Internships and Experiential Learning

Section Titles

Internship & Experiential Learning Guidelines' Goals and Objectives

The purpose of the these Guidelines is to assist colleges and universities in designing, implementing, and administering meaningful internship programs and other forms of experiential learning. Other programs covered in the Guidelines include class projects, consulting projects, job shadowing/externships and service learning.

Experiential Learning Key Terms & Definitions

This section provides definitions of various forms of experiential learning and related concepts including class projects, consulting projects, internships, job shadowing and service learning.

Key Features of Various Experiential Learning Programs

This section describes how a school can incorporate experiential learning into the curriculum and the characteristics that the programs could include.

Experiential Learning Program Implementation Guidelines

This section will help colleges and universities to determine the type of internship program that is right for your institution. The principal issues in determining the type of program that is appropriate are 1) the market for internships, 2) student circumstances, 3) faculty (and staff) resources that are available to manage the program and 4) the role of experiential learning in the curriculum. Although only internships are discussed in this section, the same logic can be extended to the other types of programs defined in the section on Key Terms & Definitions.

Guidelines for Achieving the AICPA Core Competencies through Experiential Learning Programs

This section will assist professors to link their experiential program objectives to the AICPA Core Competencies. Links are provided to both the AICPA Core Competencies website and the evaluation tool that facilitates an effective and efficient review of courses to the respective competencies to determine fulfillment.

IINTERNSHIPS AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

INTERNSHIP AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING GUIDELINES' GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the these Guidelines is to assist colleges and universities in designing, implementing, and administering meaningful internship programs and other forms of experiential learning. Other programs covered in the Guidelines include class projects, consulting projects, job shadowing/externships and service learning. The Guidelines are intended to be a Web-based resource tool; to be appropriate for institutions of varying sizes, programs, and geographical locations; and to provide tangible benefits to students and employers, in addition to the institutions.

The objectives of all of these programs are to help students to:

Make more informed career choices,
Apply knowledge and skills that they have been exposed to in the class guidelines,
Develop knowledge and skills that are difficult to introduce in a class setting, and perhaps
Secure permanent employment.

These objectives relate specifically to the AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the profession. These competencies are discussed in detail in a separate section below.

From the institutional perspective, the Guidelines will provide a resource tool to access detailed information on how best to design, implement, and administer internship and other experiential learning programs. The Guidelines will provide real-life program examples from a variety of colleges and universities.

From the student perspective, the Guidelines will be an excellent source of background information. The Guidelines will provide an explanation of the various types of programs, and advice on how to transition from academia to the workplace and to improve the students' performance on the job.

From the employer perspective, the Guidelines will also provide excellent background information on the types of programs available and serve as a continual business reference source.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING - KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

The following definitions have been adopted for use throughout this document.

Class Project
A class project is an assignment, required to be completed as part of a class, in which the students work with an outside organization to solve a particular problem(s) or attain a certain goal(s). Bently College Class Project

Consulting Project
A consulting project is an assignment, typically equivalent in credit to a regularly scheduled class, in which the students work with an outside organization to solve a particular problem(s) or attain a certain goal(s). A consulting project is different from a class project because it is longer in duration, requires more extensive deliverables, may be completed in any geographic location, and is done either in lieu of a class or in conjunction with a limited number of class meetings. Bently College Consulting Project Syllabus; Bently Consulting Teams Overview

Internship
An internship is work experience in industrial, business, or government work situations that leverages the class guidelines experience through practical work experience. It allows students the opportunity to translate academic theories and principles to action, to test out career interests and to develop skills and abilities through carefully planned and supervised programs. University of Kansas - Overview of Intership; Arizona State University West Internship Syllabus; Taylor University Practicum Instructions Part I; Taylor University Practicum Instructions Part II

Job Shadowing/Externship
Job shadowing is an informal process, usually of short duration, in which students observe the daily routines and activities of employed professionals in the students' field of study. Job shadowing provides an opportunity for students to see, on a limited basis, how skills and knowledge acquired in the class guidelines are applied in the real world. University of Kansas Job Shadowing Program - Jayhawks on the Job

Service Learning
Service learning is a method by which students learn and develop through active participation in organized service experiences that meet actual community needs and are coordinated with the institution and the community. Service learning can be integrated into the students' academic curriculum (i.e., done to fulfill part of course requirements) or done separately from course requirements. The primary goal of service learning is the educational value of the project(s). An example of service learning is the national Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.

