GIS Internships Within Natural Resource Management Programs
Thomas A. Wikle*
ABSTRACT
Internships should be considered for bridging the gap
between geographic information system (CIS) theory provided
by academic programs stressing natural resource management, and practical experience now being sought by employers. A survey of academicians involved in supervising GIS
interns shows GIS internships to be increasing in popularity.
The survey also illustrates how faculty who supervise GIS
internships view CIS-related prerequisites and issues such as
the compatibility of payment and credit. The responses compiled provide an overview of how GIS internship programs are
currently administered. Using information garnered from the
survey, a framework is developed for introducing or enhancing
a GIS internship program for students in natural resource disciplines. The outline presented includes planning, student and
employer recruiting, and student evaluation.
EOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GISs) are among the
G
fastest growing technologies being used for natural
resource management. A GIS is an information system
designed to work with spatially referenced data or geographic coordinates, and includes hardware, software, and
data (Star and Estes, 1990). Spatial data used by a GIS
reside within layers corresponding to feature type such as
land use, soil type, highways/roads, slope, hydrology, or
land ownership. Largely the result of the proliferation of
inexpensive desktop computers and powerful GIS software,
the GIS revolution has dramatically affected the ways spatial information is used within natural resource disciplines.
At the same time GIS facilitates innovations in the way
information is stored, analyzed, and displayed, it provides
possibilities for identifying previously unknown relationships within spatial data. In a short period, GIS has become
an indispensable tool for natural resource management.
Beneficiaries of natural resource GIS applications include
disciplines such as forestry, agronomy, geography, geology,
zoology, wildlife management, and environmental science.
The adoption of GIS technology for natural resource
management within industry and government has created a
new demand for technicians, analysts, and managers.
Candidates for entry-level positions are increasingly expected to have exposure to or experience with GIS hardware and
applications. Although college and university GIS coursework can provide students with a foundation in GIS theory,
limitations in faculty time or equipment can create barriers
to students interested in gaining in-depth experience with
GIS-related projects. In addition, college GIS courses may
offer only a brief introduction to high-end, industry-standard
software packages that are in the greatest demand by
employers. One way of addressing this gap between GIS
theory and practical experience is by providing students
with internship opportunities in government agencies or private GIS firms. Taylor (1988) defines the student internship
as "...a structured and career-related work experience
obtained by students prior to graduation from an academic
program." The purpose of this article is to examine the
administration of GIS internships designed for students in
programs stressing natural resource management. I hope the
information presented may be useful to faculty interested in
initiating or expanding a GIS internship program.
Faculty Perceptions of Internships
Department of Geography, Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK 74078.
Received 10 Nov. 1995. 'Corresponding author (geogtaw@okway.
okstate.edu).
Published in J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ. 25:165-169 (1996).
Abbreviations: GIS, geographic information system; NRCS, Natural
Resource Conservation Service.
J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ., Vol. 25, no. 2, 1996 • 165
GISinternships will play a role in curricula stressing natural resources only if faculty believe they will complement
rather than substitute for formal instruction. The value of
internship experiences has been the topic of significant
debate among academicians. Concerning internships,
Ciofalo (1992) notes that an intellectual distance can separate teachers and practitioners partly because somecollege
faculty question the value of experiential learning. Muchof
this apprehension maybe tied to perceived variation in
internship quality or a reluctance on the part of faculty to
transfer control for evaluating student performanceto offcampuspractitioners. Problemsmayalso stem from the difficulty faced by faculty supervisors in interpreting employer evaluations or measuringhowmucha student has learned
from an internship experience. Another issue of debate
among academicians is whether or not students should
receive credit for an internship experience. Accordingto
Kendall (1992), somebelieve that academiccredit assigned
to internships displaces traditional coursework.This perception is echoed by Kozmaet al. (1978) whonote that faculty
whoare oriented to contemporaryproblems and issues are
the most likely to accept and encourage the relationship
betweenpractical experience and theoretical study.
GIS Internship Benefits
Althoughthey remain controversial in academiccircles,
internships provide a wide variety of benefits to students.
For example, while information assimilation that occurs
within an internship is relatively time consuming,it maybe
less easily forgotten than other forms of learning (Coleman,
1976). While classroom learning is oriented toward cognitive achievement,internship experiences train students in
the skills of collaboration, interpersonal communication,
decision-making, and leadership (Kozmaet al., 1978).
Learning the value of teamworkis especially important for
GIS students since a great numberof natural resource GIS
projects involve interdisciplinary cooperation. Internships
also facilitate workingand learning in environmentswhere
there are unforeseen problems and few predetermined correct answers. Such experiences force students to cope with
learning formats that lack traditional classroomsupport systemssuch as syllabi and tests.
