Your internship should enable you to achieve one of the primary goals of our sociological curriculum--the ability to apply what you have learned in the classroom. As an intern, you have extended opportunities to link theories, concepts and ideas to concrete situations, and to apply the sociological perspective in a work place setting just as we hope you will after graduation. Internships are a real life laboratory within a supportive environment. They offer the opportunity to connect formal education to the analysis and understanding of the social world, at the same time providing service to the community. The internship really serves as an advanced workshop in applied sociology, and helps you to lean the concepts you've been studying in your classes.
Employers and graduate schools, now more than ever, are looking for individuals with internship experience. The experience and contacts you gain can be of great help in your future. Internships allow you to use your classroom knowledge in the analysis and interpretation of what you observe, skills that are particularly important in our information intensive society.
Internships are a form of service learning. There are three components to any service learning activity: service, personal insight, and academic knowledge. The service provides the context and content of the experience as you venture out into the community to offer your time and skills. This very personal experience often forces you to learn about yourself. The connection between academic learning and the internship experience stands on its own merits. You will be able to apply, confirm, or challenge academic knowledge through reflecting upon your internship experience.
Internships are a valuable and unique part of your educational experience. Because they are very different from traditional styles of learning, it is often impossible to know their value before they happen. Direct involvement with people and situations outside your familiar surroundings often involves an encounter with the unexpected and the unknown. What you discover from these experiences cannot be anticipated in advance, learned in books, or evaluated on a test. The discoveries happen during the experience itself.
Course objectives
The internship in sociology has numerous objectives. It is designed to
Remember, this is a college course. Credit is awarded, as in any course, for what you have learned. It's not for the experience alone, but what you have learned from the experience. The focus is on the learning. Experience may be the vehicle for the learning, but just showing up at your placement isn't sufficient. You are also required to keep a journal of your activities and answer weekly questions, attend periodic classes during the semester with all of the other interns, and meet with me individually as necessary. These are all important ways that you will be able to demonstrate your learning.
I need to review your journal periodically. Bring it to each of the class sessions. If you would like me to see it at any other time, you can come to my office or you can leave it in my mailbox in the department office and I will return it there with comments. Even if you are saving your journal on a disc, pick it up from my mailbox--my comments may be helpful to you. If I have not seen it by Friday, February 27, your midterm grade will be reported as an F. The essence of a journal is that you write in it regularly, not spend all night the night before it's due completing it. Your completed journal is due by Wednesday, May 5 ( that's a reading day). You can turn it in to my office or my mailbox. Your completed journal must include the sections you have previously turned in that have my comments on them as well as the last part of your journal. Do not turn in a clean copy of what you already turned in; I need to see my comments and your responses to them.
You will also be evaluated by your placement supervisor. Half of your grade will be based on your supervisor's evaluation, and half will be based on my evaluation of what you have learned during the semester as evidenced by your journal and your class participation.
Three hours at your placement site per week are necessary for each hour of academic credit; a typical three credit course will require 9-10 hours of internship per week (120 hours during the semester). You can earn up to a total of six hours of credit for internship.
This will be a course unlike any other--you have the opportunity to meet the learning objectives that you set for yourself. I am available for questions, comments, suggestions, or any other kind of support during the semester, but the success of this course truly depends on you. You must be an active learner.