KEY FEATURES OF VARIOUS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROGRAMS

How does a school go about incorporating experiential learning into the curriculum? And what characteristics might the programs include?

Some features are driven by the curriculum, by whether students are pursuing a graduate degree or a baccalaureate degree and by whether students are attending school on a full-time, or part-time, basis. Other features may be driven by the objectives sought and resource constraints. All programs absorb school resources to develop and maintain, but the amount of resources required can vary widely based on the program features (see section on Implementation Guidelines). Here are some examples of possible program features, categorized by the degree of commitment on the part of the school. [Note: The two columns on the right of the chart represent two ends of a continuum, with many possibilities in between.]

Characteristic Higher Degree of Involvement on the Part of the School Lower Degree of Involvement on the Part of the School

Academic credit Students can earn academic credit for participation. Students cannot earn academic credit.

Required vs. voluntary Students are required to participate in order to meet graduation requirements. Students may choose to participate, but are not required to do so as a condition for graduation.

Compensation (if applicable); free market vs. controlled market School prescribes the compensation to be paid and/or authorizes the employers who will be entitled to participate. Students are not paid, or employers are free to compete for students as they choose.

Minimum standards are established for participation in the program (such as "at least junior standing" or "3.0 grade point average") Students must have achieved a minimum class standing (e.g. only juniors or seniors are eligible), have taken certain prerequisite courses (e.g. auditing or income tax) or have a minimum grade point average (e.g. >3.0) to participate Any student is free to participate if they wish.

Matching of students and employers School makes all arrangements and assigns students to specific employers. Employers interview students and decide who will receive offers

Learning objectives The program specifies a series of learning objectives that each student is expected to achieve. Faculty members seek to ascertain a) that the opportunity to achieve these objectives is being provided by the employer, and/or b) that the objectives are being met. No specified learning objectives.

Pre-program seminars Faculty and/or career services staff present one or more seminars about success in the "real world", common mistakes that students make, etc. No seminars

Monitoring during the internship Faculty actively monitor students' performance and provide counseling. No monitoring

Duration Internship lasts an entire semester. Internship lasts a month, or less.

Grading (assuming there is academic credit) Grades are assigned on the same basis as in traditional academic courses. Grades depend in large measure on an evaluation of written materials, such as periodic status reports and/or a concluding reflective paper Students take the course on a "pass/fail" basis.

Internships can also be analyzed based on the role or degree of involvement on the part of the employer.

Characteristic Higher Degree of Involvement on the Part of the Employer Lower Degree of Involvement on the Part of the Employer

Duration Program lasts an entire semester. Program is a month or less in duration.

Number of hours worked each week Students work on a full-time basis. Students work on a part-time basis.

Learning objectives School prescribes learning objectives that the employer commits to provide for the students, and employer provides evidence (e.g. job description) of how they will meet these objectives. Employer is free to assign projects that meet its needs, without regard to whether specified learning objectives will be achieved by the intern.

Providing feedback to the school concerning student performance. Employer is required to provide feedback to the school. No feedback required.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROGRAMS - IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES

What type of program is right for your institution?

The principal issues in determining the type of program that is appropriate are 1) the market for internships, 2) student circumstances, 3) faculty (and staff) resources that are available to manage the program, and 4) the role of experiential learning in the curriculum.

Market for internships
Although only internships are discussed in this section, the same logic can be extended to the other types of programs defined in the section on Key Terms and Definitions.