For a student interested in natural resource management
a GISinternship maybe attractive as a wayto explore interest in GIS, to becomemore competitive by gaining work
experience, or as an opportunity to receive academiccredit,
financial compensation, or both. In addition to providing
access to other professionals in the field, an internship may
involve the use of GISequipmentnot available at the student’s college or university. In addition, interaction made
possible through an internship mayprovide contacts within
industry or governmentthat can assist a student searching
for employment(Henry, 1979; McClaimand Kessler, 1982).
Other benefits of internships are summarizedby Taylor and
Dunham
(1980), Blensley (1982), and Gryski et al. (1987).
Withinthe last 5 yr, growthin the use of natural resource
GIS applications has widened the educational gap between
technical skills someemployers look for and the emphasis
on theory provided through traditional academic coursework. In addition to a college degree in a natural resource
166 ¯ J. Nat. Resour.Life Sci. Educ.,VoL25, no. 2, 1996
field, entry-level GIS analysts are nowexpected to have
experience with one or more "industry standard" GIS software packages and some combination of coursework or
experience in computer programming, photogrammetry,
surveying, database management,statistics, or remotesensing (Wikle, 1994). Giventhe potential for GISinternships
fill the gap betweenpractical and theoretical GIStraining, it
maybe helpful to examinecharacteristics that have made
GISinternships successful at colleges and universities that
have implementedthem. Such an examination mayassist in
developing a programthat integrates GIS internship within
a natural resource degree program.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In setting out to improveour internship programinvolving students interested in GIS and natural resource management, faculty in the Department of Geographyat Oklahoma
State University (OSU)decided to solicit information about
how our colleagues at other institutions administer GIS
internships. A mail questionnaire was prepared to obtain
basic information about internship administration such as:
(i) howfaculty and students learn about internship opportunities, (ii) howmuchcontact interns, faculty supervisors,
and employershave after the internship begins, and (iii) how
interns are evaluated. In December1994, the questionnaire
was mailed to 157 faculty whoteach GIS. The 85 completed surveys provided a response rate of 54%.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results garnered from the survey were intended to supply information concerning howGIS internship programs
are administered. Giventhe fact that GISintemships maybe
more technically demandingthan other types of internship
opportunities, respondents were asked to indicate what prerequisites, if any, students mustfulfill prior to enrolling in
internship credit hours. About25%of respondents indicated
that junior standing was required for students considering a
GIS internship while another 35%noted that students were
required to have senior standing. Although only 20%of
respondents required an advanced GIS course, more than
70%indicated that students must have completed a basic
GIS course (Table 1).
One of the most important issues related to internship
administration is the wayinternship opportunities and students are brought together. Results from the survey demonstrated the largest numberof GISplacements were arranged
through faculty contacts in governmentor private industry.
The second most commonmethod for bringing interns and
employers together was through word-of-mouth where
opportunities are passed along to students by former interns.
Surprisingly, few governmentor private industry sponsors
advertised GIS internship opportunities through newspapers, magazines,or Internet postings (Table 1).
The survey also requested general information concerning the numberof GISstudents whoparticipated in internships, the length of their work weeks, and the duration of
employment. The survey demonstrated that about 35%of
graduates seeking employmentin a GIS-related career had
participated in a GIS internship. However,this rate is
increasing. Between 1992 and 1994 the average annual
Table 1. Characteristics
Table 2. Faculty opinions concerning GIS internships.
of GIS internships reported by faculty.
Prerequisitesrequired for an internship
Junior standing
Senior standing
Basic GIS course
AdvancedGIS course
Percent
25
35
71
20
Waysstudents find internship opportunities
Faculty contacts with employers
Wordof mouthpassed by former interns
Newspaper,magazineor lnternet postings
97
52
18
Averagenumberof weekly hours workedby interns
<15
15-20
21-39
40
30
53
7
10
Lengthof internships
3 mo
5-6 mo
9 mo
12 mo
59
32
7
2
Frequencyof contact betweenthe faculty supervisor and the intern
Morethan once per week
Once each week
Biweekly
Monthly
Onlyat the beginning/endingof the internship
10
21
25
25
19
Frequencyof contact betweenthe faculty supervisor and the employer
Morethan once per week
Once each week
Biweekly
Monthly
Onlyat the beginning/endingof the internship
13
4
10
35
38
Assignmentsrequired outside of work tasks
Final report
Research paper
Readings
Exam
76
10
7
0
Shoulda student receiving credit be paid?
