Abstract:

Managing student internships through field visits and written reports is no longer an adequate or reasonable methodology for evaluating the learning outcomes of students engaged in internships. Most internship programs ask their students to write a journal on a daily or weekly basis then submit these journals to the internship director (ID) for evaluation of progress and learning outcomes. Some internship programs require the ID to visit the business location of the internship host. While there, the internship director will interview the host to gain perspective on the tasks of the internship. The ID will evaluate if the host is indeed fulfilling their role to provide learning and a “hands-on” internship. Other than these methods of data gathering there is little known and as a result quantitative data is not collected. This model also discourages the pursuit of online internships that are becoming an important developmental tool to students in various technology based fields and other careers and jobs that are not bound by physical location. For example, a student who is interested in journalism can review books, music, recipes, and other items via an online internship. Similarly a student who works as a regional promotion specialist for a record label, film studio or other media entity can perform online marketing duties that are not site specific. My model for online internship management includes the design of a web portal and intranet that is utilized by all three participants in the modeling and evaluation of an internship-- the internship host, the internship director and the student. Through my model the internship administrator can support all tasks that are necessary for the execution of communication, evaluation and interpretation of the students progress. The internship host will also be able to provide their weekly report and evaluation of the student’s requirements through a data driven series of questions that they answer and submit to the internship administrator. The student will be able to post directly to their internship “file” all appropriate data driven responses as required by the internship administrator. The student will also be able to write and post assignments directly to their file for immediate review.

Eight Crucial Outcomes

• Weekly task and performance evaluations by the Internship Host
• Student reporting and data performance sent directly to internship administrator and incorporated into a master data file.
• Time and record keeping for hours spent at internship.
• Online web chat visits with both Student and Internship Host
• A complete online file of the entire internship that can be shared with other students in the internship program regardless of their geographic location.
• Data collected on the various internship hosts can be shared with future student interns who are interested in a particular internship host
• Management of multiple internships through one portal or intranet can be sourced by the internship director and sub-administrators.
• Streamline the expenses with internship administration with online management

My paper will describe these tasks in action and my intranet model will show how the data can be used by any internship administrator, host, or student. This model addresses the lowering of costs associated with administering internships and the consolidation of services and tasks by internship directors.

Keywords:

Web 2.0, Blogs, Wikis.