Experiential Education Committee (EEC)
Midwest Internship Consistency Project 2011
EEC Member Name:
Niki Perkins
College/University Name:
Baker College
Campus (if applicable):
Online
~Please return your responses no later than June 17, 2011~
1. Describe the different types of internship programs on your campus. (Complete for each
program type offered at your college/university)
 Program overview:
General overview:
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Baker College offers over 30 internship, externship and clinical opportunities to students in most majors.
They are required for most Baker College programs.
Minimum of 120 hours required of related work experience. This varies by program.
Most clinical work experiences are run by the program dean or program coordinator. Non-medical
internships are run by Career Services.
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Pre-program preparation (pre-requisite courses, etc.):
Some programs have co-requisite course requirements before they can sign up for the internship. Varies
by program.
Students submit their current resume and application to Career Services for work experience. This is
used to help Career Services staff with site selection.
Students who already have experience in their field of study can opt-out of the required internship
course. To do so they must complete the required paper work for Experiential Learning Credit (ELC),
this includes documentation from their employer. Their work experience must be related to their field of
study to be eligible for this option. Students must be employed in their field for a minimum of 1 year to
be eligible for this option. If a student has been unemployed or work in an unrelated field for more than
6 months they do not qualify for this option.
In order to be registered for the internship course students must submit signed paper work from their site
supervisor detailing the student’s duties, schedule, etc. Once approved the student is registered for the
course.
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Majors represented:
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All majors require internships except our accelerated and corporate track programs.
Here is a link to programs offered at Baker College: http://www.baker.edu/programs/
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Credit vs. non-credit and how many credits:
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All internship, externship and clinical experiences are available for credit; generally four (4)
credits.
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Number of work hours per week expected/required:
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Varies by program. On average Baker students complete 120 hours of related work experience to
their major. Other programs might range from 160-225 hours, mainly medical programs with
clinical.
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Requirements for the students (i.e. homework/reflections, etc):
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Varies by program.
All students are required to submit weekly time sheets signed by their site supervisor as well as
mid-point progress and final progress evaluations (also completed by the site supervisor).
Most internship’s require a minimum of 3 papers over a 10-12 week period. All items are graded.
These papers focus on the students experience, site, reflection, etc.
100% Online campus students are also required to participate daily in our Blackboard (Bb)
classroom. This has been very beneficial for students! It gives them a place to connect with other
students who are going through similar experiences. The online campus is the only campus with
this requirement at this time. With the exception of our Health Services Administration
Externship which is run for the Baker System by the Online campus Career Services department.
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Amount of follow up from your staff and what types:
Online students have daily interaction with Career Services faculty via the Bb course. Students
are required to participate in Bb 5 out of 7 days per week. Online Career Services faculty
consists of Career Services personnel from colleges and universities around the USA.
The Online Administrative Assistant acts as a TA in Bb for students regarding time sheets, and
evaluations. Students receive responses to their questions within 24 hours.
Once a student has completed half of their internship hours, 60 hours usually, the Career
Services staff will schedule a visit to the site to meet with the student and supervisor whenever
possible.
o The Online campus does not make site visits; we would be traveling the globe, at this
time. Instead we call and email our site supervisors to follow up on the progress of our
students.
Once the student has successfully completed their required hours, usually 120 and has submitted
their final supervisor evaluation the Online campus sends a thank you letter and gift to the site
supervisor for assisting a Baker College student. The other Baker campuses do similar followup.
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Funding available:
o FAFSA only at
this time.
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Paid vs. unpaid:
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Baker of course prefers paid internships! However, as long as the experience is related to the
students major and will provide a quality experience we do allow students in unpaid internships.
From what I have seen the majority of our students are completing unpaid internships.
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Number of semesters and which semesters:
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Internships generally run 1 quarter. Ground campuses this is 10 weeks long; Online campus 12
weeks long.
Internships are offered every quarter, fall, winter, spring and summer.
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Number of students participating per semester/quarter:
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On average the Online campus runs 70-100+ intern students each quarter.
Ground campuses vary by size, smaller campuses will run approximately 30-50 students per
quarter while others might have 200-300 students in internships each quarter.
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Any other information you feel would be relevant:
No
2. Are your internship programs consistent across your campus? Yes or No
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Yes, I would say they are consistent; we have 12 campuses that run internships. All internship
documents, assignments, etc. are developed through the Baker College System and Career Services
Directors.
3. If yes, what did or do you do to attain the consistency?
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All courses and programs, etc. are systematized for consistency, including internships. At Career
Services Directors meetings any ideas, questions, concerns, approvals, etc. are discussed and
implemented regarding internships. If an idea or change is large enough the directors requests will go
before the Presidents Council for final approval before implementation.
In some instances committees are formed to develop an idea or make changes to an existing internship
course. In this event we strive to have balanced representation from various campus; small, large and
online whenever possible.
All approved internship documents are housed on the Baker website, login required, for easy access by
any Career Services staff at any campus.