Understanding the market is the first step in designing an internship program. There are a number of considerations that relate to market conditions. These include:

The availability of jobs. How much demand is there for student interns? Is there demand for "part-time" work (e.g., 10 to 20 hours per week) or is the interest limited to "full-time" work (e.g., 40 hours per week).
Timing. Is the demand seasonal in nature? Most public accounting practices have a January to April "busy season" when the demand for interns is likely to be much greater than during the rest of the year. Corporations, governmental units and not-for-profit organizations may also have periods of time when they can predict an increased work load, but these periods typically are not as long in duration or uniform in terms of the time of the year.
Knowledge and skills required. The type of work will dictate what prerequisites students need to have satisfied in order to participate in an internship.
Willingness to accept conditions. How willing are employers to accept conditions for participation in an internship program? Will they agree to commit to giving students the type of experience that would achieve specified learning objectives? Are they willing to provide feedback to the students and the school? Would they agree to a uniform rate of compensation?
Motivation. What is the employer looking for in an internship program? Is it to acquire supplemental staffing for busy season, or to meet some other temporary demand without hiring permanent staff? Is it a part of the recruitment effort, with the specific objective of hiring interns for full-time positions upon graduation? Or is it just a way to "give back" to the community, the profession or the school?

Student Circumstances
Colleges and universities have different missions and attract different kinds of students. Even within a single school, there may be students with different circumstances.

The key questions relating to students include:

Are they part-time or full-time students? If they are part-time students, what flexibility do they have to participate in an internship program? They may already have part or full-time jobs. They may have family obligations. These will restrict, or even preclude, their participation in an internship.
Are they willing and able to leave campus? There are a host of issues that may affect a student's willingness to participate in an internship program. Some are financial or logistical, such as the availability of transportation to get to an internship or the ability to get out of a housing contract on/near campus. Others involve setting priorities, such as whether a student is willing to give up extracurricular activities such as athletics, or a leadership role in a student organization.
Would participation delay graduation? A full-time internship requires significant course planning so that graduation is not delayed. This could involve summer school or distance learning. Are students willing to do this?

Resources
Internship programs can require a significant investment of resources, particularly the time of faculty or staff.

The first question is "who will own and operate the internship program"? In many schools, the answer is "the accounting department". Because internships are often more readily available in accounting than in the other business disciplines, placement offices are sometimes not "geared up" to support internships. At other schools, the placement office can provide substantial support or may even prefer to take the lead in managing the program. To some extent, the answer will depend on the objectives and characteristics of the program. For example, a "for credit" internship with specified learning objectives that is required for a degree in accounting is going to require more of the accounting faculty than a "not for credit" part-time internship.

Regardless of where the resources come from, the design of the program will depend both on the amount of resources that can be committed, and on the experience and interests of the faculty or staff. There will be a lot of marketing required, both at the outset and on an ongoing basis. If the design envisions actively monitoring students' progress during the internship and counseling students, this can be a significant demand on faculty time because virtually all feedback is one-on-one.

An additional consideration is whether there are faculty members who have the interest and skills to take ownership of such a program.

Curriculum
Finally, what role does experiential learning play in the program? Does the school see its mission as including the "personal competencies" and "broad business perspective competencies" of the AICPA Core Competency Framework? If so, are there already curriculum elements that address them?

Logistical issues may include the school year (quarters vs. semesters) and the scheduling of class times (to provide blocks of time for students to work during the day). Another scheduling issue is offering condensed courses at the end of an internship semester to enable students to earn additional course credit.

How do you implement an internship program?

After you have determined the feasibility of the program, completed the program design and received the necessary approvals of changes to the curriculum, how do you implement the internship program?

Here are steps that should be followed:

Establish specific objectives for the programs being implemented. For example, this might include the learning objectives that students are expected to achieve through participation, the percentage of eligible students participating in the program, and the kind of job opportunities that would be made available.
Establish a timeline that must be met to achieve the intended launch date. For example, if the first internships will be in the spring of 2003, when will recruiting of employers and students need to be completed?
Establish a budget. The school administration will need to commit sufficient resources. These resources include administrative support, marketing and travel related costs, software to facilitate students' job search and the scheduling of interviews, and reductions in teaching loads to provide faculty with adequate time to manage the program.
Assign/recruit faculty and staff. Depending on the nature of the program, primary responsibility may reside with the accounting faculty, or in the career services/placement area. Regardless of which area is primarily responsible, there should be close coordination in order to maximize the opportunities for students and to ensure that the curricular objectives will be met.

