Course Syllabus

Fall, 2005 

Director:                     Kerry Webb                             Office:            Smith 107

Office phone:              (208) 496-3007                       E-mail:            webbke@byui.edu

Fax:                             (208) 496-1525                       Homepage:     Webb Homepage

Course Objectives:  The objectives of the internship are to: provide students with an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in the classroom to a professional internship position; allow students to gain valuable work experience while making a contribution to their employer; allow students to explore future career opportunities; enable students to establish contacts and professional career networking links in their field; and enhance students portfolios through the internship experience. 

Prerequisites:  Students must have completed a minimum of 75 credits including the Reading, Writing, Math, and Basic Skills requirements of the General Education core and at least seven of the 100-300 level courses of the Economics Core.  All of the Economics Core courses must be completed with a minimum 2.5 GPA. 

Placement Criteria: The internship must be directly related to the student’s field of study and provide the student with a significant learning experience that allows the student to apply the knowledge gained in the classroom. The intern’s direct supervisor must be willing to teach and evaluate the intern and provide the intern with opportunities to complete the goals and requirements of the internship. A Master Internship Agreement form must be completed by the internship provider and approved by the university’s internship office. The Student Internship Agreement must be completed and approved by both the department internship director and the university internship director. The student must complete a minimum of 90 hours of work for each internship credit. Although a certain amount of repetitive and mundane tasks can be expected these must be limited and offset by more substantial work.   

Grade

 Pre-Internship Requirements: Prior to beginning the internship the student must complete the following:

            1)      Register with the BYU-Idaho Placement Center;

2)      Submit to me a pre-internship resume and cover letter noting your location and contact information;

3)      Complete the Student Internship Agreement on the University's Internship webpage;

4)      Verify that the intern provider has completed the Master Agreement; and

5)      Complete an interview with me to discuss the requirements of the internship and the grading.

 Internship Requirements of the Student :  During the internship the intern must:

1)      Complete the learning objectives and special project proposal during the first two weeks of the internship (see descriptions below). Both must be approved by the experience provider and me.

2)      Complete and email the bi-monthly progress/status report to me by the 15th and 30th/31st of each month.  Describe what you have accomplished during the past half month, and what you plan to accomplish during the upcoming half month;

3)      Complete the time requirements and learning objectives of the internship outlined on the student agreement;

4)      Complete the special project; and

5)      Complete the internship summary reports.

 Learning Objectives:  In addition to the completion of the Student Internship Agreement, interns should list five learning objectives they plan to accomplish during the internship. The objectives should be approved and signed by the intern, the experience provider and sent to me with the first bi-monthly report. Each task should answer the following questions:

1)      What is the learning objective to be accomplished?

2)      How it is to be accomplished?

3)      How will it be evaluated and by whom?

4)      When will it be completed?    

Special Project:  During the first two weeks the intern is to meet with the experience provider and decide upon a special project that the intern will complete during the internship. The goal of the special project is to allow the intern to apply problem-solving skills to a challenge or research questions facing the business or agency.  Application of previously-learned economic principles is required for this project.  A description or statement of a problem is not sufficient.  You must bring economic principles, analysis, and application to bear on your subject.  All data used in your project must be shown in your special project, unless under a proprietary restriction by the experience provider.  This project is to be completed as part of the workload of the internship.  At the end of the internship, a report on this project will be submitted, and will be graded based on: 1) ideas, insights and analysis; 2) flow of the concepts/strengths of the arguments; 3) grammar, structure and typographical errors; and 4) referencing and sourcing.  An outline of the project is due September 30, 2005; an initial draft of the project is due November 4, 2005; and the final project, as noted below, is due December 5, 2005.

Internship Summary Reports:  At the end of the internship, the student is to complete the six summary reports, as noted below, and complete the student evaluation of the internship found at http://www.byui.edu/careerservices/internships/eval_students.asp?highlight=11.   For the Fall, 2005 semester, all of these reports are due by Monday, December 5, 2005.

1)      Learning Objectives Report: Summarize the five learning objectives by answering the following questions:

a.       Why did you select the learning objective?

b.      How did you plan to complete the objective?

c.       What challenges did you face in completing the objective and how did you overcome those challenges?

d.      Were you able to accomplish the objectives?  Compare your expectations with the reality of work accomplished by the end of the internship.

e.       What was the criterion used to evaluate the objective?

f.        How useful was the objective in your own professional development?

g.       How useful was the objective to the experience provider? 

2)      Special Project Report:  Summarize the results of the special project.  The student summarizes the project undertaken, his/her approach to complete the project, and the final results or outcome of the work. (Minimum 5 page report)

3)      Company Report: Provide a report on the company, describing the history, culture, products, leaders and vision of the company or organization. (Minimum 3 page report)

4)      Internship Report: Provide a summary about your experience which includes the following information:

                                                                           i.      a job description for your position as an intern.

                                                                         ii.      the skills and coursework relevant to the internship.

                                                                        iii.      a summary of what you learned from the internship.

                                                                       iv.      a discussion of your relationship with your experience provider and co-workers.  Include here insights gained as a member of a team, and an evaluation of your team’s effectiveness, cooperation and support.

                                                                         v.      identify areas where you could have been better prepared to meet the internship requirements either personally or in the curriculum.

                                                                       vi.      identify shortcomings of the internship experience and discuss ways that these shortcomings might be overcome.

                                                                      vii.      discuss how the internship experience has influenced career plans.

                                                                    viii.      discuss what advice you would give to another student preparing for an internship. 

5)      Resume:  Provide an updated resume which includes a one paragraph summary of the internship experience.  Also provide an expanded one-page summary of the internship experience that could be attached to a resume. 

6)   Report of Contacts:  Provide a listing of the professional network you have developed during your internship experience.  Show the name, titles, address, and telephone numbers of the individuals in your network.  

Internship Requirements of the experience provider

1)      Complete the Master Agreement form.

2)      Approve the Student Agreement and Learning Objectives.

3)      Provide opportunities and training for the intern to complete the learning objectives and special project of the internship.

4)      Complete a mid-term and final evaluation of the intern, including the intern’s participation as a team member.  These evaluations may be shared with the intern, with the originals sent to the internship director.

5) Write a letter of recommendation for the intern.  The original letter is to be given to the intern, with a copy to the internship director.