Experiential and Enhanced Learning

Introduction

The psychology department offers a variety of different experiential and enhanced learning opportunities that involve learning outside of the classroom. We encourage you to consider participating in at least one of these opportunities as part of your education at Pitt. There are two categories of experiences: research experiences and other experiences. Before getting into all the options, there are a number of rules that apply for all of these experiential and enhanced learning opportunities:

• Time Commitment. Depending on the opportunity you may be able to enroll in between 1-3 credits in a given semester. The number of credits determines how much you are expected to work per semester and per week, roughly as follows:

  Credits	Hours / Semester	Hours / Week
  1	55	3.5-4
  2	85	5.5-6
  3	120	8

• Total Credits per Experience. You can only apply 9 credits under one course number (e.g., Directed Research PSY 1907).
• Total Credits for Experiential and Enhanced Learning in Psychology. Only 12 credits of PSY 1902, 1900, 1903, and 1907 may be applied towards the BS degree.
• Total Credits for Experiential and Enhanced Learning in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Limits. 24 total credits

Research Experiences

Research experiences involve doing psychological research as part of a lab. These are fundamentally different from courses that are called "Advanced Labs". Advanced labs give you training in how to do research, but are not actually embedded in a research lab, and rarely if ever involve you contributing to research with the eventual goal of the lab publishing the research. In contrast, all of the research experiences below involve participating in the research going on in a lab with the goal of publishing the research. 

These research experiences are useful for all students. Some of the benefits of doing research include the following:

• you will have closer interaction with faculty and grad students
• doing research will help you decide if you want to do research for a career, and if so, what area of research you want to be studying
• if you want to get a PhD in Psychology or a related field, you will need to have substantial research experience in at least one lab, ideally more than one. See Post-Grad Planning in general, and PhD in Psychology (or other fields) in particular.
• Even if you do not want to get a PhD or go into research, doing research in a lab can help you develop many different skills and gain additional experiences that could include the following: working on longer-term projects in groups, learning more about a particular topic, data analysis, writing, project organization, responsibility, and leadership. 

When should you apply to do research?

• If you are thinking about wanting to get a PhD and go into research, the earlier the better. It is good to get more than one research experience, both to see what it is like to work in more than one labs and to also see which areas of research you really like, which you won't really know until you are doing that research.
• Though some labs have requirements for certain classes that you need to take prior to doing research in the lab, many labs do not have any requirements or may waive requirements. 

Here is the list of research experiences:

• Directed research (PSY 1907 or 1903) involves doing research in a lab, either with a primary member of the psychology department or a faculty member in another department who does psychological research. Learn more.
• Advanced Directed Research (1064) is a way to conduct research in a lab and use this instead of taking an "Advanced Lab" course as part of the psychology requirements. You must have already participated in PSY 1907 in the same lab to do this. Learn more.
• Honors in Psychology (PSY 1973 & 1975) is a two-semester long experience of doing research in a lab and writing the research up as an honors thesis paper. You must have already participated in 1907 or 1903 in the same lab to do this. Learn more.
• Bachelor of Philosophy Degree (BPhil) involves doing the Honors in Psychology as well as additional work. Learn more.

Other Non-Research Learning Experiences

There are three other experiences that are not about doing research.

• Supervised Field Placement (PSY 1900) involves interning in an approved job-based setting. This can be especially beneficial for helping you determine a career path. Learn more.
• Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Experience (PSY 1970) involves serving as a teaching assistant in an undergraduate class. This can be especially beneficial for thinking more deeply about the course topic and learning more about how instructors teach. Learn more.
• Directed Reading (PSY 1902) involves learning about a psychology topic with an instructor for which there is not a class that you can take. This happens occasionally but is the most rare of all of the experiences. Learn more.