Kirkwood Community College’s Workplace Learning Connection will be offering dual credit for students who work with teachers in a work or internship-like setting during third trimester. This includes students who are enrolled in specific teacher’s assistant, tutor, intern or tech roles. View this website and filter for ICCSD for a full list.

Registration for this trimester is closed, however, the district is planning on continuing this partnership starting Sept. 1 of next year. This opportunity will only be available to juniors and seniors beginning next year and the positions are subject to change.

Students can earn one hour of arts and sciences elective college credit and five high school credits. In order to earn dual credit, students must be working 32 hours with approximately eight hours of coursework. Students are required to keep a journal of their time spent working which will then be signed off by a teacher sponsor. These requirements align with one of Kirkwood’s Work Based Learning courses, specifically WBL-200. 

WLC has partnered with school districts across the state for several years, offering internships and job shadow opportunities that could also result in college credit. However, this is the first time that they will be offering credit for roles within district buildings. In an email sent to WSS, ICCSD’s Career and Technical Education Career Coordinator Dominic Audia explained more about the change. 

“Students can take WBL-200 Internships over the summer through the Workplace Learning Connection and Kirkwood as well,” Audia wrote in an email to WSS. “We found we had many students having experiences in our schools that aligned to career pathways like Information Technology (Student Computer Techs) and Education (Teaching Assistants), so we are offering the internships ‘in house’ now too.”

In most circumstances, students register for Kirkwood courses at the beginning of the year. For the WBL-200 course, ICCSD staff will guide students through the registration process individually as the school year progresses. 

As this change is implemented, Audia sees advantages for participating students. “This is a great benefit for students as they now can get their experiences transcripted, which helps for scholarships and college admissions,” Audia wrote. “Additionally, earning college credit helps students save money in the long run if they have plans for higher education.”