SPS 495 sec-02: Senior Internship Seminar

Professor William Vogele

Pine Manor College :: Fall 2008

• Home
• Senior Project
• Senior Portfolio

Our Objectives

The senior internship experience is an opportunity for you to discover and build connections between your college learning and possible future directions. It is designed to emphasize the scope of professional opportunities that you might seek (or create) when you move on from Pine Manor. It also offers one place that you can apply the knowledge and skills that you have gained here to a "real world" setting. As a seminar focused on "social and political systems" we will be particularly interested in the meaning and utility of sociology and political science (as well as history, American studies, and whatever else we have studied) to professional settings. In addition we will spend some time exploring the concepts of ilsr and using them as one means to evaluate the internship experience. We will use the seminar as an important element in the creation your final portfolios.  Finally, our seminar will be the location in which you begin to define the project which you will undertake in the spring semester.

On the detailed schedule below you will see a "Question of the week" for most weeks – these will help serve to focus our discussions.

You will find many of the documents you need for the College – including the various parts of your internship contract – on the SENIOR INTERNSHIPS page in the PORTFOLIO website: Portfolio Program . You should download the contract sections to complete on your computer – and you should help your supervisor find these documents as well.

You are expected to spend 16 hours per week at your internship site for 12 weeks during the term. You alone are responsible for fulfilling this core obligation to your internship. If you miss any or all of a day you will need to make arrangements to provide these hours. Please remember that any holidays taken by Pine Manor may NOT necessarily be holidays at your site.

College Outcomes

This seminar is a college requirement for graduation and for successful completion of your major. Most importantly, it will contribute substantially to your Senior Portfolio as we focus on connecting our learning in the classroom to the "real world."

Grades and activities

Unlike most courses, your grades will be based on assessments from two different places — your internship site supervisor and me. The strongest weighting is given to the assessment by your site supervisor. In addition to keeping a regular journal of notes on experiences and thoughts, you should get in the habit of collecting items ("artifacts" in portfolio lingo) that document or illustrate your activities at the site itself. These will be very valuable at the end as you look back and assess your experience.

Portion of Grade from Seminar: 40%  of which:

• An experiential journal = 15%. (10 weekly entries / submissions ). We will use an electronic format in which you can start a journal with an email message and add to it as we go along. I will be able to make comments back to you -- and you won't have to wait a week to get the paper one back. You should try to write in it every day, and at least once a week. Your journal entry should be sent to me by NOON on Monday.
• Reflection essays (2) = 15%.  submissions at monthly intervals). These draw on and evaluate your experiences. They are organized around one of the "questions of the week" as presented on the syllabus, or at the end looking back.  The final reflection essay will be somewhat longer and more like a model of your senior portfolio essay. Your reflection essays should be emailed to me in advance of the seminar meeting indicated. Be sure to bring a printed copy with you.
• Senior Project Proposal and discussion. = 10%. This will be due at the end of the semester. It will be fairly detailed description of the senior project you plan to undertake in the spring term, including discussion that represents  thoughtful engagement with the theoretical and scholarly issues involved in your project.

Site supervisor assessment = 60%

Attendance is expected — at the seminar and at your site. This is, after all a seminar of advanced students comparing our experiences. You must fulfill all of the requirements of the internship experience, including the informational interview, and the mid-semester assessment.

Students with learning differences should speak with me early in the term.

 

Schedule

	All work should be submitted by email in advance of the class meeting at which it is due
Class Date	Topic	Assignment
1 Sept	labor day
8 Sept
15 Sept	Initial Meeting: Orientation and getting started. Questions for the Week: Why did I choose this internship? What skills and strengths am I bringing to this internship?  What are my goals and expectations for this experience?	bring your resume
THURSDAY 11 Sept 5:15 pm	Mandatory meeting of all folks in senior internships. In the open common area of the Student Center.
22 Sept	Concepts of ILSR Question for the Week: How "hierarchical" or "inclusive" is my site?	Completed Contract DUE TO ME PROJECT DISCUSSION: Brainstorming project topics - BRING IDEAS INITIAL REFLECTION ESSAY DUE NEXT WEEK
29 Sept	Socialization into a workplace Question for the Week:–"What’s it like being the new kid on the block?"	INITIAL REFLECTION ESSAY DUE
6 Oct	Social and Political Systems Question for the Week: What are the connections of my site to the social and political system(s) to which it belongs?
13 Oct	Columbus day - no class
20 Oct	Portfolio Connections: MID-SEMESTER SELF-EVALUATION DUE	REFLECTION ESSAY (1) DUE Based on the following  Questions for the Week: How do the Portfolio Outcomes connect to my internship experience? Which "elements" of my education (as represented by the outcomes) seem most important?
27 Oct	PROJECT DISCUSSION:  Sharpening questions and learning the background.	DUE: a set of questions that guide your project.
3 Nov	Self-Assessment 1 Questions for the Week: What is it like to have a job performance evaluation? How is this different from getting a grade in a class?
10 Nov	Self-Assessment 2 Question for the Week: How well does my "style" fit with this type of organization?
17 Nov	Careers and Choices Questions for the Week: What are the various, sometimes indirect, paths that people take in their careers? What kind of "leaders" are at my site?	Informational Interview DUE
23 Nov	Thanksgiving Week - no class
1 Dec	Public Service Question for the Week: How is working in government, for a non-profit or other public service agency a unique environment?	Project description and background DUE
Wed 3 Dec	Internship Site Supervisor Reception Moncrief Room (Ferry) 5:30-7:30	attendance is required.
8 Dec	Final reflection essay.     Final reflection focus:  How have I changed over the course of this experience? What have I learned about myself? In what ways would I now assess my skills, strengths and other aspects of my education so far? What are my goals for the next year	Be sure to get your site supervisor to submit your evaluation -- it is required to give you a grade!