Internships: Credit, Arranging Placement, and Academic Assignments

Obtaining and using internship credit

Eligible students may enroll for one 3-credit section of COM 3945, Communication Internship, to apply to the major or minor course sequence. It may be used for credit either under Performance/Production or under Communication Elective Credit. It may also be used to fulfill a capstone or practicum requirement.

Arranging internships at a current place of employment

Internships are intended to be new learning experiences. They are also intended to involve the student in a complete job search process. Therefore, internship credit is not ordinarily given for current or past employment activities. Furthermore, internship credit is not given retroactively for previous internships that the student may have completed. There may be situations, however, where a student may wish to intern in another or different capacity with a current employer for a new learning experience. This could be approvable according to the following guidelines: 1) the student obtains an internship for a different position, or within a different department, at their employer 2) the intern's immediate supervisor is different from the current/previous supervisor.

Paid/unpaid internships

The internship course objective is to provide a learning experience for academic credit. Some internships additionally provide pay or offer a stipend, while others are unpaid. COM 3945 accommodates both paid and unpaid internships, however it is up to the student to determine if an internship with no pay meets their needs.

Student-arranged internships, other restrictions

The School of Communication and Multimedia Studies does not hand out internships for COM 3945 but can help steer students toward possible openings if requested. A student must find and arrange their own internship and bring that to the School and Career Center for credit-earning consideration per the application process. Qualifying internships can be done at an employer’s office or work site or remotely (from home). COM 3945 students CANNOT intern with/for spouses, other family members/relatives, significant others or in other conflict-of-interest situations.

Assignments

Because students do receive academic credit for internships, the following student assignments—detailed on the course Canvas website—are part of the course and count toward grading:

  1. Two evaluation forms, one due at midterm and the second near the end of the semester, from the student rating their internship experience.
  2. Two evaluation forms, from the employer, assessing the student’s work performance earlier and later in the semester and delivered directly to the course supervisor.
  3. Two short journal-style essays reflecting on the internship experience.
  4. A portfolio or other type of final project due near the semester end.
  1. Portfolio: The student must assemble and submit a portfolio that contains a sampling of work completed during the internship per syllabus stipulations.
  2. Other project: This option can be tailored to meet a specific employment situation where multiple work samples might not be possible. It could be utilized in cases where an entire internship is geared toward the completion of a single specific and time-consuming task, such as coordinating and putting together a single substantive publication or film.

All internship “assignments” must be completed by the course syllabus due dates.