Washington College

Academic Internships

Where We Interned Student Stories


Why Intern for Credit?

Internships apply the theory you are learning in your classroom experiences to practice in the field. An internship can broaden your perspectives about what you can do with your major and interests. Additionally, an internship offers the opportunity to test your interests and "fit" for a particular career area. Internship experiences allow you to view professionals engaged in a wide variety of disciplines. In turn, you will receive academic credit in your discipline that appears on your academic transcript. You will also return to campus with an increased vision of the applicability of your program of study to your future whether it is graduate or professional school or embarking on a career.

"The ultimate result (of experiential learning) is that individuals accept responsibility for their own learning and behavior, rather than assigning that responsibility to someone else."
—John Luckner and Reldan Nadler, Processing the Experience

Internship Forms

Internship Credit Registration and Proposal Form

Student Forms

Employer Forms

Faculty Forms

The Learning Contract and Student Final Evaluation of Internship Experience Forms

The Learning Contract (PDF) constitutes the syllabus for your course, "Internship." You and your faculty advisor will construct this document in consultation with your internship site supervisor. You will create the goals and objectives you plan to achieve during the course of the internship and upon which your work will be evaluated.

The Student Final Evaluation of Internship Form (MS Word) allows the student the opportunity to formally document the achievement of the learning objectives and goals developed in the Learning Contract. The completed document is given to the faculty advisor at the end of the internship for grading.

Site Supervisor Mid-Term and Final Intern Assessment Forms

At the middle and completion of the internship, your site supervisor will complete the Site Supervisor Mid-Term (PDF) and Final Intern Assessment Forms (PDF) to document your experience. Evaluation is based upon how well you have achieved the goals you set out at the beginning of the internship. Information from these documents is used as a component of the grade received for the internship.

Student Evaluation of Internship Site Form

The Student Evaluation of Internship Site Form (MS Word) is optional. It provides the student intern an opportunity to share feedback on her experience with the academic department in the hope that it will provide useful information for future students considering this internship.


So What is this Experiential Education, Anyway?

Definition of Terms

Assistant: "Nontenured employment position in higher education as an aide to one or more faculty members as either a 'teaching assistant' or a 'research assistant.' Such positions or 'assistantships' pay modest salaries through the academic year and are often awarded as financial aid to graduate students." (Hawes & Hawes, 1982).

Clinical Experience/Fieldwork Experience: Entails the practice of learned didactic and experiential skills in a health care setting under the supervision of a credentialed practitioner. (Contributor: Joyce MacKinnon)

Before You Go

  • Talk to your faculty advisor, Assistant Dean, and other students about their experiences
  • Research potential sites and create or update your resume at the Career Center
  • Choose your best semester—check for interferences
    • Conflicts with required courses, GPA requirements, Senior Obligation
  • Consult with Financial Aid
    • Can you afford loss of income from a part-time job?
  • Decide on full time or part-time internship experience
    • Summer (full time or part-time)
    • Part-Time Internship: Fall, Spring internship while taking other classes
      (22 credits = maximum enrollment for full time students)
    • Full-time internship: (will this internship earn at least 12 credit hours to maintain full-time student status?)

Cooperative Program: "Special program offered by a college and university in which students alternate work and study, usually spending a number of weeks in full-time study and a number in full-time employment away from the campus." (Hawes & Hawes, 1982).

Experiential Program: "Any form of education that emphasizes personal experience of the learner rather than learning from lectures, books, and other second-hand sources." (McBrien & Brandt, 1997).

Field Work: "In higher education, research carried out away from the institution and in direct contact with the people, natural phenomena, or other entities being studied; especially frequent in fields including anthropology, archaeology, sociology, earth , sciences, and environmental studies." (Hawes & Hawes, 1982).

Internship: "Short-term, supervised work experience in a student's field of interest for which the student may earn academic credit. Work can be part-time or full-time, paid or unpaid, on or off campus." (Hawes & Hawes, 1982).

Parallel Experience: A form of cooperative education in which students simultaneously attend classes part-time and work part-time (15-20 hours per week) during consecutive school semesters. (National Association of Colleges and Employers Website)

Practicum: 1. A course or student exercise involving practical experience as well as theoretical study. 2. Supervised experience in counseling as part of professional preservice education of counselors." (Hawes & Hawes, 1982).

Service Learning: Service learning is defined as a "course-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which students (a) participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and (b) reflects on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility." (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995).

Student Jobs/Non-Work-Study: Through the Job Location and Development Program (JLD), student/non-work-study jobs are located and developed for non-degreed off-campus employment opportunities for students during and between periods of academic enrollment. Student/non-work-study jobs allow students to earn money for educational and living expenses. Positions are located developed in a wide variety of sectors and include part-time, as well as, full-time job opportunities. Job opportunities can relate to students' major or career interests, provide work experience, and/or benefits such as tuition assistance. Placement of students in jobs located and developed by the JLD program are reported to the federal government. (Contributor: Danielle Boreczky)

Student Teacher: "A student in professional teacher education who is gaining required experience in supervised teaching." (Hawes & Hawes, 1982).

Student Work-Study Jobs: Work-study jobs are federally funded through the Financial Aid program. The purpose of work-study jobs are to promote and provide part-time employment for students who are enrolled as undergraduate, graduate, or professional students who are in need of earnings from employment to pursue courses of academic study. These positions encourage students to work in community service-related activities on the campus, in community service or nonprofit organizations, or in Federal, State, or Local public agencies. Work-study positions can be related to a student's major or career interests. (Contributor: Danielle Boreczky).

References

Bringle, R.G. & Hatcher, J.A. (1995). A service-learning curriculum for faculty. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2, 112-122.

Hawes, Gene R. & Hawes, Lynne Salop (1982). The concise dictionary of education. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. New York, NY.

McBrien, J. & Brandt, Ronald S. (1997). The language of learning: A guide to education terms. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, VA.

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