Guilford College

“January Term” pilot begins in 2013

Progress continues on the development of Guilford College’s January term. This optional 3-week experience will begin as a pilot in 2013.

Download the January Term Brochure.

The January Term is a time for exciting and innovative learning. It is focused and immersive, unique and exploratory, active and engaged. Students can pursue activities for credit and/or propose their own academic experiences, such as:

• Internships
• Seminars offered on campus
• Study abroad
• Study trips
• Independent and group projects
• Community service
• Research projects
• Civic engagement

Visit links below for additional information on these activities.

The January Term is part of The Strategic Plan for Guilford College 2011-2016: Outcomes of a Guilford Education and its focus on learning outcomes, preparing students for life after Guilford, and a principled approach to experiential and integrative learning. It builds on the College community’s dedication to students’ intellectual transformation and spiritual growth.

The formally-approved January Term vision statement speaks to these aims:

Guilford College’s January term immerses students and faculty in intensive educational experiences not normally offered during the traditional semester/summer school with the explicit goals of encouraging self-motivated independent learning and the ability to understand issues and concepts in action. Experiences should lend themselves to pedagogy that is intentionally experimental and/or innovative in nature.

Experiences and Activities in the January Term

January Term will provide options for experiences including, but not limited, to the following:

• Guilford Connects experiential learning
• Internships and career development
• Study abroad and study trips
• Principled problem solving projects and civic engagement through the Center for Principled Problem Solving
• Community service and activities through the Friends Center or the Bonner Center for Community Learning
• Research projects

Students may choose to document and reflect on their experiences using the Guilford Connects e-portfolio.

The person proposing the January Term project/activity must explain how it fits into the approved categories (civic engagement, internships, seminars and projects, study away, and undergraduate research) and its experimental and/or innovative nature. The experiences will be accredited on a range of 1-4 credits according to workload and be evaluated using pass/fail or traditional grading methods. Faculty leaders and sponsors can propose projects and experiences that satisfy a general education, major, or minor requirement, but any experiences intended to count toward these requirements must demonstrate how the experience addresses its standing criteria and learning outcomes, must be graded experiences, and must be approved by the appropriate committee.

Additional information on these–and other–topics will be provided in the coming months as the scope, policies, and procedures for the pilot are further developed.

January Term 2013 Calendar

View the January Term summary schedule below, the expanded January Term schedule, the master calendar and additional January term information on the registrar’s website.