Experiential Learning / Internships For Business Majors
Complete the following steps to gain an understanding of the internship process:
Click here to download a BLANK experiential learning proposal [Microsoft Word Document 20.5K]
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Internship Overview
Through the Internship/Experiential Learning Program, students can earn credits for experiential learning projects. This program provides an excellent opportunity for students to gain more information about occupations and to test tentative career choices.
There are two kind of internships:
- Experiential Learning Program - You find an agency or employer to sponsor your internship.
- A Requirement Internship - Your major requires you to complete an internship in order to graduate.
With the advice and consent of faculty, a student enters into an agreement with an agency (either on or off-campus) to participate in a proposed learning experience which must relate to an academic discipline.
While a faculty sponsor and department chairperson approve the proposed experience, (objectives, credit value, and evaluation procedure), the agency is responsible for providing the student with a learning experience at the professional level.
Upon successful completion of the contract, the business student who is doing experiential learning for business credit will receive a letter grade by the faculty sponsor.
Role Statement
- To apply theory to actual working situations
- To gain knowledge by performing tasks related to academic disciplines
- To gather knowledge from a variety of sources
- To gain a greater degree of self-direction in the learning process
- To test a tentative career choice
Role of Faculty Sponsor: The faculty sponsor must approve the proposed experience and determine the number of credits to be awarded. The contract must involve an experiential learning situation that is worthy of academic credit. The number of credits should be based on the course-equivalent knowledge to be gained by the students. The sponsor is also responsible for evaluating the performance of the student. The sponsor is required to meet with the student and outside agency supervisor at least three times during the semester. If these meetings are not possible, then three-party telephone conferences will satisfy the requirement.
Role of Sponsor's Department Chairperson: The chairperson certifies that the sponsorship properly belongs with the department and that the contract is worthy of the number of credits.
Role of Assistant Student's College Dean: The student's Assistant College Dean approves undergraduate internship programs.
Role of Student's College Dean: The student's College Dean must approve the taking of more than 6 credits through Internship/Experiential Learning.
Role of Outside Company/Agency: The company or agency must provide students with a learning experience at the professional level and supervision. The supervisor must discuss the progress of the student with the faculty sponsor at least three times during the semester. There is no obligation to pay students during the contract period or to hire them at a later date. Companies or agency may accept or reject any student who is referred by the University.
Role of the Staff, Career Resource Center: Staff members of the Career Resource Center provide students with program information, direction sheet, registration form, and company/agency information. They maintain and publish outside company/agency opportunities and assist students with the selection of a company/agency. They check contracts for completeness and process contracts for registration.
For additional information contact Career Resource Center at extension 8658.
Procedure for Internship Contract
Find an internship: This should be done well in advance, preferably in the semester before you do the internship. By doing this, you will be able to find an internship which will allow you to gain useful knowledge and skills.
Design the internship experience: If you are looking to get course credit for your internship it is important to understand that you will not receive credit for working. An internship must provide you with knowledge and skills over and above those you have have already received in class or at your current employment. By asking for course credit, you will need to show that you will be engaged in a process of learning similar to what you would be doing in a traditional class. This means you have to think the process through. You need to describe what the experience will be, what you will be learning and how you will communicate this new-found knowledge (by way of a comprehensive final report) to your faculty sponsor.
The process starts with the preparation of a proposal. This proposal needs to include the following:
- Overview of the Internship: This should include a description of the project or task you will be working on, i.e.: what are you going to be doing, how many hours you will be working on this project (you should count on at least twice as much time as you would be spending in class on this work, not counting the writing of your final report, etc.), and what the expected outcomes of this project will be.
- Description of how the Internship fits in your course of studies: In a paragraph or two, describe how this project adds to or complements your current course of studies. Avoid using the obvious, such as "internships are wonderful experiences," but describe why this particular experience will help you.
- What will you learn? In this portion of the proposal, you need to go into detail what you will be doing in this project or task. What types of activities will you be engaged in? What skills you will be gaining? What new knowledge will you be gaining? How does this benefit your internship sponsor? What will the outcomes be for both you and your sponsor?
- How will you measure the results? As mentioned in the previous section, you will need to be able to show outcomes. In other words, you will need to prove to your faculty sponsor that you have in fact learned or obtained new skills or knowledge. This will be detailed in a final paper as well as possible meetings between you and your internship sponsor as well as between you and your faculty sponsor. Describe what the final paper will contain as well as the need for any meetings between you and your sponsors.
The entire proposal should be at least 3 pages long and should effectively communicate your intentions to your internship sponsor, your faculty sponsoer, etc. Think of this as a business plan.
Find a Faculty Sponsor: The faculty sponsor should be someone whose expertise lies in the field that your internship centers around. You need to discuss the internship with this faculty member, get their ideas and eventually their approval.
Get the signatures of your Outside Sponsor, Faculty Sponsor, Department Chairperson and Associate Dean for Charlton College of Bussiness. (Signatures need to be on both the front form and the signature sheet) A BLANK FORM CAN BE DOWNLOADED AT Umassd.edu/crc
Get the final approval from the Associate Dean for the Charlton College of Bussiness.
-A Sample Proposal-
Experiential Learning Forms
To be eligible for Business Experiential Learning credit, a student must have a 2.0 GPA or greater and be at least in his or her junior year. Further directions and examples are included in the packet. Also, please specify if you are a business major or otherwise.
Any Questions?
Come to our office, located on the lower level of Group 1. Hours are from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Appointments can be made for discussions with any of the staff.
PHONE: (508) 999-8658
FAX: (508) 999-8927
