Information overload is par for the course this semester:  for every topic, one thousand viewpoints.  You'll wrestle with opposing perspectives on domestic and international issues that are making headlines.  But at ASP you go beyond the sound bytes.  You talk to a wide variety of people and learn the nuances of debate.  You take the information and shape your own perspective.  As you grapple to get to the heart of the matter, you come to realize you are responsible for what you know.  And this will follow you long after today's hot topic is history.

THE NEW 2008-09 PROJECT-BASED CURRICULUM

PRACTICUM COURSES:

Topics in Vocational Leadership (5-week module, 3 semester credits)

The course introduces concepts for Christian responsibility and involvement in public issues important to your internship.  It asks what it means for you to “enact” your vocation by living out the truth of your convictions in “real life.”  By focusing on a public topic salient to your internship placement, you learn to use (1) basic techniques for issue analysis and (2) the narrative pattern of the Bible (creation, fall, redemption, consummation) as an analytical framework.  Reflecting on the responsibilities, challenges and opportunities that arise from your internship experience, attention is given both to the larger biblical narrative and to your own unique story, identity and gifting.  Unlike other 5-week ASP modular courses, this course stresses interaction with your internship placement and extends across the semester, beginning with the term’s first two weeks, involving a week at midterm and concluding with the term’s last two weeks.        

Internship Placement: (14-week part-time work, 6 semester credits)

This course is an internship placement that continues across the semester.  You must work a minimum average of 20 hours a week for a minimum of 13 weeks to receive 6 semester hours of credit.  Although ASP has placed students in hundreds of agencies and offices throughout the greater Washington metropolitan area, each internship placement is designed with you in mind.  Your position and duties are arranged through a careful process involving ASP, the sponsoring agency and you. 

As an ASP intern, you work the same type of daily schedule as your placement’s regular staff and observe all legal holidays.  There are no provisions for vacation leave and you must maintain a regular, professional schedule.  Illness and family problems are the only excuses for absence.  You must get approval from both the on-site supervisor and program faculty monitor prior to altering your regular schedule.

You and your on-site supervisor craft a set of goals for the semester.  You also submit three reflection essays (minimum of 5 pages each), each of which include reflections on (1) the mission and organization of your workplace, (2) how your faith relates to your work, and (3) your emerging vocational vision in light of classroom themes and workplace experiences.

At the end of the semester, you submit and sign a one-page typed summary of what you did and learned during the internship course.  The summary is submitted, along with the recommended grade and supporting documents, to your college registrar.

You receive academic credit for this course so you cannot be paid for your work.  Neither can your internship be turned into a full-time or paid position while you are enrolled in the program.  (This is out of fairness to all ASP students.)  On occasion, however, you may be given the opportunity by your office to continue in a paid position following completion of the ASP term.

Your internship is carefully monitored by ASP faculty.  Faculty monitors confer with you and your on-site supervisor.  Your faculty monitor also visits your internship site at least once during the term.  To successfully complete an internship, you are required to (1) submit three reflection essays on your experiences & observations, (2) get “the big picture” surrounding your placement by attending events around the city, and (3) read and reflect on an internship text. 

Mentorship Course (optional): (4 mentor meetings, 1 semester credit)

This optional course gives you the opportunity to meet with a professional mentor in your field four times during the semester.  You submit four recorded individual oral reflections to your faculty monitor, one following each of the four professional mentor meetings, and one recorded group oral reflection to your faculty monitor at the conclusion of the semester.

Your oral reflections (2) demonstrate an effort to learn from your mentor’s experience and background to clarify your career aspirations and emerging vocational vision and (2) draw upon a biography or novel (chosen by your mentor) to wrestle with questions, insights and implications raised by the text for your internship and life experience and for your developing sense of call.

PROJECT COURSES:

Students select one of two following Project tracks (each track involves two 5-week courses for a total of 6 semester credits):

The Project on Public Affairs

Topics in National Affairs (5-week module, 3 semester credits)

Involving field research and applying tools of policy analysis, the course introduces various perspectives on social and political involvement with a pressing national issue.  The course is designed to expose you to the Washington leadership networks that are engaged in the complex dynamic of national public policy formation and decision-making.  You will gain perspective on the way Washington really works by personally engaging decision-makers and by using the biblical idea of justice as a point of departure for analyzing an important national topic.  Coursework includes policy analysis, political studies, sociology, ethics, theology, and biblical studies.   

The Marketplace Project

Topics in Leadership and Management (5-week module, 3 semester credits)

Involving field research and introducing a range of contending commercial interests, the course studies the strategic responsibilities of business in shaping the compliance environment of policy regulation and enforcement.  Significant attention is given to the impact of public policy on business strategy and ethics, and to the influence of commercial interests on public policy.   Taking up the same pressing public issue as the Project on Public Affairs, the Marketplace Project exposes you to the dynamics of different business interests, both strategic and ethical, and seeks to understand the proper responsibility of business in light of biblical reflection on justice.  Coursework involves concepts important for business, leadership development, business administration, management, economics, ethics, theology, and biblical studies.

The Projects on Public Affairs & The Marketplace (combined)

Topics in International Affairs & Globalization (5-week module, 3 semester credits)

In this unit the two ASP Projects intersect by focusing on a major topic in globalization and international affairs.  Through field research and face-to-face meetings with experts in Washington's international community, you are challenged to develop a biblical perspective, either on foreign affairs (in the Public Affairs Project) or on globalization (in the Marketplace Project).  The course typically emphasizes ways of dealing with the conflict of international interests (both political and commercial) and the biblical idea of shalom.  It examines the just role and responsibilities of governments, businesses and of the international expression of the church.  Coursework includes aspects of international relations theory, diplomacy and foreign affairs, globalization and international trade, international economics and ethics, biblical studies and the theology of the church in the world. 

CREDITS:

The program recommends to the home institution that you receive the equivalent of 15 or 16 semester hours of credit, depending on your choice of options, distributed as follows:

Topics in Vocational Leadership	3
Topics in National Affairs OR  Topics in LeadershipManagement	3
Topics in International Affairs & Globalization	3
The Internship Course	6
Sub-total (considered full-time)	15
The Mentorship Course (optional)	1
Total	16