Wittenberg's Faculty Manual lists the responsibilities of the faculty supervisor as follows:

• Determine that the selected internship organization or agency is appropriate and has the capability of supervising the student's performance
• Contact the internship site supervisor at appropriate times during the internship to obtain an ongoing assessment of the student's performance
• Arrange for a written evaluation of the student by the internship site supervisor at mid-semester and at the end of the internship, providing the basis and the method for this evaluation
• Provide feedback to the student based on the mid-semester evaluation
• Perform a final evaluation of the student's experience and discuss this evaluation with the student
• Provide an accounting of the student's performance to the Registrar that will become part of the student's official record

The faculty supervisor is above all else responsible for ensuring the educational quality of the internship. This can be achieved through careful planning, monitoring and evaluation.

Suggestions for Planning an Internship

• Although it is primarily the responsibility of the student to identify and arrange an internship site, some faculty may develop contacts for potential internship sites. If you are not the departmental internship coordinator, you can also check with him/her about available quality sites
• Assist the student with the Internship Agreement, framing objectives, goals and evaluation of the experience
• Prepare the student for working at the site by discussing professional behavior in the workplace, issues of liability and how to share concerns about the internships should they arise

Monitoring

Along with the responsibilities outlined in the above segment of the Faculty Manual, the following suggestions may be useful:

• Visit the site. This activity can be an educational experience for you, too
• Set aside time for meetings (biweekly?) so that both you and the student are committed in the same way as other scheduled classes. During the course of the semester, the student or the faculty supervisor can easily put off getting together. When this happens, the student can feel isolated and problems may develop. Students need to talk about their work and special concerns, so the sense of availability and confidentiality is very important
• From time to time it is helpful to review the learning goals with the student. Revisions may need to occur, and the review helps the student to analyze progress throughout the semester

Evaluation

The faculty supervisor and site supervisor work together in evaluating the student's progress. Although the faculty supervisor is directly responsible for assigning and submitting the grade for the internship, the site supervisor's input is essential in order to determine the student's work performance. Academic requirements for the internship and the method(s) of evaluation should be clearly stated on the Internship Agreement form. These requirements may include daily journals, papers, interviews, reports and/or projects.

Supervising Summer Internships

As summer internships are frequently done away from Wittenberg, the faculty supervisor may choose a different approach for assuring the quality of both the internship site and supervision. Establishing a system for supervising/communicating with the intern and also for contacting the site supervisor is very important. Any faculty member who will not be accessible during the summer should not accept supervisory responsibilities for an internship.  Faculty are compensated for summers session internship supervision. Stipend amounts are available in the School of Community Education.

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