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Macalester
College's Academic Internship Program
The Faculty Sponsor Role
Helping Students Plan for Internships
Developing a Learning Contract
Direction and Support
Evaluating the Experience
This academic program is designed to provide students with structured,
off-campus, learning-work experiences in a wide range of community
organizations in the Twin Cities and around the world. Each year,
increasing numbers of Macalester students participate in credit-bearing
internships working in nonprofits, education, government, business,
and the fine arts. During the 2007-08 academic year, 303 students
from 25 disciplines did internships for academic credit with 216
different community partners in places ranging from a public health
nonprofit across the street to the Swedish Embassy in the Philippines.
Participating in the program means engaging in an educational strategy
that links classroom learning and "real-life" applications. Organizations
provide challenging, substantial work experiences for students and
agree to supervise and evaluate their performance. In exchange,
host organizations receive valuable work contributions and energy
from creative, highly motivated, inquisitive students who may one
day enter the work force in that field. For faculty, students who
are currently, or who have in the past, engaged in internships may
bring relevant real world experience into the classroom in ways
that shed light on the theoretical.
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The Faculty Sponsor Role
The faculty sponsor is the professor responsible for overseeing
the academic direction of the learning experience in the internship
by helping the student make the connections between what they are
experiencing and what they are studying. It is imperative that the
internship have the academic integrity to warrant credit, and the
professor's involvement in the planning, processing, and evaluation
of the experience is the key. The Internship Program provides ample
support and information to assist the professor and student throughout
this process. A faculty sponsor may be different from the student's
academic advisor.
For more detailed information, please go to Developing a Learning Contract.
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Helping Students Plan for Internships
Students may approach a faculty person for advice as they begin
brainstorming potential internships, seeking input on types of experiences
or particular sites that have the potential to move them towards
their intellectual and career objectives. Faculty often have significant
professional networks owing to in-depth knowledge and connections
in their chosen field. Even if these connections are lacking, the
faculty person can help the student thoughtfully explore their options.
What does the student wish to gain from the experience? Exposure
to a given field and the work involved? Technical skills? Personal
growth/sophistication? The selection of a major and career exploration?
Who is the best person to act as faculty sponsor for this particular
internship? Sometimes the same experience may be examined through
significantly different perspectives based upon the discipline of
the faculty helping to design and assess the experience.
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Developing a Learning Contract
The student and faculty sponsor work together to plan all aspects
of the internship and complete a Learning Contract, which includes
discipline-specific learning objectives and relevant learning outcome
measures. The student should procure a position/job description
from the site supervisor that describes the intern role and responsibilities.
While this document describes what the intern will be doing, the
learning objectives should describe what the student hopes to learn
from the overall experience, especially as it pertains to their
course of studies. Learning outcome measures are vital for assessing
learning and attainment of the learning objectives.
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Direction and Support
As the internship progresses, the intern is to maintain contact
with the faculty sponsor for ongoing guidance, direction, and support.
Expectations for frequency and method (e.g. by email, in person,
etc.) should be noted as one of the learning outcomes on the Learning
Contract. The faculty role here is primarily to serve as a sounding
board for what the student is experiencing, asking questions that
challenge the intern to push themselves in necessary ways. Sometimes
the intern will experience problems that represent golden opportunities
to stretch and learn, and the faculty's encouragement is important.
If the student is not following through on regular communications,
the faculty should contact the intern with the firm expectation
that they be responsible for this! If problems persist in the internship,
the faculty sponsor and/or the student should contact the Internship
Program Director for assistance in addressing the issues.
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Evaluating the Experience
At the end of the internship, the faculty sponsor will award a grade
(or an S/D/NC option) and credit based on how the student demonstrates
what has been learned during the experience.
In assigning a grade, the faculty sponsor will consider:
- Feedback received from the internship site supervisor via mid-term
and final evaluations (these are forwarded as they are gathered
by the Internship Program);
- Ongoing communications with the student during the course of
the internship;
- The content of a site visit report, if one is done (the Internship
Director makes about twenty site visits a term); and
- Learning outcome measures (assignments) as defined in the Learning
Contract. It is suggested that these assignments include reflections
on personal, professional, and academic lessons learned by the
student over the course of the internship.
Expectations for learning outcomes should correspond to the number
of credits earned (i.e. more should be expected for a 4-credit than
a 2-credit internship).
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