January term is a time for innovation as well as exploration.  Some January term courses are based in experiential learning, emphasizing engagement with the community, individualized projects, service-learning, or creative projects.

Faculty have designed a variety of these "hybrid" courses, combining traditional classroom with experiential learning.

Some recent examples:

Lives that Matter:  Vocation, Self, and Service:  an exploration of vocation that includes engagement with social service agencies in the Twin Cities; designed to help students connect their own gifts, talents, and vocation with the needs of the world.

Visual Sociology:  What does the visual world tell us about our society? What meaning and importance do we attach to the visual? What can we learn about human behavior by examining visual culture? Students explore a particular angle (and use a camera!) to collect their own data, analyze it, and report their findings.

E-marketing:  Students examine the ways the internet and other information technologies have influenced business practices, with a week in Chicago networking with marketing professionals from a variety of industries and organizations

Music in the Shape of a Pear: Both an ensemble and a research lab, this course offers opportunity to explore contemporary classical (cutting-edge) music through rehearsal, performance, research and creative work