Internships: Academic Learning Outcomes.

Proponents of experiential learning have long recognized the learning benefits students can achieve through internships, service-learning experiences, and co-ops. There are others, however, who see those experiences as "career exploration," "good for the resume," but not integral to academic learning and so, not valid for the earning of academic credit. Even if internships are viewed as a valid component of the learning cycle, what do we expect students to learn? How do we articulate outcomes that relate to a students' discipline major or to a liberal arts curriculum? Finally, how can we assess whether a student is meeting the outcomes we identify?