Students will need to confirm that they have been offered, and have accepted, an experiential education position with a specific company or organization.  You will need to gather information about your experience and Site Supervisor.

• Who is your Site Supervisor:
• Your Site Supervisor works for the organization that is hiring you.
• Your Site Supervisor will provide you training and professional development in your job role.
• Your Site Supervisor will provide space for you to evaluate and critically reflect on your progress in your job role.
• Your Site Supervisor will be asked to review your Learning Contract.
• Your Site Supervisor will be asked to complete an evaluation of your experience.
• Your Site Supervisor will be asked to review your recorded field (experience) hours.  (1 academic credit for EXP 396/455/510/650/651 = 48 field hours/1 academic credit for EXP 397 = 220 field hours)   
  • Academic Credit & Recorded Field Hours form must be completed before prep/reading week (Site Supervisor and student signature required).     
  • Field hours will include:      
    • Time spent in your field experience completing your job activities.     
    • Time spent in your field training and professional development provided by the employer.     
    • Time spent with your Site Supervisor. 
    • Time spent with an employer assigned mentor. 
    • Time spent completing shadowing with the employer in areas you are not assigned to.     
  • Your field hours do not include the work you complete on your academic assignments or hours spent with your EXP Sponsor. (This was a protocol placed during COVID only.)  
• Learning Contract Information Needed.
  • Employer Name
  • Employer Contact Information
  • Site Supervisor Name
  • Site Supervisor Contact Information
  • Job Title, Description, and Expectations
  • Department You Will Be Working In
  • Modality of Experience (In-Person/Remote)
  • Hours a Week You Will Be Working
  • Start and End Date

Job type (internship, experiential learning, coop, fellowship, volunteer/community service, student employment or other)

Students are to meet with their Academic Advisor to discuss if EXP is the correct course section for the experience, if a student will choose a letter grade or pass/fail, and how many credits the student will want to request:

• Determine the number of credit hours a student can earn from an experience.
• Time used to complete training, job responsibilities, and meetings with the employer.
  • 1 credit hour (48 field hours), 2 credit hours (96 field hours), and so on per credit hour.
• If the EXP course takes a student over 19 credit hours the student will need a max override from their Academic Advisor before the student can be enrolled.
• EXP 397 is a 1 credit hour course at a full-time status for pass/fail only. Students cannot be enrolled in other courses if enrolled in EXP 397.
• Students will need to review their myUK account for holds. All holds will need to be rectified before the student can be enrolled.

If students choose to receive a letter grade, they must receive academic department approval. Students will need to complete the online EXP Letter Grade Approval Form https://uky.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3Qv7O7gvvh6Q45M.

International students seeking to gain an experience off-campus through OPT/CPT must consult with the Student Immigration Specialist in the UK Internation Center before beginning any employment.

Students are to review with their Financial Aid Counselor if there will be any issues for a student to gain credit for their experience, how a pass/fail will affect scholarships/grants or if the student will choose to be enrolled for the summer or winter terms.

• Students should be registered for 12 academic credit hours for their fall and spring terms to maintain their financial aid status until they are enrolled into the EXP course section.

EXP Courses have the same fees as a regular course at UK. Students will be responsible for the course fee assigned. If a student has questions about course fees they can contact Student Account Services.

Students are recommended to find a UK Faculty member within their academic college to be their EXP Sponsor. An EXP Sponsor must have course instructor status at UK (have taught a registered course at UK). Students should inform the Office of Experiential Education if they have issues with finding an EXP Sponsor.

• Potential EXP Sponsors can contact our Experiential Education team with questions and request to be added to the EXP Sponsor Lounge in Canvas at expblue@uky.edu.

Your EXP Sponsor will design your academic assignment equivalent to your credit hours being requested. Academic assignments cannot be the work you will complete for the job tasks in the experience or the EXP Requirements.   