Yes
No
Dependson circumstances
53
7
40
Rating of the importanceof an internship to a
colle~;e graduate seeking an entr~-Ievel, GISposition
Extremely important
Important
Neural
Unimportant
Totally unnecessary
59
37
4
0
0
Anotherkey element of internship administration is the
frequencyof contact betweenthe faculty sponsor, ~e intem,
and the intern’s employer. Contact between the faculty
supervisor and the intern was more frequent than between
the faculty supervisor and intern’s employer(Table 1).
Respondentswere asked to indicate what assignments, if
any, interns were required to completeoutside of their regular worktasks. Just over 75%required students to write final
reports while about 10% had students submit research
papers. Only 7%required reading assignments (Table 1).
Perhaps the most telling question addressed the overall
importance of an internship experience. Respondentswere
asked to rate the value or importanceof a GISinternship to
a college graduate seeking an entry-level GISposition on a
scale that ranged from extremely important to unnecessary
(Table 2). Morethan 95%indicated that a GIS internship
was extremely important (59%) or important (37%) while
4%were neutral. Noneof the respondents rated internships
as unimportantor unnecessary.
An Internship
numberof GIS internship placements in departments surveyed grew from five to seven. In most cases, summer
interns workedfull-time while interns employedduring the
academic year were employed 20 h or less per week. Few
internships lasted longer than 6 mo. The majority were
developed to match an academicsemester, quarter, or summer term (Table 1).
The survey revealed considerable variation in the amount
of credit that students earn for participation in an internship
program. Academiccredit ranged from none to 15 credit
hours. Morethan one-half reported that students enrolled in
three credit hours per term. Manyrespondents noted their
departmentsplace a limit on the numberof internship credit hours each student can earn. Of special note wasthe issue
of whetherit is appropriate for a student receiving academic credit to also be paid. Just over one- half (53%)of faculty surveyed felt that student interns whoreceive credit
should also be paid while only 7%said they should not
receive any type of financial compensation.A large portion
(40%)indicated that paymentshould depend on the circumstances of the individual internship (Table 2). A few suggested that paymentwouldseverely compromisethe educational purpose of internships by opening the door for
employersto justify the assignmentof tasks that have nothing to do with internship objectives. Other respondentssuggested that paymentshould be madeas a practical matter for
summer employment.
Percent
Program Framework
Growthin the demandfor internships suggests that faculty must not ignore the value of establishing and maintaining strong and well-organized internship programs. Using
information from the survey coupled with our ownexperiences supervising natural resource GIS interns, somegeneralizations and recommendationswere developed concerning
the establishment or enrichment of GIS internship programs.
The process of building an internship program must
begin at the departmentallevel. Faculty in an academicunit
should formally recognizethe value of providing internships
and must be willing to makea commitmentin terms of time
and effort. After an academic department agrees on some
basic policies and guidelines for administering GISinternships, the next step involves the placement of students.
Several characteristics make particular GIS internship
opportunities attractive to students including the type of
agencyor private firm offering a position, the meaningfulness of the work assignment, whether or not there will be
financial compensation,and the potential for the internship
to becomea permanent position within the organization.
Oneissue that can create problemsfor recruiting interns is
the discrepancy between the academicand calendar years.
While most students are available during summermonths,
the survey and our experiences demonstrate that manyprivate firms and public agencies need students throughout the
academicyear. Therefore, semester or quarter-long internJ. NaLResour.Life Sci. Educ.,VoL25, no. 2, 1996¯ 167
ships should be included in the planning process. A critical
factor in establishing a successful GISinternship is that only
students whoare academically prepared should participate.
Ill-prepared students will gain less from the experience and
maytarnish the reputation of the sponsoringdepartment. In
manycases, it maybe necessary for faculty supervisors to
weedout students whodo not meet departmental or employer criteria. Such criteria mayinclude academicstanding,
grade point average, prerequisite coursework, or personal
motivation.
Contacting prospective employers is not necessarily a
difficult task, but it can be time-consuming.Initial contact
can be madeby letter to the personnel divisions of federal,
state, or local resource management
agencies or to private
firms. The faculty supervisor can then follow-up with telephone calls. Onceestablished, a successful GIS internship
program can sell itself to employers whomaymakeannual
requests for interns.
An important issue that should be discussed during the
initial contact with an employeris the range of tasks to be
assigned to the intern. Althoughthere maybe monotonous
or repetitive tasks associated with the position, an intern
should not be the one saddled with work regular employees
do not want. Ideally, interns should be scheduled to gain
exposure to all phases ofa GISproject that should be made
to mirror the duties associated with a full-time assignment.
OklahomaState University interns have gained exposure to
natural resource GIS at a variety of governmentagencies
and private GIS firms. Using GRASS
software, OSUstudents interning
with the USDANatural Resource
Conservation Service (NRCS)have been involved in tasks
ranging from spatial data entry (scanning, digitizing)
polygonoverlay analysis as a meansof identifying the relationship between soil and vegetation type. OSUstudents
placed at a nearby private GIS firm used ArcView2 softwareto build spatial data layers for a farm-level GISsystem.
