Applied Learning Opportunities

Cooperative Education Internship Program
Concordia’s Cooperative Education program forms a bridge between the academic and working worlds, integrating classroom instruction with supervised work-based learning related to a student’s career interests. Cooperative Education, also known as a co-op, allows students to explore career interests, increase their skill set, and build their resumé. For majors and minors without a required practicum or internship, a co-op enhances employability after graduation. Students are registered for academic credit and work with a faculty coordinator in their department. Experiences must be professional or paraprofessional in nature and can be paid or unpaid.
Each work-based learning experience is unique, based on a partnership between the college, the student, and the business community, including government and non-profit organizations. Career Center staff assists in coordinating each experience, and the student is mentored by a site supervisor, with individualized learning goals and outcomes determined at the outset in consultation with a faculty coordinator. The Cooperative Education office is located in Academy 110.
Separate and distinct from programs of study with required clinical experiences or internships, the Cooperative Education program is centrally coordinated and college wide. The universal course number 390 identifies Cooperative Education in all departments. Each department determines the amount of credit allowed for the fulfillment of majors and minors. Students may enroll for a minimum of 0.25 credit per term, reaching a maximum of 2.0 course credits permitted toward degree and graduation requirements.

Internship and Practicum Experiences
Similar to Cooperative Education Internships, practicums provide on-the-job training for a specific profession. Some programs require practicums as a demonstration of mastery and/or the licensing requirements of outside agencies. Required practicums and internships are arranged by departments and supervised by qualified faculty as well as trained and/or licensed or certified professionals at the placement site. A required practicum or internship is typically assigned a 490-499 course number.

Service-Learning In many courses, your professors will use service-learning as a strategy to help you integrate your classroom learning and a community service experience. The projects will involve work with the staff or clients of community organizations such as after-school programs, shelters for people who are homeless or in crisis, environmental programs or local schools. The emphasis in service-learning is on both the service experience and the learning: while Concordia students contribute to these organizations through service, that work provides the opportunity to learn about the social, economic and political context in which the service is necessary, as well as a way to enhance learning of the course’s academic content. Staff and clients of the organization become community experts from whom students can learn. Through this experience, students are able to see the context in which the theoretical principles of their learning are applied, acted out, and sometimes challenged. The service helps the organization attain its important goals, but the lessons that students gain from that service, and from fellow humans in that context, can be powerful. Contact Student Leadership and Service for more information.

Work-Study Opportunities Students with financial need who require a job to help pay for college expenses are potentially eligible for employment by the college under state or federal supported work-study programs. Students without financial need who desire employment can work under Concordia’s supported work program.
To work under these programs, you must be enrolled and be in good standing, or be accepted for enrollment as at least a half-time student. Visit the Financial Aid Office for more detailed information.

Information For:

current students
faculty and staff		 parents
alumni		 high school students
admitted students