Student support hours

No appointment needed

During student support hours we offer you assistance to secure an experience and location.

View student support hour times

By attending student support hours 1-2 terms in advance in your planning process, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and stress.

Securing a site is a big process between all those supporting you. Ultimately, you’re accountable for completing the steps properly.

Email questions to the experiential learning coordinator. To have an informed conversation, be sure to read the information below and talk with your academic advisor before reaching out.

General Kinesiology Experiential Learning Checklist

Use the General Kinesiology Experiential Learning Checklist to be sure you haven't missed any steps.

Checklist

Note: If you’re in, or considering, the Pre-Therapy and Allied Health option, please contact Emily Norcross, MA, ATC for more information on Internship requirements.

Planning credit hours - How many and what type of credits

You need 3 experiential learning credits to graduate with your kinesiology degree.

One credit is equal to 30 total hours over the 10-week term, or 3 hours/week of “work” at a location. The hours go up with each credit, such as 3 credits are ninety (90) hours.

You may split your hours over several terms or do them all in one. It may be harder to find an available site if you lump all hours into one term. You learn better by more terms instead of doing all credits in one term.

Your credits can be achieved through the guided KIN 393 Population Programming Internship, the more independent KIN 493 Kinesiology Internship, or research under a pre-arranged kinesiology faculty.

You may repeat KIN 393 for up to 3 credits and KIN 493 for up to 9 credits. If you will be doing more than one practicum or internship, please work with your academic advisor and the Kinesiology Experiential Learning Coordinator to coordinate credit hours.

• Review your course options.

Finding a Site (Internship Location)

This process has a variable timeline and presents similar to a job search.

Sometimes it can take a week, sometimes months. Start two terms in advance.

It is your responsibility to secure a site and do any onboarding before the term starts.  

Please be kind to sites as they are volunteering their time to help you grow.

• Start reaching out via phone, email or in person to site partners, people you know, or via an internet search to find a kinesiology-based site that fits your future goals.
• Kinesiology sites are quite broad. They may involve allied health, fitness, research, physical activity or other human movement-based work sites.
•  It will take persistence and checking back in with the site to show your dedication and interest. You may have to go to the site and show who you are.
• You may need to share a resume, cover letter and personal statement with the site. Have them prepared. Some sites conduct interviews. Please remember to be professional in verbal/written language and dress. Our Career Development Center and Beyond OSU I and II can help you prepare for this process.
• Talk with your potential preceptor/supervisor at the site about your need for credits, how many hours it will take, dates of the term(s), and site supervisor resources. Be very clear and honest.
• Once a site has agreed to allow you to spend time there, please thank any other sites you have engaged in conversation. Do not leave them waiting.
• It is preferred that all sites have an affiliation agreement with OSU. This allows liability to follow you from the classroom to the site. If they have one, that makes your process go quickly. If not, it may take more time to generate a contract and conversations between the site and the experiential learning coordinator.
• Some internship sites offer paid internship, but this is not standard or expected. Practicums are not paid.
• If using a current job, you need a new learning experience. An additional project and possibly a different supervisor will be required to use those hours to count towards experiential learning. See the experiential learning coordinator to discuss this further. These are not always approved.
• Make sure you know your preceptor’s name, any other signing authority, name of site, address, phone and email. Then you may apply for your experiential learning.

View site partner suggestions

Application process

  All applications for Fall 2025 are due week 8 (August 15, 2025)

Collect your info

Before you apply, you will need to know:

• Your site information (supervisor name, any other signing authority, name of site, address, phone and email)

• Number of credits you plan to take
• Whether you will do KIN 393 or 493
• If via Ecampus or Corvallis campus

Submit your application

Submit your application by week 8 of the term prior to your experiential learning.

Submit application via Handshake

(Here are some screenshots of steps 1 through 4.)

1. Log into Handshake with your OSU credentials
2. On the left side menu, click on Career Center
3. Go to Experiences and Submit an Experience
4. For the Experience Template, course you plan to take:
   1. College of Health KIN 393 AEC (Adaptive Exercise Clinic) - Corvallis
   2. College of Health KIN 393 IMPACT - Corvallis
   3. College of Health KIN 393 IMPACT for Life - Corvallis

   4. College of Health KIN 393 Rocksteady Boxing (RSB) - Corvallis

   5. College of Health KIN 493: Kinesiology Internship – Corvallis & Ecampus
5. Then select the Term in which you plan to do your internship.
6. Fill out information pertaining to the Organization where you will do your experiential learning.
7. Input “experiential learning” under Experience details.

8. Respond to all of the questions pertaining to your internship and the learning agreement. Blank applications will be denied.

9. Click Submit an Experience at the bottom.
   *Let your site supervisor know to look for an email from Handshake to approve your Experience request. The request must be approved within 5 business days. Handshake emails often go to junk/spam inboxes, so remind your supervisor to check there. This will allow the supervisor to sign the learning agreement.

10. The experience will go to the experiential learning coordinator and then your potential site supervisor for approval. You will receive an email from the experiential learning coordinator once all approvals are completed and you can enroll.

Students prior to Summer 2025: KIN 393: Population Programming Internship has a prerequisite of KIN 193 that will need an override if you have taken H222 or KIN 206. For KIN 493: Kinesiology, Internship, it is best if you have taken KIN 307: Pre-Internship or KIN 343: PTAH Seminar as a prerequisite. Please work with the experiential learning coordinator and your advisor for your strongest presentation of yourself and prerequisite overrides. They will usually, but not always, be approved.

Affiliation agreement

If an affiliation agreement is desired, it will be initiated by the supervisor in the Handshake learning agreement. Affiliation agreements cover you as an entity under OSU, but they take time. Plan ahead.

Class override

Once all agreements are signed, your information will be submitted for a class override to register. You will be contacted by the experiential learning coordinator when the override has been completed.

Variable credit choices

When you register, you will have variable credit choices.

You are required 3 credits to graduate. You may do up to 9 credits “beyond the core”.

Make sure you put in the correct credits early to prevent later confusion. Communicate with the experiential learning coordinator if you change credits to ensure correct calculation of hours achieved during your experience.

Course expectations

The course runs through weeks 1-10 of the academic term. Please stay within the timeline of the term as you will have assignments and your liability is covered only when you are officially in the course.

There are assignments all 10 weeks, so do not shorten the 10 weeks.

Working with your site preceptor

• Plan a weekly meeting of 15-30 minutes. Come organized for your meetings.

• Keep a shared document with your times and total hours, tasks, observations, and planning.

• As a representative of the university and college, high work ethic, integrity, honesty and follow through are all standards expected of you at the site.

Assignments and tasks

Tasks will vary according to the site and type of work. You will be graded off completion of tasks.

Some assignments will require the supervisor to approve. Please communicate this with them. Completion on your own without the supervisor can be considered academic misconduct. 

Assignments include:

• Weekly work and hour summaries (approximately 15 minutes). All submitted hours will be totaled to ensure you fulfilled necessary hours.
• 3 to 5 goals for the term to achieve (approximately 30 minutes)
  • See the experiential learning coordinator for ideas if you need help thinking of goals or ways to stay involved with the site.
• Midterm and final survey (approximately 30 minutes)

Other assignments to be completed in the course, but not through the site, include three reflections of your experience and a final program survey. We would love to see a picture of you out at the site and hear what you learned!

Contact your experiential learning coordinator

Dee Gillen, MS can help you navigate the experiential learning process. She’s happy to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Dee.Gillen@oregonstate.edu
541-737-6802
Langton Hall 223A