the end of the quarter, you and your sponsor will review and update this draft paragraph as needed and incorporate it as the Description of your work in your final evaluation.

You will also specify the subject area of your contract.

Communication, Support and Evaluation of Work

Create your communication, support, and evaluation of work plans with your Sponsor and any field supervisors and subcontractors

When working individually, it is critical that you have a communication plan with your sponsor (and Subcontractor). It is important that you keep in contact and share your general progress, clarify any changes that happen along the way, and make sure you are on the right track. A good communication plan should include a schedule for interaction between you and the sponsor and will specify due dates for your work. This is the place to clarify both of your expectations about working together and the support provided by the sponsor and/or subcontractor. Typically, the evaluation process is conducted by a sponsor and student evaluation conference during Evaluation Week.

The expectation by the sponsor is that work is completed during the term of study. Credit will only be awarded for work that is completed.

Terms and Conditions Questions

The following questions will determine whether your contract needs further feedback and/or approvals from parties other than your contract sponsor. All questions are required to be answered in order to move ahead with sharing the contract with approvers. If any questions are answered as "Yes", you will be given instructions on how to move forward.

A screenshot of the individual study system when selecting "Yes" to all questions in the "Terms and Conditions Questions" section. Each department has specific tasks to receive contract approval.

Completion

You are done with your first draft of your contract when your summary page looks like this:

The independent study contract system with a fully defined contract. Every section has a check mark.

If you are satisfied with your contract, you are ready to collect feedback from your sponsor and any field supervisors or sub-contractors you may have.