What is Experiential Learning
Faculty serve as an important figure in a college student’s professional journey. This is why it is important for faculty to encourage students to pursue opportunities for gaining experiences before they graduate. This “experiential learning” can take many forms such as:
- Internship
- Cooperative Education (Co-op)
- Volunteering
- Practicums
- Field Study
- Community Engaged Learning
- Research
Students should also be encouraged to enroll in Internship (or other types) of courses that help them document and reflect on these experiences. It is this reflection component that often makes the difference in a student being able to successfully articulate their experiences and skills gained when going on interviews.
Best Practices for Internship Courses:
- Reviewing internship positions for approval to ensure there is intentional learning built into the structure and that the student is supervised by a subject matter expert in the feild
- Provide students with an internship orientation and/or handbook of information regarding rights and responsibilities in the internship.
- Internship Agreements and/or Facility Memorandum of Agreements may be required for internship hosts especially if/when the student is unpaid.
- Setting learning objectives that are agreed upon by the employer (supervisor), student, and faculty for the experience.
- Utilize the Career Readiness Report for a pre/post internship skills measurement. This allows students to gauge the development of their career readiness skills during their experience and also provides suggestions for further working on these skills.
- Have students report their internships through Handshake Experiences to add them to their profiles.
- Incorporate a reflection assignment – this can weekly or at the end of the term.
- End of Experience evaluation – this can be for both the student and on-site supervisor to provide feedback on student intern performance as well as the students experience with the employer.
Best Practices Working With Employers Recruiting for Internships:
- When possible, keep the entire recruiting process between the student and the employer. You will want to keep in mind FERPA and EEO guidelines when considering referring any student(s) directly to employers.
- Encourage them to post their internships on Handshake to support the vetting process or faculty may vet and manage their internship providers themselves.
- Discuss with the employer what will make the position an internship vs. a part-time job. Ensuring there are intentional learning components and supervision/mentoring by a subject matter expert directly built into the experience.
- Connect employers to the Industry to Campus Connections team to explore potential funding options and recruiting strategies.
If you have questions about these are any other internship related best practices, please reach out to the Experiential Learning Team in the Center for Career & Professional Development and we will be happy to assist you!