Layers in the database were constructed to represent
resource characteristics (soil type, slope, and aspect) farm
inputs (records for fertilizer, herbicide, or insecticide applications), and satellite images showingcrop vigor. The systems developedwere designed to assist farmers in moreefficient and environmentallysound applications of crop inputs
within field boundaries. Student and employerreaction to
these placementshas been very positive and several interns
have been offered permanentpositions.
In addition to selecting specific assignmentsfor interns,
decisions must be madeconcerning the level of supervision
necessary for the internship. Theseinclude: (i) the kinds
work that can be assigned to a person whoseprimary objective is to further his/her education, (ii) the amountof responsibility the employershould expectfromthe intern, and, (iii)
the amount and type of mentoring an intern’s supervisor
should provide. An intern should be expected to work as a
regular employeeaccording to a prearranged schedule and
must be accountable for the timely accomplishmentof specific assignments.In an ideal situation it wouldbe possible
for the intern to completea GISproject or other meaningful
task during the term of the internship.
Kozmaet al. (1978) remind us that internships occur
two environments, the academic setting where the experience is planned and approved and to which the student
168 ¯ J. NaLResour.Life ScLEduc.,VoL25, no. 2, 1996
returns, and the field placementwherethe student learns and
is evaluated. Therefore,it is especially importantfor internship programsto have clearly defined objectives. Of equal
importanceis the need for the faculty supervisor, the student, and the student’s employerto be involved in laying out
these objectives. A written document should be prepared
before an internship begins that describes specific activities
and methodsused for evaluating the student’s performance.
This documentshould be prepared jointly by the faculty
supervisor, the student, and the student’s employer.
Evaluation
Evaluation, the final step in the internship, is crucial to
the success of an internship program. There are several
types of student evaluation that should be incorporated into
an internship program. Interns should receive weekly or
biweeklyevaluations that include both narrative and numerical performanceindicators framed in marketplaceterms. If
time and resources are available, the supervising faculty
membershould observe the intern at work with the intern’s
employer.In addition to highlighting the seriousness of the
internship experience, the informal meetingof the three parties encourages commitmentfrom the employer and fosters
a public relations tie betweenthe sponsor organization and
academicinstitution. A summaryevaluation should be completed at the end of the internship that is retained as a record
of the student’s overall accomplishmentsand performance.
Althoughtraditional letter grades maybe used for student
internships, other types of grades such as credit/no credit or
pass/fail maybe employed.Ideally, the final grade assigned
to a student is determinedjointly by the intern’s employer
and the faculty supervisor. Interns and employers should
also be askedto completea brief evaluation of their experience as a meansof fine tuning assignments, supervision, and
other characteristics of the program.Heskin(1977) notes the
importance of evaluation as one of the stages experienced
by students who participate in internship programs. The
internship begins with students in a state of confusioncreated by unfamiliar surroundings and expectations. The confusion phase is replaced by a period of fascination with the
workbeing done. Eventually, curiosity is supplanted by routine as the student becomescomfortable with the work environmentand tasks assigned. The final stage is one of criticism that mirrors understanding. Eventually the student may
make comparisons between what "is" and what "ought to
be."
Role of the Faculty Supervisor
Brereton (1979) suggests that the role played by the faculty supervisoris critical to the successof an internship program. However,it should be noted that a faculty supervisor’s role maybe substantially different from whatoccurs in
a conventional classroom. Within the internship setting the
faculty supervisor serves as an attentive and careful advisor
rather than as an instructor. In addition, the supervisor
ensures that a degree of quality control has been maintained
and that programobjectives are being met. Finally, the faculty supervisor is responsible for assigning a student’s final
grade. Academicdepartments with larger numbersof interns
should consider having a designated coordinator who
receives release time in exchange for supervision of interns
and responsibility for overall program administration.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
In this paper I have attempted to identify some of the
salient characteristics of GIS internship administration within natural resource management programs. From the survey
responses I gathered, it became clear to me that internship
programs will work best if they are administered intensively, are provided with substantial resources, and promote frequent consultations between faculty supervisors, students,
and employers. The importance and value of GIS internship
experiences within natural resource management can be
highlighted by their growing popularity. Departments interested in initiating such programs would benefit from careful
planning and periodic reexamination of academic goals.
Such efforts would be helpful in developing or refining
internship programs to make them more beneficial and
rewarding to students, employers, and faculty.
J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ., Vol. 25, no. 2, 1996 • 169