• Your EXP Sponsor is a career champion to help you navigate the experiential experience and your academic goals.
• Your EXP Sponsor will determine the student’s midterm and final grade.     
  • Office of Experiential Education completes reviews of all EXP Required work during Prep/Reading Week.   
    • Final grades cannot be placed until after the Office of Experiential Education's review is complete.    
• Your EXP Sponsor will be asked to review your Learning Contract.
• Your EXP Sponsor will be asked to complete an evaluation of your experience.

Meet with your EXP Sponsor to discuss your experience before you complete the Handshake EXP Earning Credit appointment.  Please discuss:       

• Learning Outcomes / Goals:  Your EXP Sponsor will determine your learning outcomes and goals and you will incorporate these into your Learning Contract.     
• Syllabus / Assignments:  Your EXP Sponsor will determine assignment(s) to be completed for this course.  You will need to input these assignments into your Learning Contract.  
  • Your EXP Sponsor will have access to the EXP course syllabus templates in the EXP Sponsor Lounge (Canvas).    
• Canvas shell:  Your EXP Sponsor will have access to their course section Canvas shell if they choose to use it. The Canvas course will be used to place your assignments, discussion boards, meetings, or deadlines. 
• Schedule Meetings with Your EXP Sponsor (at least 5 times after enrolling (First Week Confirmation, Check-In 1 (September/February), Mid-Term Confirmation, Check-In 2 (November/April), and End of Term Confirmation). You should review the way you and your EXP Sponsor will be meeting through the academic term and have this modality of contact outlined in the course syllabus.  If this is a cohort of students, the EXP Sponsor may choose to do group check-ins.
  • The average contact with an EXP Sponsor over an experience is 5 times.  Contact could include:  
    • Meeting with the instructor to discuss experience, credit, and academic assignments.  
    • In Person academic activities 
    • On Canvas  
      • Recorded video lecture of instructor or invited expert.  
      • Instructor recorded an interview with an expert.  
      • Instructor mediated discussion.  
    • Receiving feedback from the instructor through call, email, a discussion forum, the course wall, VoiceThread or Zoom.  
    • Required meetings with instructor.  
      • First week of school to confirm course involvement for Title IV.  
      • Mid-term grade and credit adjustment review.  
      • Discussion to review incompletes, final assessment of academic work, and review of EXP Requirements submissions. (Before Prep/Reading Week) 
  • Non-Contact with your EXP Sponsor could include:  
    • Readings  
    • Homework  
    • Self-Guided Videos  
    • Canvas Quizzes  

You will report how many times you've met with your EXP Sponsor in the Academic Credit & Recorded Field Hours Form.  

Students will use Handshake and choose appointment type "EXP Courses- Earning Academic Credit-Stuckert Career Center."

• An Experiential Education team member will help advise and process the EXP requirements and enrollment.

After meeting with the Office of Experiential Education, students will be given instructions on how to complete the assigned EXP Learning Contract in Handshake.

• Go to Handshake -> University of Kentucky Career Center -> Experiences -> Request an Experience     
• Under "Experience Type" choose the template that you have been given in the drop-down menu.   
  • If you are unsure of your EXP template, contact expblue@uky.edu        
  • If you choose the wrong template, then you will be asked to delete the current template and to re-submit the correct template.     
• Complete the Learning Contract Information:     
  • Section 1 Employment Information
  • Section 2 Academic Information
  • Section 3 Pre-Experience Evaluation
  • Section 4 Attach Course Syllabus

After a student completes the Learning Contract in Handshake the approval process will take 3-6 days:  

