Course
Description
This
course is intended to provide hands-on experience in a communication-intensive
field for students. Most internships take place in a real-world setting—a
corporation, nonprofit organization, or business, though some internships
involve university-based work (in a center, a department, or a research project
setting). Some internships are paid and some are unpaid. The value of the
internship comes from (1) learning from professionals with experience, (2)
doing work in specific areas of communication, (3) reflecting on that work
(critically evaluating that work to better understand it), and (4) developing a
portfolio and relationships that may help land a job in the future.
CM
400 is a variable credit course, though most internships are for 3 semester
hours. Forty-five hours of work is required for each credit hour awarded, so
that the 3-semester hour internship requires 135 hours of on-the-job work. The
Department Chair must approve all internships.
Internships
are individualized to the student and dependent upon the availability of
willing organizations to sponsor the internship. Students are encouraged to
seek internships in an area in which they would like to pursue a career. In the
past ten years, we have supported internships in television, radio, print, and
online journalism; public relations, web design, technical writing, marketing,
and wholesale and retail sales. A handful of students interested in graduate
school have interned as research assistants with faculty in Communication Arts,
getting hands-on experience in conducting communication research as a
preparation for graduate study. Interning organizations have included
organizations as diverse as al.com, local network television affiliates, local
radio stations, Wyle Laboratories, The Huntsville Arts Council (working for
Panoply), Valley Planet, University
Relations (UAH), and the Global Hydrology & Climate Center (UAH).
Course
Requirements
1. A completed and approved Internship Contract
form, which details who will supervise the internship, when it will begin, and
what objectives are to be accomplished. This must be signed by the student, the
Department Chair of Communication Arts, and the on-the-job supervisor.
2. Forty-five hours of on-the-job work for each
hour of credit. (For the standard 3-hour course.)
3. A daily journal that includes the following:
a. A list of each day work and the hours
worked.
b. A description of the work done on
each work day.
c. A reflection
on the day’s work, including things such as what was learned, how the student’s
understanding of communication concepts and processes informs (or fails to
inform) his or her understanding of the work, and/or new ideas about
communication the student has reached by virtue of the work.
d. A portfolio
of samples of work (retained in paper or electronic form).
e. A final two
to three page summary statement about the internship.
4. A minimum of six periodic meetings with the
faculty member overseeing the internship during the term, where problems,
challenges, successes, and other issues can be shared. (These are to be
arranged with the course instructor.)
5. A final evaluation by the on-the-job
supervisor, using the evaluation form provided by the course instructor, and
delivered by the supervisor to the course instructor (through fax, sealed
envelope, email, or other means).
Outcomes
The course seeks to introduce students
to a particular field of communication practice, giving them hands-on
experience, an opportunity to interact with people in the real world working in
a communication area, and an opportunity to build a portfolio.
Grading
The
final course grade is awarded by the course instructor. It is based equally
upon two things: (1) the student’s performance in the job and (2) the student’s
effective completion of the course requirements, including the daily journal,
the portfolio, and the six meetings with the course instructor. Student
performance on the job is judged based upon (a) the on-the-job supervisor’s
assessment and (b) evidence of completing internship objectives (hours and
tasks) in the daily journal and portfolio. This overlaps with the assessment of
completing course requirements through a well-written daily journal, a strong
portfolio, and the meetings with the instructor though, in theory, a student
could do very well at work (as evidenced by high supervisor ratings) but document
it poorly in the daily journal and portfolio.
Addressing
a Problematic Internship
Because
this course is reliant upon the cooperation of an outside organization to
ensure a productive educational experience for the student, the course
instructor must maintain some flexibility with regard to ending or reassigning
students in internships. Although it is rare, the course instructor has ended
an internship when problems arose and reassigned a student to another
organization, or used an incomplete to give a student more time to work through
an internship.
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