Learn By Doing

Hands-On Experiential Learning


Semester for Impact Fellows take two courses in addition to their internship:

Social Innovator’s Toolbox

In this course, you’ll learn the theory, history and best practices of social innovation, focusing on Human-Centered Design and Persuasive Storytelling. You’ll develop a full Human-Centered Design Project and craft a TED Talk-style presentation about your internship and your experience (view example speeches below).

Becoming a Problem Solver

In this course, you’ll get the chance to reflect and build on your experience in your internship, identifying challenges and advantages you see in your organization and in the field more broadly. You’ll work through exercises that will ask you: what drives you? What kind of world do
you want to help create?

These courses, plus the internship itself, add up to a
full semester of course credit!

Students interested in making additional progress towards their degree can opt out of the Social Innovator’s Toolbox course and replace it with a course on campus during the semester with approval from the Director of Semester for Impact.

Weekly Schedule

A typical week will involve approximately 30 hours at your internship site, as well as classes on Wednesday evenings and Friday mornings.

While the classes do entail some homework outside of class, we try to make time for you to do everything you need to do during class hours.

Your internship may require occasional hours on weekends or in the evenings, which will be a part of (not in addition to) your 30 hours per week.