Course Syllabus

This website has been prepared to guide you in planning for and completing an extension internship. It includes a broad range of suggestions and guidelines that will assist you in discussing with your supervising Extension agent the activities that will be important and valuable to both of you during the internship. It provides a basis for evaluating your progress toward developing proficiency in the competencies needed by Cooperative Extension agents. Finally, it provides you with a systematic means of documenting your completion of the internship requirements. You should become thoroughly familiar with this material before beginning your internship.

This manual will be useful whether you are doing the internship for job experience or also using it to earn academic credit. If you are enrolling in the internship for academic credit, you will need to identify a sponsoring faculty member in addition to your supervising Extension agent. Some academic programs require internship credit, so you will want to talk to your academic advisor when deciding whether or not you want to seek academic credit, as appropriate.

Internship Reports
VCE Internship Agreement Form
Each VCE Intern must complete an Internship Agreement Form. This agreement confirms the responsibilities of the supervising agent, the intern and the academic advisor (as appropriate) in the internship, the beginning and ending dates of the internship, the intern’s proposed work schedule, the intern’s rate of compensation, and a general description of the proposed duties and responsibilities of the intern. Interns will be provided this form on their first day of employment and it must be completed at that time.

Record of Internship
Interns are expected to keep a Record of Internship as part of your VCE internship experience. The Record of Internship can take the format of a Journal, blog, or log of activities but the format must be approved by the host Agent at the beginning of the internship. The Record must be maintained at least on a weekly basis, but can be completed daily if you wish.  In the Record you should log your experiences both in the office environment and in the community. Your descriptions should be detailed enough that someone reading your journal can tell the depth and breadth of your experiences. Your Record of Internship should include a description of the assigned county/unit, and a description and refection on the duties performed by the intern. The Record of Internship must be completed and submitted to the supervising Agent prior to completion of the internship.

Mid-Term and Final Evaluations
If you are taking the course for credit, summarize the results of your mid-term and final evaluation with your supervising Extension agent.  This form is available as a pdf at http://www.intra.ext.vt.edu/staffdev/documents/InternEvaluationFromSupervisingAgent416.pdf and can also be submitted on the VT Canvas site.  What are the things they mentioned that you did well?  What are areas in which you need to improve?  How do you plan to make improvements?  What areas did you share with them in which you hope to learn more or grow?

Final Report 
Use the final report to identify success in achieving specific goals and the completion of specific activities from your internship project.  In the Final Report, answer the following questions:  What did you learn?  What questions do you have as a result of your experience?  How has your understanding of Cooperative Extension changed?  What do you see as benefits to a career in Cooperative Extension?  What are the challenges in an Extension career?  Does a career in Cooperative Extension fit into your life goals?  The Final Report will be due on the last day of the internship.

Assignment of Grades (only if taking internship for credit)

If you are receiving course credit for the internship in ALCE you are expected to complete all internship reports listed in the previous section by the deadlines established by you and the university instructor of record.   These reports will be submitted using the Virginia Tech course management system, Canvas.  For questions and information about accessing this course through Canvas, contact Karen Vines (kvines@vt.edu; 540-231-1264).

In ALCE, your course grade will be assigned by your instructor of record in consultation with your supervising Extension agent based on these reports. A point system has been developed for the purpose of determining this grade, although this may be modified to meet the needs of a specific internship program with agreement of all parties.