Assignments & Evaluation
The timetable of an internship generally corresponds with the semester at Samford. However, this may vary in the case of Jan Term, summer or London internships, or in situations where site supervisors require a longer time commitment.
Once a student has accepted an internship, he/she should arrange a meeting with his/her site supervisor to formalize the Learning Contract. This form should be returned to the Director of Internships immediately. The Learning Contract is designed to provide a structure for the internship, and as such it represents a contract between the student and his/her site supervisor. The student and site supervisor must establish specific objectives to be accomplished during the internship and adhere to them as closely as possible. The Learning Contract must also provide a detailed timetable of the days per week and hours per day the student will spend at the internship site. Criteria for evaluating the intern's performance are also specified in the Learning contract.
The student must submit two additional documents to the Director of Internships:
- A liability waiver entitled Assumption of Risk, Release, and Indemnity Agreement must be signed by the student as well as by the appropriate witness or parent/guardian.
- The Internship Code of Conduct requires the student's signature.
At the midpoint in the semester, internship students have three responsibilities:
- To schedule a midterm conference with the Director of Internships;
- To complete and submit a Midterm Evaluation: Student Feedback Form to the Director of Internships; and
- To deliver to the site supervisor the Midterm Evaluation: Site Supervisor Feedback Form and request its timely completion.
Each internship student will keep a detailed daily journal of his/her internship work activities. Begin the journal by describing the process that led to the internship being offered and accepted. Include your cover letter, resume, reflections about the interview, etc. Dated daily entries should contain detailed descriptions of work assigned and completed each work session as well as what activities are essential for the completion of the assigned work. Describe relevant interactions with co-workers and/or supervisors. Record your feelings about your assigned tasks--knowledge and skills you are acquiring, personal strengths and weaknesses, frustrations, etc. Refer to the syllabus given to you at your internship workshop for specific suggestions regarding the journal assignment.
The journal must not be simply a listing of day-to-day activities but rather a thoughtful integration of your experiences in the classroom with those of your internship. To ensure this integration occurs, each student must also complete five Debriefing Reports. Each debriefing report is a reflective writing exercise that has four components and focuses on a specific occurrence during the internship. Every two weeks during the internship, review your journal entries and prepare a Debriefing Report in which you comment on the following:
- Concrete experience: Review your activities over the previous two weeks. Select one major activity to describe. What happened? What did you do? What led up to this activity? What happened as a result?
- Reflection: Describe your feelings, reactions, questions, observations, judgments, etc., with regard to this activity.
- Review and Conceptualization: What relevant theories, concepts, or information from your coursework at Samford relate to this activity?
- Generalization: Suggest any activities or implications from this activity that might influence your future behavior. What have you learned from this experience?
Students should include with their journal any samples of their work produced during their internship experience, after having first consulted with the site supervisor for appropriate permission to include these samples.
At the end of the internship, students have several responsibilities:
- Deliver to the site supervisor the Final Evaluation: Site Supervisor Feedback Form and request its timely completion;
- Complete and submit a Final Evaluation: Student Feedback Form to the Director of Internships;
- Schedule a face-to-face final conference with the Director of Internships;
- Turn in the completed journal and debriefing reports to the Director of Internships no later than the time of the final conference.
Students are responsible for following the course syllabus for COMS 424 that is distributed at the internship workshop.
Evaluation of the Internship
Both the Director of Internships and the Site Supervisor determine a student's internship evaluation.
The Director of Internships determines 50% of the evaluation according to the following point system:
- Learning Contract: 5 points
- Midterm Conference: 5 points
- Midterm Evaluation - Student: 5 points
- Midterm Evaluation - Site Supervisor: 5 points
- Final Conference: 5 points
- Final Evaluation - Student: 5 points
- Final Evaluation: Site Supervisor: 5 points
- Anonymous Referral: 5 points
- Journal & Debriefing Reports: 60 points
The Site Supervisor determines 50% of the internship evaluation. All supervisors are asked to articulate their criteria for evaluating the student internship performance on the Learning Contract. The criteria may be based on, but are not limited to, the following:
- Regular, prompt attendance at the workplace as scheduled
- Positive attitude toward associates, supervisors, and work as manifested by factors such as willingness to
- learn new skills/information
- respond flexibly to emergent employer needs
- take direction
- assume responsibility
- take criticism constructively
- work cooperatively with others
- Timely, accurate completion of all work assigned, reflecting thoughtful and careful effort and demonstrating concern for content quality
- Professional appearance as well as other verbal and nonverbal behaviors in the workplace
Supervisors will be asked to assign the student a final point total at the completion of the internship based on the following scale:
- A = 94-100
- A-= 90-93
- B+= 87-89
- B = 84-86
- B-= 80-83
- C+= 77-79
- C = 76-74
- C- = 70-73
- D+= 67-69
- D = 64-66
- D-= 60-63
- F = 59 & below
The student's final grade for the internship will be based on the following scale:
- A = 188-200
- A-= 180-187
- B+= 174-179
- B = 168-173
- B-= 160-167
- C+=154-159
- C = 148-153
- C-= 140-147
- D+= 134-139
- D = 129-133
- D-= 119-128
- F = 118 & below
Students are encouraged to maintain regular contact with the Director of Internships, who is available to discuss issues related to the internship. If problems arise, please report them immediately to:
Dr. Amanda W. Borden, Director of Internships
Department of Communication Studies
Samford University
800 Lakeshore Drive
Birmingham, AL 35229
(205) 726-2511; awborden@samford.edu
