Course Description
Fieldwork in Cognitive Science-Psych 195B offers Cognitive Science majors the opportunity to work (paid OR non-paid) for course credit in a pre-approved fieldwork setting in the area of Cognitive Science. Students are required to work a minimum of 7 hours per week for the 10-week quarter (summer enrollees are required to work a minimum of 68 hours over the 6-week session) and attend a one-hour weekly meeting, arranged by the fieldwork supervisor. Students must upload to BruinLearn a 5-8 page paper that describes the project they worked on and the work they completed. Students will also be required to present their work at a remote conference held through BruinLearn. They will create a 5 minute presentation video and share it with other students using the BruinLearn media gallery.
Course Forms and Deadlines
- Find an internship position. Four to five weeks prior to the start of the quarter, look through the approved fieldwork listings and contact the Fieldwork Site Supervisor to secure your fieldwork placement.
- Propose a new internship site. If you are proposing to work with an organization that is not already listed as an approved fieldwork site, your site supervisor will need to complete the Internship Position Placement Form by Friday, March 15th at 11:59pm for Spring Quarter 2024. Position Placement Forms received after the deadline will not be reviewed.
- Create a Psych 195B course contract. Instructions can be found below under “how to enroll.” Obtain your site supervisor’s signature on the course contract. This is the only signature that you need on this form, despite the form indicating otherwise. ENSURE YOU CREATE THE CONTRACT FOR 24S. IF YOUR CONTRACT IS CREATED FOR THE WRONG TERM, THEN YOUR CONTRACT WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.
- Obtain your site supervisor’s signature on the supplemental form. Make sure they fill out the form in its entirety.
- Submit your forms. Signed course contracts and signed supplemental forms must be submitted to the Psychology Advising Office via MyUCLA’s Message Center by Friday, April 5th at 11:59pm for Spring Quarter 2024 in order to be enrolled in the course. Course Contracts and Supplemental Forms submitted after the deadline will not be reviewed.
Please note that enrollment in your contract course may take up to 10 business days. All contracts submitted by the deadline will be processed by the end of Week 2, pending there are no issues with your course contract. Do not send multiple messages to the Psychology Undergraduate Advising office checking in on the progress of your course contract, as this slows down processing for all students.
Course Guidelines
- Once your Psych 195B contract is approved and processed, you will be enrolled in 4 P/NP units of Fieldwork
- Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing is required.
- Students must do the work in the same quarter in which the Fieldwork class is taken for credit.
- Only 12 units from any combination of courses 185, 192, 194, 195, 196 may be applied toward undergraduate degree.
- Psych 195B fulfills one quarter of the fieldwork/research requirement for Cognitive Science majors.
- Only one Fieldwork in Cognitive Science course can be taken in any quarter.
- Students continuing with the same Psych 195B fieldwork placement in future quarters must submit a new contract signed by the Fieldwork Site Supervisor to officially enroll in the course.
How to Enroll
- Look through the fieldwork listings on our website and contact the Fieldwork Site Supervisor to secure your fieldwork placement a quarter before you are planning to enroll.
- Log on to your MyUCLA, click on CONTRACT COURSES on the left menu bar and follow the instructions for creating your Psych 195B contract.
- Enter Barbara Knowlton as your Faculty Sponsor, but you do NOT need her signature.
- You do not need the Department Chair signature.
- Take the contract and supplementary supervisor contact form to your Fieldwork Site Supervisor for approval and to get their signature.
- Once you have completed the supplemental form and course contract and have obtained your fieldwork supervisor’s signature on both documents, submit them to the Psych Advising Office via the Message Center on MyUCLA. Please include your full name and UID in your correspondence. Please see the steps below for submitting documents.
- Log in to MyUCLA
- Click on the yellow “Need Help?” button in the top right corner
- Click “Message Center”
- Click the green “Ask a Question” button
- Select “Academic Counseling Unit” and type “Psychology” in the text field
- Type “195B Contract Course Enrollment” into the Subject Line
- Attach electronic or scanned copies of your course contract and supplemental form
- Click “Send”
- You will receive a reply in the Message Center after your contract has been received and processed.
- The deadline to submit the contract to the Psych Advising Office is Friday of Week 1. Visit your College Counseling Unit if you need approval to take more than 5 P/NP units or are planning to exceed 19 units for the quarter.
- Visit your College Counseling Unit if you need approval to take more than 5 P/NP units or are planning to exceed 19 units for the quarter.
- Please check your study list at the end of week 2 to confirm that you are enrolled in the course. The Advising Office will contact you once your contract is processed or if there is an issue in processing your contract.
Satisfying Course Requirements
- Submit a typed paper of at least 5 pages. The topic of the paper should be directly related to cognitive science and your internship project. Submit a copy of the paper to both your fieldwork supervisor and via BruinLearn (under the ‘assignments’ tab).
- Create a video presenting the same information you wrote about in your paper. You will upload this video to BruinLearn (under the ‘assignments’ tab) and share it with your fellow students using the Media Gallery.
- The grade of P or NP will be determined by Dr. Knowlton and the course TA once they have reviewed the materials submitted to BruinLearn and received confirmation from the fieldwork supervisor indicating whether or not you have fulfilled the hour requirements.
Organization’s Responsibilities
The fieldwork supervisor will train and supervise the student. The supervisor will provide an initial orientation that includes an explanation of the organization’s overall purpose and operations and how they relate to the student. The supervisor will give feedback as to what is expected in order to give credit for the course, as well as conduct the one-hour weekly seminar and provide related materials. The supervisor will also evaluate the student’s performance upon completion of the course confirming that all course requirements have been fulfilled.