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Guidelines for a Student Proposal for a Directed Individual Study

Purpose
The initiative to propose a course rests with a student as does finding a faculty member with the time and expertise willing to provide guidance. By School policy, an individual course is never to be taken as a substitute for a regularly established course. It is intended to extend and particularize experience after a student has been exposed to the basic content of regular courses; for that reason, it is usually done late in a student's program of study.

A student should consider and propose the following things in preparing a proposal, before seeking an instructor:

There should be a short, but descriptive title. [Note: The title chosen will be listed on a student transcript, but will be truncated after 20 characters, so choose thoughtfully.]
How many hours credit are proposed? [Estimate about 45 clock hours per credit hour. Thus, propose about 90 clock hours for a two-hour course.] The permissible range is from 1 to 3 hours. The aggregate maximum for all such courses is 6 credit hours.
Explicitly acknowledge that the course is evaluated on an S/U basis. Acceptable quality work for an S is the equivalent of a B or better. Do not expect that it will require any less effort on an individual course than a more conventional one. [Note: Do not think if things get tight at the end of a term that commitment to this course can slide. Incompletes are no more acceptable here than in other courses, and the intellectual rigor and time demands will likely be as high or higher than in a more conventionally evaluated course.]
Propose the three or four major goals to accomplish. [Note the time estimates in Number 2 above.]
List two or three minor goals, proposed to accomplish, time permitting.
Propose appropriate mechanism(s) to be used to accomplish the goals. This could be some combination of reading and discussion; design, creation, and testing of a computer program; a detailed public presentation, via videotape, a Webpage, or otherwise (with an identified audience, clearly specified purposes, and high production values); a well-planned and carried out research project with data collection and analysis; etc.
There must be a tangible product at the end of the term, but the format can be appropriate to the subject matter as implied above.
Both the instructor and student will agree on a schedule of meeting times, intermediate and final deadlines at the proposal stage. Note:

Graduates: LIS5900s require weekly meetings. LIS5916s permit somewhat more freedom in scheduling.
Undergraduates: The course number is LIS 4905.

A student ought not assume that he or she will be successful in finding a faculty member willing to offer any course during the term proposed, or may find that it will only accepted with considerable modification. These courses are comparatively labor-intensive for guiding instructors. Start the process well before the proposed term begins.

If negotiations are successful, a “quasi-contractual” arrangement is agreed to between instructor and student to which each is bound. It is the student's responsibility to fill in a form, which will be available on the Web.

* For graduate students, the appropriate number for an on-campus DIS is LIS5900. For a Distance Education DIS, the appropriate number is LIS5916. For undergraduates, the appropriate number is 4905.

Approved as the School's Policy by the Faculty at the meeting December 15, 1999.