Internship Opportunities
Adult, Professional and Community Education Master of Arts Program: Internship Description
The general goal of the Adult, Professional and Community Education Internship is to extend and apply the student’s learning within an area of adult education practice that aligns with the student’s career goals and concentration in the program (e.g., Workplace, community and continuing education or ESL). The Texas State internship supervisor is responsible for insuring that general internship requirements are being met and for assisting the on-site supervisor in providing an effective internship experience. For most students these hours are completed across the length of the semester on a part-time basis. Students complete an internship in which they participate in the design, implementation, and/or evaluation of new or existing educational programs relevant to their concentration.
The Texas State internship supervisor serves as a professional resource and works closely with the intern and on-site supervisor regarding identifying appropriate internship goals and activities, and is ultimately responsible for certifying that minimum internship requirements have been met. Particularly if the site and/or supervisor are new as hosts for Texas State Adult, Professional and Community Education Program interns, the Texas State supervisor will ordinarily make one or more site visits. The On-Site supervisor is responsible for acquainting the intern with the internship site and personnel, helping to identify appropriate learning goals that can be achieved within the site, providing day-to-day supervision of the intern, and providing written input as part of the summative evaluation of the intern. The student is responsible for working with both supervisors to identify appropriate learning goals and activities; completing learning activities identified in the internship activity plan and submitting agreed upon deliverables as well as required log, reflections, and portfolio in a timely fashion; and engaging in an appropriate professional manner when completing activities related to the internship.
Proposed Internship/Practicum Activity Planning
A Proposed Internship/Practicum Activity Plan initiated prior to beginning the on-site internship experience. Before beginning the internship, the activity plan need only identify goals for the internship experience, including goals related to teaching, program development and evaluation, and program coordination or administration. A more detailed activity plan, which will be signed by the student, on-site supervisor, and Texas State supervisor should be submitted to the Texas State supervisor within 7-10 days of starting the internship. The Information sheet will identify the location of the internship and the general nature of instructional or administrative services to be provided, and will include contact information for the student intern, the on-site supervisor, and the Texas State supervisor. The activity plan will identify specific activities to be accomplished related to each of the learning goals identified, who will most closely supervise the activity (if the supervisor of the activity is not the on-site Supervisor), and the approximate amount of time expected to be spent in each specific activity.
Weekly Logs
A Weekly Log of internship activities is maintained throughout the internship experience. It may be divided into two sections, as appropriate to the internship: Administrative and Instructional. The log contains descriptions of internship activities. Each entry contains the date, type of activity conducted, and the approximate amount of time spent on the activity. The weekly log should indicate that hours spent on a weekly basis will add up to the total hours required for the internship. In addition, there is one additional entry made weekly of at least one full page providing the student intern’s reflections on the week’s internship activities.
The log and reflections should be forwarded to the internship supervisor weekly during the first month of the internship. The log and reflections should also be available at the time of any site visit and turned in to the Texas State internship supervisor as part of the internship portfolio submitted upon completion of all internship activities and approximately 80 clock hours of supervised work (within five hours). Note: The mere completion of 80 hours is not sufficient to denote a grade of pass. Satisfactory completion of required activities is paramount.
Internship Portfolio
The internship portfolio should be submitted by the first exam day of the semester, including both the weekly activity logs and reflections and documentation of the internship activities. In the case of administrative activities, documentation is included as deemed appropriate by the on-site supervisor. Materials include copies of such things as flyers and brochures publicizing program services to target populations, written procedures for training staff, etc. In the case of instructional activities, specific topics for presentation are provided. Copies of sample materials, plans, and other instructional aids that the intern used should be included.
Evaluation
The Adult, Professional and Community Education Internship Evaluation Form is also completed by the on-site supervisor and submitted to the Texas State internship supervisor at the end of the internship experience. The Texas State supervisor will make that available.
A Written Self-evaluation and a Reflection to the Internship Experience connecting theory to practice is submitted to the Texas State internship supervisor upon completion of all internship requirements.
The Texas State faculty internship supervisor evaluates the intern’s experience based on the evaluations mentioned above, any site visits made (includes virtual visits, online communications, and face to face visits), and the student’s portfolio, including logs, the written self-evaluation, and reflection paper to determine a final rating of Exceptional, Proficient, Needs Improvement, or Fail on the success of the student in applying relevant concepts and skills related to the design, implementation, or evaluation of educational programs.