That is, students are organized into teams to work on real projects, involving real people, real institutions, real conflicts, and real conflict analysis and resolution. To protect both the students and the real people involved, faculty participate as members of these teams providing guidance and oversight. The purpose of the course is giving students experience building conflict intervention projects. Students have the opportunity learn field research, conflict analysis, intervention design, intervention processes, evaluation, consulting, contracting, entry and exit. Students find that lessons learned and capabilities built are not easy to articulate.
Some students report that the knowledge only coalesced years after graduation.
Doctoral students are expected to use the fieldwork to test methodology, protocols and skills they will need in their dissertation. Each team designs its projects and products in cooperation with community or organizational partners. Some will be more oriented toward research, for example, while others may lean toward practice and service. As the name implies, all teams continuously integrate theory and practice. Obviously, the academic expectations for students participating for credit will be different than for non-students.