Establishing LEarning Objectives
Why set Learning Objectives? In a classroom environment, professors outline the learning objectives they wish to achieve during the semester. For an internship, learning objectives are set by the student. How much you get out of your internship will partially depend on what your objectives are for the internship. These objectives should be developed with the workstation supervisor so that both you and they are clear as to what you want to accomplish. Initially, setting learning objectives provides a means for evaluation of the internship. By comparing what you wanted to learn with what you did learn, it allows all parties involved to better evaluate the experience. Not attaining your initial objectives is not necessary bad, since internships often provide opportunities to explore new, unexpected dimensions. The primary purpose in setting them is to make sure that the intern and workstation understand what the student wants to get out of the experiences.
How do I set objectives? Internship learning objectives should be developed along four dimensions. The following provides you some guidance and examples of actual objectives taken from past interns.
1. Skill development: Learning and improving skills such as writing, verbal communication, research, organizational, computer, interpersonal, teamwork, presentation, and leadership. It is the development of these skills that often represents the major benefits of an internship.
Example (Marketing intern): “Improve my communication skills, especially when dealing with people I do not know. Also, I would like to improve my formal writing skills when dealing with reports or communications with superiors. Finally, I would like to improve my research skills to be more effective and efficient in obtaining information.”
2. Broader knowledge: Understanding the workplace, operating procedures, the company and it’s products, how the firm competes, and other organizational concepts. In addition, this would include knowledge added to existing classroom knowledge, such as new applications or new skills.
Example (Legal environment intern): I plan to explore the operating procedures required by both the state and federal court system through daily interaction with the court system and cases currently in the system. Our company is in the process of streamlining their human resource management policies and I hope to learn correct handling of issues involved in the legal field within offices.
3. Career Awareness: Internships often provide the opportunity to take a peek at what working for a company or in an industry would be like. Objectives could include learning about career positions and occupations along with the qualities and training required to obtain those positions.
Example (Accounting intern): I want to learn how CPA firms work and what it takes to be successful in public accounting. This includes finding out what happens on a day-to-day basis in the office. Also, I want to know what it is like to work in a professional environment, since all my experience so far has been in small offices. Finally, I would like to find out if my CPA license is the way to go regardless of the area of accounting I choose (public, private, government).
4. Personal Development: One of the major benefits of an internship is how it helps you to develop self-confidence, assertiveness, and basic work habits.
Example (Marketing intern): I am not very confident in my ability to function in a business. I have done pretty well in classes, but am worried that I will not be able to translate this into the workplace. A major objective I have for this internship is to gain confidence in myself and that I have something to offer a company. In addition, I would like to improve my ability to talk with others on a professional level. I have not had much experience in this and hope the internship will give an opportunity to talk with a variety of professional types.
Note:
Learning objectives should be developed by the end of the second week of your internship and e-mailed to the internship director. Failure to do so may result in being administratively dropped from the 195 course or a NC grade.
