Internship Syllabus

The Program:

The internship program is designed to provide students with opportunities to gain field experience. This includes learning about specific operational/business functions as well as the interpersonal relationships within the work place. Students will obtain insights into specific functional areas of vocational concern and into the challenges present in the actual work situation. These supplement, and in some cases replace, the classroom since these experiences go beyond that is possible in the classroom setting.

Student Responsibilities:

As an intern you have responsibilities to your organization mentor, company associates, Georgetown College, the Faculty Internship Supervisor, future interns, and to yourself. Your responsibility to the company is the same as an employee’s. This means that should you be ill or unable to report as assigned due to an emergency, you must report your absence immediately in your organization mentor. Also, you are expected to complete assignments as scheduled by your mentor.

Your basic time commitment to the organization is 120-150 contact hours per semester for three hours of credit. You are expected to arrange hours suitable both to you and the sponsoring organization. You may work additional hours if the opportunity arises. Also, your tasks may require assignments away from the organization, such as library assignments or contacts with other organizations on behalf of your mentor.

You will be expected to complete on time all assignments given to you by the organization mentor. Many organizations must deal with deadlines. If you cannot complete any assignment as requested, please advise your mentor promptly. This is not only a common courtesy, but may prevent an embarrassing situation later when the completed work is requested. Also, note that your organization mentor may operate on a busy schedule, so plan your communications accordingly.

One problem you may face is a work assignment you may consider to be inappropriate. You may find that you are given menial tasks to perform. This is not an uncommon occurrence, as organizations may not be able to always find exciting tasks for you to perform. Part of your learning experience involves doing detailed work and learning from observing others. After completing such tasks for a reasonable period, however, you have the option of requesting of your mentor a change in your program. This means that you should review what you are doing and consider what other tasks you may be able to accomplish which are valuable both to you and to your mentor. One way to prevent such a situation from arising is to meet with your mentor on a weekly basis to discuss your tentative schedule for the week ahead. Prepare for such a meeting with brief summary notes, one copy of which should be given to your mentor. While this schedule may not be kept in its entirety, it can provide structure and control for your activities. Should you find that the proposed schedule is not being followed, arrange to discuss the matter with your mentor. While it may not be possible to do precisely what you wish at all times, you will find that regular meetings with your mentor to discuss your progress and subsequent phases of your internship can be beneficial in stimulating a good working relationship. You may find it useful to periodically share with your faculty Internship Supervisor your calendar logs of daily activities to ensure that progress is made in a timely fashion. If you find yourself facing a situation where you are unable to determine what to say, or if you fail to obtain a response from your mentor, please contact your Internship Supervisor promptly. You are responsible for daily control over your work relationships.

Responsibilities to Georgetown College and the Faculty Internship Supervisor:

In addition to your responsibilities to the Sponsoring Organization, you are also responsible to the college and to your faculty Internship Supervisor. These formal responsibilities require specific duties which should be documented and filed in your Internship Project Notebook. (See Appendix for suggested organization of the notebook.)

Daily Logs: You are to prepare a short review of daily activities at the end of each work day. Consider what you did on that particular day–your successes and failures, the specific activities in which you were engaged, the people you met, etc. This assignment requires that you think about what you did during the day and analyze your responses. This may be reported on an hour-by-hour basis, or as the faculty Internship Supervisor directs.
Regular meetings with the faculty Internship Supervisor: You are to meet regularly with your Internship Supervisor. This meeting may take anywhere from three minutes to thirty minutes. Bring your Notebook logs for the current week for submission at this time, as well as other work examples of your efforts.
Final Report: A final written report is required. This should summarize your internship experience, including personal observations in regard to the experience. The final report should be prepared in three parts:

Review your progress in comparison with your stated goals and objectives.
Summarize the types of specific assignments in which you were involved.
Summarize your thoughts about the internship experience–your successes and failures. This should be a personal expression of your responses to what happened during the internship learning experience. You may use the following questions to assist in structuring your responses. Explain your response to each question.

Personal

Did you meet your learning objectives?
How have your academic and career goals changed?
What learning opportunities did you discover and take advantage of on site?
Do you feel your work contributed to the organization and community? How?
Did you accept responsibility for your decisions and actions?
What impact did this experience have on your personal growth?
What new things did you learn about yourself?
What insights have you gained into the field of your internship?

Work Performance

How well did you work under supervision?
How well did you assess your independent performance?
Did you accomplish your project goals?
What prior skills did you use during the internship? List new skills and knowledge acquired.
How do your new knowledge and skills relate with past academic work? Future academic work?
How did you resolve your problems? Handle disappointment?
What approaches did you use on assigned tasks? Would you do them differently in the future?
Were you satisfied with your performance on assignments and projects?
How ell did you accept constructive suggestions from others?
Did you meet deadlines? Use your time efficiently?
Rate the overall quality of your work.

The Internship

Did the internship meet your personal expectations?
Was the organization open to your ideas? Did they use them?
How will your new skills and knowledge be useful?
Would you like a career in the field of your internship?
Did the internship increase your understanding of music in specific course areas? How?
How did the internship improve your skills in problem solving and communication?
How much time and commitment was involved in the internship?
Would you recommend the organization and the internship experience to other students?
How could the experience have been improved?
What was your greatest accomplishment? Greatest failure?

Computation of Grade Evaluation:

Following the conclusion of the internship, a letter grade will be given for the course.

Determination of the final grade will be the responsibility of the faculty Internship Supervisor. To assist your supervisor, your organization mentor will be asked to assess your performance.

Initiative:

If at any time during the semester you have a problem, or questions about your responsibilities, promptly schedule a meeting with your faculty Internship Supervisor. Most problems can be resolved quickly. Recognize, however, that the internship is not a classroom environment in which the Internship Supervisor has ultimate control.

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