Employer Outreach
The next step would be to do employer outreach. This task probably should be led by the Office of Career Services, but requires the input of faculty. Contact should be made with the State CPA Society, chapters of other associations (e.g. Institute of Management Accountants and Financial Executives International), and alumni to help identify opportunities. It may be desirable to have a meeting of prospective employers in which topics of mutual interest can be raised and resolved.

In addition, student organizations (such as Beta Alpha Psi) can create opportunities for interaction between students and employers.

Student Recruitment
Information sessions will need to be scheduled with students to let them learn about the internship opportunity. Probably more importantly, advisors need to be aware of the internship program, its benefits, and how to integrate the internship into course planning.

Forms and Brochures
All forms and brochures related to the program should be accessible from the appropriate section of the school's website. Students should be able to use this website to:

Learn about the program
Apply for admittance into the program.
Link to any automated job search tools that the school uses.
Link to the specific academic programs run by faculty
Learn of the office hours of all involved partied (Office of Career Services, faculty, etc.)

Other Resources

National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE)
www.naceweb.org

The National Association for Colleges and Employers is a source of information for career services practitioners on college campuses who advise students and alumni in career development and the employment process and for human resources professionals who recruit and hire college graduates.

NACE provides an array of resources to assist professionals involved with student careers to develop programs, monitor and evaluate programs and access other resources such as research. NACE is recommended for access by accounting faculty in the following areas:

Provides access to best practices and research on internship programs across various school types, sizes and disciplines
Offers information on salary and related compensation to assist students, employers and your school to design programs accordingly and to address related expectations and concerns
Serves as a resource base of research and practical guidelines for addressing the legal and regulatory issues related to administering an internship program

In addition, NACE offers the following resources for employers and students which accounting faculty can leverage to assist both groups in their respective roles with internship programs

Employers-NACE offers a comprehensive manual on implementing an internship program from an employer perspective. This could be very insightful for schools with access to non Fortune 500 companies and not-for-profit and government agencies who do not have the resources to build a program. NACE also offers research for employers regarding best practices and lessons learned along with the current state of the profession
Students-NACE offers the following resources to students

Benefits of an internship
Advice on creating an internship
Guidance on pursuing an internship
Tips for interviewing for an internship
Counseling for translating an internship into a career path

National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE)
www.nsee.org

The National Society for Experiential Education is a source of information for faculty members to assist with the development of experiential learning projects and curriculum. Particular emphasis is placed on service learning initiatives. Accounting faculty seeking to develop experiential learning initiatives beyond internships are recommended to refer to NSEE's website and seek information from their various research and products available.

How do you monitor an internship program?

With the Students
There are two areas that need to be addressed here by the faculty member responsible for the internship - monitoring the work performance of an intern and monitoring the intern's progress regarding the academic requirements of an internship.

Work Performance
In order to monitor the work performance of an intern, evaluation forms should be sent to the internship employers at prescribed intervals during the internship. (See Bentley College Intern Evaluation Form and Arizona State University West Intern Evaluation Form). Some alternatives are:

at the middle and the end of the internship
at the middle; based on this evaluation, determine if another one is needed.

Academic Performance
The degree of this monitoring will depend on the academic requirements of the internship, as outlined in the Syllabus. For example, if interns are required to prepare papers during the internship, the faculty member will need to monitor their progress towards completion.

With the Employers
Employer monitoring could also take place on two levels, as follows:

The Faculty Internship Coordinator or The Office of Career Services should periodically send an evaluation form to employers asking them to assess whether the program is meeting their objectives.
Faculty should solicit feedback from the students, either through one-on-one conversations or a reflective paper.

Overall Evaluation of the Program
The school may want to monitor the following performance indicators, for each semester that the program is active:

Number of students in the program
Number of employers in the program
Number of different types of employers in the program
Number of students getting offers of permanent employment from internship employers.
Number or percentage of employers continuing in the program from year to year.