• An EXP Staff Member will be alerted by Handshake that the Learning Contract is ready to be reviewed.  Learning Contracts are reviewed routinely during the work week by EXP Staff.
• The Learning Contract will be reviewed by an EXP Staff Member.      
  • If there are edits that need to occur, an EXP Staff Member will message you in the Comments section of your Learning Contract.
    • You will message back in the Comments section your response for the edits or send the edits to expblue@uky.edu.      
  • If there are no edits required, an EXP Staff Member will activate the Learning Contract forward for the Site Supervisor to review first. Once the Site Supervisor approves then Handshake will automatically email the EXP Sponsor for their review.
    • The Site Supervisor/EXP Sponsor will receive an e-mail from Handshake.     
      • Please make sure your EXP Sponsor and Site Supervisor are aware they will receive an email from Handshake, and it may go into their junk/spam mail.  If they are having issues with receiving the email the Site Supervisor can contact expblue@uky.edu to receive a private access link.   
      • Note that the Site Supervisor will review first and have three days before the learning contract is closed for lack of action. If this occurs an EXP Staff member will have to reset the learning contract. Once the Site Supervisor approves then Handshake will send an email to your EXP Sponsor for their approval.
      • If the Site Supervisor or EXP Sponsor declines the contract, you will receive an email with a note to explain why the decline occurred. If there are edits that will need to be made to your learning contract, then you will need to post in the Comment section of the learning contract any edits you would like changed or email the edits to expblue@uky.edu. An EXP Staff Member will need to go into the back end of your learning contract to edit and reset your learning contract for review. 
    • Once the EXP Sponsor/Site Supervisor both approves the Learning Contract, then an EXP Staff Member will be alerted by Handshake that the Learning Contract is ready for enrollment.      
  • An EXP Staff Member will issue the overrides for the appropriate course and section and request enrollment with the Registrar (typically takes 2 business days).     
  • An EXP Staff Member will place a confirmation of enrollment in the Handshake Learning Contract, and you will see your course enrollment in your myUK .     
  • An EXP Staff Member will place you into the EXP Student Orientation Canvas course. All students earning EXP credit are enrolled into this course.
    • This is where you will find the links to submit your EXP Requirements.   
  • If your EXP Sponsor chooses to use Canvas then you will receive an EXP course shell specific to your course section. 
    • If they do use Canvas then you will have two Canvas courses for EXP.

It is up to you to complete your academic assignments, keep up with your EXP Requirements, and check-in with your EXP Sponsor.      

• If you decide to withdraw from your experience or change your credit hours, please schedule a meeting with your EXP Sponsor and complete the correct form provided below.     
  • EXP Credit Adjustment Form (2024) https://uky.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b1M8pUfIyVdU5wi
  • EXP Course Withdrawal Form (2024) https://uky.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_79A8cfw2lMYNMd8

During the first week of school you will need to meet with your EXP Sponsor and complete the EXP First Week of School Evaluation.

• This meeting is to confirm that the student is enrolled, actively participating with the course work, and has started their experience. More information can be found in the EXP Student Orientation Canvas course under the module EXP Sponsor Meetings.
  • EXP Sponsors will confirm the student’s activity in myUK the Title IV for the Registrar.

EXP First Week of School Evaluation details and link is in the EXP Student Orientation Canvas course under the module Student Expectations in EXP.

During mid-terms you will need to meet with your EXP Sponsor and complete the EXP Mid-term Evaluation.

• This meeting is to review your progress with your academic assignments, professional development with your experience, and review your progress with your field hours. More information can be found in the EXP Student Orientation Canvas course under the module EXP Sponsor Meetings.
• EXP Mid-term Evaluation details and link is in the EXP Student Orientation Canvas course under the module Student Expectations in EXP.

Before UK Prep/Reading Week you will need to meet with your EXP Sponsor and complete the EXP End of Term Requirements.

• The EXP Sponsor End of Term Check-In meeting is to review the student’s progress and submission of EXP requirements and academic assignment. More information can be found in the EXP Student Orientation Canvas course under the module EXP Sponsor Meetings.

• The EXP End of Term Requirements include the EXP Common Reflection, EXP Common Reflection Poster, EXP Academic Credit & Recorded Field Hours Form, and the EXP End of Experience Evaluation. More information can be found in the EXP Student Orientation Canvas course under the module Student Expectations in EXP.

   

Follow-Up EXP Meetings with the Office of Experiential Education

Students can schedule an appointment with Donna Gabbard, Assistant Director for Experiential Education by going to their Handshake account and choosing appointment type "EXP- Earning Academic Credit". Students will receive a prompt to ask if this is your first EXP appointment or if it is a follow-up appointment. You will choose follow-up.