Experience-Based Education

What is an internship?

Courses Offered

The Faculty Sponsor's Role

Academic Assignments

 

What is an Internship?

An academic internship is an upper division learning experience which builds upon what has been learned in the classroom setting.  The goal of an internship is to offer students an opportunity to apply their theoretical background and skills to an experiential situation.  Although the intern is expected to make a significant contribution to the workplace, college level learning must be the central focus of all internships.  Student interns will develop a Learning Agreement  (available in our office) and complete it with their faculty sponsor.  The learning agreement will include the type of credit to be earned, information on the placement, the duties of the internship, the learning objectives of the student as well as the academic assignments to be completed.

Students work with both a college faculty sponsor and the supervisor at the internship.  The faculty sponsor and site supervisor have two distinctly separate sets of responsibilities, and therefore, one person MAY NOT assume both roles.  The faculty sponsor is responsible for evaluating the academic component of the internship and assigning the final grade, while the site supervisor evaluates the interns' performance at the internship site.  Internships can be unpaid or paid experiences.

 

Courses Offered:

GST or Departmental 498 - Off campus internships only, no class meetings required. Graded H (Honors), S (Satisfactory), U (Unsatisfactory).

GST 303 - Career Awareness class with six required class meetings.  On or Off Campus Internships, letter graded A - E.

Students must attend an Orientation Workshop offered through EBE.

Credits are earned based on academic assignments and hours worked at the internship site.  Each 40 hours of work spent at the internship site earns one credit.  For example a 3 credit internship requires 120 hours of work throughout the semester.

A student can earn up to 15 internship (498) and 6 Career Awareness (GST 303) credits towards their degree.  Students are encouraged to consult with their academic advisor to determine the type of credit they would like to earn.

 

The Faculty Sponsor's Role

• Meet with the student intern to complete the learning agreement and assist in the development of realistic and relevant learning objectives. 
• Determine the Means of Evaluation (academic assignments) to be completed by the student.  The number of assignments must correlate with the number of credits to be earned.  Each student is responsible for completing the minimum internship requirements as established below.  Additional assignments can be required and are determined by the faculty sponsor based on the number of credits being earned.
• Review the students academic assignments and provide feedback as needed.
• Use the academic assignments and site supervisor's evaluation to assign the intern a final grade.  A grade request will be sent by EBE to the faculty sponsor at the end of each semester.

 

Academic Assignments:

Assignments should be submitted throughout the semester and exact topics and due dates must be assigned.  Please note that students are required to submit a copy of all assignments to their faculty sponsor as well as a copy to the EBE Office.

Minimum Internship Evaluation Requirements (required of all students):

• 8-10 page midterm research paper with 6-8 primary sources.  The specific topic is assigned by the faculty sponsor.
• Time sheets recording all hours worked and signed by the site supervisor.
• Final Summary Paper following the EBE guidelines.
• Site supervisors evaluation form provided by EBE.

 

Types of Additional Assignments:

• Detailed Daily Logs or Reflective Journals
• Scholarly Topic Papers
• Work Samples
• Professional Portfolio
• Interviews with Two Professionals in the Field
• Oral Reports to Classes or Groups

Additional Assignments  (To be assigned by the faculty sponsor based on the number of credits earned):

• For 1-4 credits, ONE additional assignment
• For 5-7 credits, TWO additional assignments
• For 8-10 credits, THREE additional assignments
• For 11-12 credits, FOUR additional assignments