One pedagogical technique that you and your advisor can use to structure and assess your undergraduate research learning experience is a research learning contract. The research learning contract has long been used in adult education where the learning experiences are often highly self-directed as in the undergraduate research experience. Research learning contracts provide form and structure to what is a relatively unstructured learning environment (the research laboratory) while at the same time ensuring maximal flexibility which ultimately puts you, the student, in control of your own learning. Research learning contracts do this by allowing you to define the learning objectives, learning activities, your rate of progress, and the method(s) of assessment that will be used to evaluate your eventual success or failure which helps ensure that you will be successful.
The research learning contract is a contract in that it is a formal written agreement between two parties, you, the student, and your research mentor, defining what is to be learned, how it will be learned, and the terms whereby learning will be demonstrated/assessed. However, it defines the process of learning rather than the content. So, it is not a syllabus. In this way, it allows each student learner to structure his/her learning environment to meet his/her unique needs. It is also unlike a formal contract in that research learning contracts are intended to be periodically revisited and renegotiated in order to ensure that all parties are deriving maximal benefit from the learning arrangement defined by the contract. Research learning contracts are also not research proposals. They emphasize process rather than content and should contain the minimum amount of information needed in order to define the process as their purpose is to provide a modicum of structure while at the same time providing maximal flexibility. In this section we will offer specific information and advice on how to create and use your own research learning contract in support of your undergraduate research experience.