Chapter 7, Additional Case 3: Organizing a Document

Background

"One of the first items on my agenda is to write an internship handbook," Georgia McCallum told the group seated around the conference table. This was the first meeting of the Internship Working Group. Georgia, the newly hired university internship director, had assembled the group to review current practices for academic internships and to create reasonable, consistent university-wide standards for academic internships. Attending the meeting were Professors Leandra Lucas and Rick Burtt. Leandra serves as the internship coordinator for the School of Engineering; Rick coordinates internships for the Department of Kinesiology. You were invited to participate as a student representative.

"One of the things I learned when I interviewed all the internship coordinators this fall was that internship standards tend to be set by individual departments," Georgia explained. "I also learned that new internship coordinators don't have much guidance or many resources. They don't know what options they have in regard to working with student interns and the sponsoring organizations. The result is an inconsistent internship experience for students and confused sponsoring organizations."

"I agree," you said. "When I interned at KBCI-TV, I had to write a learning agreement, keep a learning log, submit weekly progress reports, and complete a self-evaluation. I even think my internship coordinator met with my supervisor at KBCI once or twice. Another intern from a different department only had to write a one-page report at the end of the semester."

"My point exactly. Should both students earn the same amount of academic credit?" Georgia asked the group.

"With the number of interns I supervise each semester," Rick said, "I couldn't possibly maintain that level of contact with the interns and their supervisors."

"That's why I think we should establish some basic requirements, such as number of hours worked per credit hour, and leave the details up to the individual internship coordinators," Leandra added.

"Didn't the Office of the Registrar already establish that an intern must work 50 hours per credit hour of the internship?" Rick asked.

"I worked only 45 hours per credit—"

"See," Georgia interrupted, "that's what I see as the role of this internship handbook: to outline the basic requirements for internships offered through the university and then to provide resources for providing high-quality internship experiences for our students."

"I think the handbook also needs to address some of the issues raised by the employers who responded to the internship survey we conducted last summer," Leandra added, "especially those responses relating to how we could improve the college internship program." She pointed to a page from the survey report listing some of the employer comments (Document 7.1).

"Absolutely," Georgia agreed. "The employers had some great ideas. I think faculty would be really receptive to their ideas."

"So this handbook is for faculty internship coordinators?" Rick asked.

"Yes. I also want to give this handbook to sponsoring organizations. I think it would be great if the handbook were reorganized and made available to students as well." Georgia paused after looking at the group's concerned faces. "I know this sounds like an ambitious undertaking with only a few weeks left in the semester, but I already have an outline developed for faculty coordinators and sponsoring organizations," she explained as she distributed the outline (Document 7.2).

After a few minutes, Leandra asked Georgia, "How do you want us to help?"

"This outline is very rough and needs lots of work. It's all subject to change. I was hoping that each of you could take a look at the outline and let me know if the organization makes sense to you and whether I should change or add topics. I'd also like your advice on how to reorganize the material for students."

Your Assignment

DOCUMENTS

Document 7.1

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Document 7.2

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