Faculty supervision is necessary.

["Dr. James Lenze - Technical Communication" <LENZE -at- LTU -dot- EDU>]

On Thu, 22 Feb 1996, Dr. James Lenze - Technical Communication wrote:

>         Faculty will visit the internship
>         site, advise the intern as needed, provide guidance in writing
>         an internship report, and grade the internship report when it
>         is submitted.  The internship report consists of a daily log,
>         a portfolio, a job description, and a narrative summarizing the
>         internship.

David Castro responded:

Question: What will the supervisor at the company do? Isn't the whole
point of an internship to give the student an opportunity to work
independently in a "real" job, out in the "real" world? Shouldn't the
student be responsible for writing the daily log, and compiling a
portfolio? Shouldn't you get a summarization of the internship and a job
description from the employer?

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Faculty supervision of an internship is important for the following reasons:

 1. Too many students have accepted internships that looked good on paper
    but turned into nothing more than gopher positions.  Faculty
    supervisors look out for the student and make sure that the position
    provides experience in the field of technical communication.

 2. Students DO write their own logs and DO compile their own portfolios.
    Faculty supervisors make sure that students are given enough time
    to work on these projects DURING the internship.  Interns are often
    kept so busy that they put these important tasks off to the last
    minute.  Faculty visits (which only occur two or three times during
    the entire internship) motivate the interns to write their logs on a
    daily basis and continually add to their portfolios.

 3. An internship is different from a summer job.  The internship is
    credentialed by a university.  Therefore, the university has the job
    of setting standards for the internship and the internship report.
    Our internship providers work with us to make sure that any internship
    conforms to university standards.  The school and the internship
    provider work together so that an intern's work is valuable to
    the provider organization, meets university standards, and provides
    the intern with an professional view of the field of technical
    communication.

Dr. James Lenze
Technical Communication Degree Program
Lawrence Technological University
Lenze -at- LTU -dot- EDU