|
|
 |
| Students
> Internships |
Internships, Co-ops, and Service Learning
|
| |
| Some majors at the university have a required internship component.
Employers today expect graduating college students to be well-founded
in the theory of their field of study. Additionally, they expect students
to have real-world, practical experience in their chosen field by
the time that they graduate. |
Quality
internships possess the following characteristics:
- Provide substantive and challenging work experiences.
- Planning and structure of position prior to student beginning
internship; opportunity to apply principles learned in and outside
of the classroom; realistic goals/ projects; predetermined outputs
to make up a formal portfolio that the intern can show future
employers as evidence of their work and accomplishments.
- Strong training/orientation for student, including company
culture and office procedures, in addition to training for specific
job duties.
- On-going structured supervision by a primary supervisor
to include regularly scheduled (at least weekly) meetings; opportunities
for feedback; adequate opportunities for student to ask questions;
meet monthly to review progress on supervisor's and student's
learning goals; ideally, a mentoring relationship.
- Opportunity to observe professionals in action: participate
in staff meetings, client meetings, attend presentations and/
or conference workshops, and talk with professionals in the department
about their jobs and career paths.
- Opportunity to develop specific skills (i.e. research,
writing, computer, presentation skills).
- Provide evaluation of overall experience; provide closure
through recognition of intern contributions, reflection on learning
experiences, and wrap-up of on-going projects; provide follow-up
if necessary (letters of recommendation, networking, etc.)
- Some organizations provide professional development opportunities
(i.e. presentations by upper-management to all interns within
the organization, informational interviews, brown bag lunch seminars,
etc.) and if there are multiple interns in a new location, some
organizations provide social opportunities (picnics, movie night,
etc.).
- Encourage and provide opportunities to read professional
and company publications.
*Thanks to Julie Agee
Gilaspy, Southern Methodist Univeristy and John Sullivan, San Francisco
State University for this list.
|
|