What is the role of the administration, the faculty and the career services office?

The Administration
It is critical that the administration fully supports the concept of an Internship Program. There are several areas that apply here:

Teaching Loads.
The administration can reduce the teaching load of a faculty member in order for the faculty member to take on the coordination of the internship program. This is particularly applicable in those disciplines that have large for-credit programs.

Housing. Housing issues could include:

Allowing students to remain in on-campus housing during the internship period
If relocation is required, determining who will bear the cost of housing at the internship location.

Financial Aid.
The administration should consider allowing students to keep a reduced amount of financial aid during the internship period, rather than eliminating all aid during this period.

The Faculty (for-credit internships only)
The role of the faculty member could include the following:

Determining who will be admitted to the program; this usually is dependent upon class rank, grade point averages and classes taken prior to the internship.
Determining which internship positions are substantive enough to qualify for academic credit
Providing a syllabus for the internship, which includes a description of all of the academic requirements of the internship and how to get in touch with the faculty member during the internship period (See Sample Syllabus in Section on Key Terms and Definitions)
Monitoring the progress of the interns during the internship period (see separate section above)
Promoting the internship program around the campus (this could include selected class visits, email, etc.)
Advising students about internships, both before and during their search.
Employer Outreach. This includes both the initial contact and regular follow-ups. (See Bentley College Employer Outreach Letter and Taylor University Employer Letter)

The Career Services Office
The role of the Career Services Office could include the following:

Providing a central repository of internship opportunities for the students to access
Administering periodic orientation sessions in advance of each semester to initiate the application process
Administering student sessions on topics such as resume preparation and job search.
Employer outreach for internship opportunities
Administration of the interview scheduling process for those internship employers that want to conduct their interviews on campus.

GUIDELINES FOR ACHIEVING THE AICPA CORE COMPETENCIES THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROGRAMS

This chart attempts to link the AICPA Core Competency Framework to the skills that could be developed as a result of an internship experience. As might be expected, internships are a rich opportunity to test and develop "personal competencies", but there are ample opportunities to address "functional competencies" and "broad business perspective competencies" as well. Each school will need to evaluate their respective program to determine the extent to which these competencies are met. The Education Competency Assessment (ECA) tool will be launched soon.(See http://www.aicpa.org/edu/tools.htm)

AICPA Core Competencies As a result of the internship, a student will be able to

Functional Competencies

Decision modeling
Understand cause and effect of decisions

Risk analysis
Understand business risk and financial risk of the company and the industry

Reporting
Construct concise and clear documentation

Research
Research a problem efficiently and effectively

Leverage technology to develop and enhance functional competencies
Uses technology to perform research and develop documentation

Personal competencies

Professional demeanor
Ability to adapt to changing work environment, including differing requirements of different supervisors and tasks
Understand and follow office procedures
Dress professionally and maintain a professional demeanor
Demonstrate continuous improvement through a commitment to learning and learning from mistakes
Produce a reasonable volume of quality work
Respect confidentiality

Problem solving and decision making
Balance working independently and seeking help
Apply materiality concept
Apply knowledge from one situation to the next
Understand interrelationships of information and data

Interaction
Respect alternative ways of doing things
Work well with others

Communication
Communicate clearly in expression and content
Ask good questions

Project management
Organize and plan work
Prioritize work and meet deadlines

Leverage technology to develop and enhance personal competencies
Use technology to improve efficiency, including spreadsheets, word processing, graphing, internet

Broad Business Perspective Competencies

Strategic/critical thinking
Apply cross functional academic training to the job
Develop a healthy skepticism
Begin a project with the end in mind
Understand the relationship of the task or project to the whole

Industry/sector analysis
Apply cross functional academic training to the job

Legal/regulatory perspective
Acquire knowledge of SEC reporting guidelines or statutory provisions of the Internal Revenue Code

Leverage technology to develop and enhance broad business perspective
Understand the interrelationship of systems
Use a systems approach to information structure