Seminars and Practicum Groups
At Chicago Semester, we have the unique opportunity to use the city as our laboratory for learning. Students will combine classroom learning with an exploration of the cultures and history of Chicago through various outings all around the city. The program challenges students to integrate their personal, professional and public lives through internships, academic seminars and urban experience. Students will experience living in a large city with its possibilities and challenges, engage in learning about personal values, vocational goals and collective responsibility to society, and will be working under experienced mentors at internships suited to your career aspirations.
General Students
Seminars are held on Wednesdays at the Chicago Semester office and taught by CS staff. Chicago Semester requires all general students to enroll in the Internship and Practicum Group, as well as two CS seminars—including 1) one section of the Metropolitan Seminar; and 2) either the Values and Vocation or Arts and the City seminar. Note: Students are required to take two Chicago Semester seminars even if credit is not needed on the home campus.
The Practicum Group (PG) is a course that helps students to reflect on what they are experiencing in their internships, in the classroom, and in their communities with the immediacy of the urban realities around them. The course will assist students in integrating the various aspects of the Chicago Semester program through 1) developing professional skills, 2) reflecting on their experiences in an urban environment, 3) understanding their role as engaged citizens, and 4) articulating their understanding of what it means to have a “calling.”
Special Tracks
(Nursing, Social Work and Student Teaching)
Student teachers enroll in the internship and the Professional Seminar for Student Teachers, but typically do not enroll in additional seminars. Social work and nursing students enroll in the internship, the Professional Seminar for either Nursing or Social Work, and one additional CS seminar. Please check with your advisor or refer to the college credit portion of the website to find information on course requirements.