Internship Objectives for internship experience
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The Master's Degree in Education at Penn State Harrisburg has a requirement that every candidate perform an internship in the amount of 240 hours prior to completing the program of studies. A waiver of this requirement may be granted to any candidate who is able to demonstrate experience in a training position for a minimum of six months. Public or private school teaching with students who are not considered adults may not be substituted for this experience.
Arrangements are made to provide a quid pro quo experience for the intern and for the organization providing the field site for the experience. The intern provides a helping hand while learning how a training unit within an organization operates on a day to day basis.
An internship may be paid or unpaid and the type of internship (paid or unpaid) must be reflected in the letter of agreement. An internship formally begins when at least one representative from the organization in which the internship will be housed meets with the intern and a representative from the M Ed., Training and Development Program. The three parties agree on the specifics of the internship experience and the objectives, which are customized to each intern. The overall goal of the internship is to provide experiences which will strengthen those areas in which the intern has not had much experience. Using the ADDIE training model, objectives are developed to meet each intern's needs.
The ADDIE Model
Analyze - The intern will be able to explain or demonstrate a number of assessment techniques which range from questioning key personnel to conducting more formal assessment procedures such as focus groups, questionnaires or scanning extant data. Then, the intern will study the data to determine what the cause of the problem may be and determine how it can best be solved. Solutions may be proposed which require either a combination of training, change in management procedures or changes related to organization development.
Design - Utilizing information from the Analysis phase, the appropriate intervention is designed, applying sound methods and instructional strategies.
Develop - The designed intervention is developed, using the appropriate technologies and delivery systems. Formative evaluation procedures are employed during this stage.
Implementation - Implementing the developed product or putting the selected intervention to work may involve either the use or demonstration of platform skills or the use of a training aid or computer-assisted instruction, video instruction, or some aspect of distance learning. Typically an intern's focus is on platform skills.
Evaluation - After the planning action is complete evaluation, to determine the success of the action, and to determine if further action is necessary, should be developed as part of the overall plan to improve performance. The evaluation should aim for at least a level three (3), using Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation.
A more specific list of objectives will be developed in this area(s) as part of the written agreement.
