Internships In Agricultural Communications Service Units

A Paper Presented to the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists
Agricultural Communications Section
Little Rock, Ark.
February 1998

Shelly Sitton
Instructor
Oklahoma State University Agricultural Communications

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of undergraduate internships in the Oklahoma State University agricultural communications program as a model for implementing departmental internships in other agricultural communications service units. Results indicate such working, educational relationships have been beneficial to both the agricultural communications unit and the students. Results are based on supervisory evaluation forms completed on all interns at the conclusion of each internship.

  

Introduction/Background

Internships, a form of experiential learning, can be vital links between the undergraduate educational program and the professional world (Alexander, 1995). Tyler (1981) indicates cooperative work experiences are needed more today than ever. Employers of agricultural graduates ranked cooperative or internship programs as the number one experience to strengthen students’ educational backgrounds (Bekkum, 1993). "A directed experience such as coop internship or summer internship is highly recommended to complement the academic program." (Bekkum, p. 51)

The Department of Agricultural Education, Communications, and 4-H Youth Development began expanding its undergraduate internship program in 1992. The department had previously hired interns, usually on a "first-come, first-served" basis. In 1992, the faculty member serving as internship coordinator initiated a written report and evaluation system used to assign grades for those students receiving academic credit.

At the beginning of the internship, each student co-signs an internship contract with the internship supervisor and the internship coordinator and submits a list of written objectives. During the internship, all interns are required to submit biweekly written reports indicating the tasks assigned and completed during that evaluation period and their analysis of the learning experience. A final report including samples of work completed is submitted at the end of the internship and evaluated by the internship coordinator.

As the internship program grew, a formal hiring procedure was established within the department. During the semester prior to the internship, position announcements are made in class, in student organization meetings, and on posted fliers. Students apply by submitting formal letters of application and résumés. Agricultural communications staff members who serve as internship supervisors review the applications and interview students as needed to fill each position.

In 1997, the department has more than a dozen departmental internship opportunities for agricultural communications and agricultural education undergraduates, including positions in television production, broadcast writing, publications editing, newsletter production, photography, and public relations writing as well as public relations-type positions in the 4-H curriculum and staff development areas (see Table 1 for internship descriptions). Departmental budgets are used to determine how many paid positions will be filled at the beginning of each semester; some positions are available for academic credit only. At various times, interns have filled professional roles during staff vacancies. The department also coordinates public relations internships with other academic departments within the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

 

Table 1. Student Intern Positions, Department of Agricultural Education, Communications, and 4-H Youth Development at Oklahoma State University

 Broadcast Writing Intern

 

Intern will be responsible for producing weekly video packages for SUNUP. As assigned, intern will be required to serve on SUNUP production crew. Intern must be able to designate a scheduled block of work time each week. He or she should possess video writing and editing skills.

4-H Leisure Education Intern

 

Intern will assist 4-H specialist with planning, conducting, and evaluation of 4-H leisure lab. Intern should possess word processing/computer skills and a willingness to contact professionals to solicit their voluntary services. Knowledge of camping, leisure education, and counselor training, as well as knowledge of Oklahoma 4-H, is preferred.

4-H Environmental Education Curriculum Intern

 

Intern will work with state 4-H specialists to write 4-H school enrichment curriculum related to environmental issues. He or she also will review resource materials from other sources and assemble annotated resource lists for Extension Agents and classroom teachers. Intern will help develop new interactive exhibit components for the "Caring for Planet Earth" exhibit at the state fairs as well as other duties as assigned. Intern should be a junior, senior or graduate student with background or interest in environmental issues and strong library research skills. He or she should possess organizational, communication and computer skills and a willingness to contact professionals to solicit their voluntary services. Knowledge of Oklahoma 4-H and courses in education and/or curriculum development preferred.

4-H Curriculum Development Intern

Intern will assist state 4-H specialists in literature reviews for agricultural literacy lessons. He or she will assist in organizing in-service materials, displays, and other marketing tools used with Ag in the Classroom and with other 4-H school enrichment programs. Intern should possess word processing/computer skills, a willingness to contact professionals to solicit their voluntary services, and the ability to conduct computerized literature searches. Knowledge of Oklahoma agriculture and Oklahoma 4-H preferred.

4-H Volunteer/Staff Development Intern

 

Intern will work with state 4-H specialist responsible for 4-H volunteer and staff development. He or she will help coordinate educational program development, assist with information for the 4-H Volunteer News, and assist with planning and organizing other 4-H events. Intern should be a sophomore or above and should possess word processing/computer skills, as well as written and oral communications skills. Experience with event organization and development preferred.

 Newsletter Editor/Graphic Designer

 

Intern will serve as editor to departmental intern and alumni publications, being specifically responsible for the layout, editing, printing, and mailing of these publications. He or she also will have the opportunity to work on other publications or art work as assigned. Intern should have completed JB 2393 and should have prior experience with Aldus PageMaker and Microsoft Word. Experience with Photoshop is a plus but not a necessity.

Photography Technician

 

Intern will assist the department photographer in the darkroom developing black and white film and photographs. Intern may have limited opportunities to work with Photoshop computer software and to shoot photographs for departmental and/or college use.

Press/Public Relations Intern

 

Intern will generate news releases, assist in preparing photos and cutlines for the news media, and assist in planning promotional information for the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Intern should have completed JB 2393 (Reporting) prior to participating in this internship.

Publications Editor

 

Intern will edit Cooperative Extension fact sheets and other publications as assigned and provide edited copy to the agricultural communications graphics section. He or she will work with authors to make necessary corrections and secure final approval from the authors. Intern should be able to use word processing software and should have completed JB 2393 (Reporting) and/or JB 2413 (News Editing).

State Fair and 4-H Program Management Intern

 

Intern will assist with the coordination and organization for state fair(s), including schedules, passes, mailings, etc. He or she will work with specialists to assemble and maintain resource and reference information, including score sheets, judging criteria, etc. Intern will help develop new interactive exhibit components for the "Caring for Planet Earth" exhibit at the state fairs and summarize items for the "Focus on Youth" newsletter as well as other duties as assigned. Intern should be a junior or senior with interest in a career with the Cooperative Extension Service. He or she should possess organizational and computer skills and a willingness to contact professionals to solicit their voluntary assistance. Knowledge of Oklahoma 4-H preferred.

"SUNUP" Production Intern

On a rotation schedule, intern will be trained to operate and will use on-air studio camera, TelePrompTer, character generator, and videotape machine. Intern will input information into character generator.

Video Intern

 

Intern will assist agricultural communications video section with production of educational videotapes and video conferences. Intern also will be responsible for producing several video packages for SUNUP each month as time permits. Intern may have the opportunity to learn the basics of field shooting. Intern should be able to edit videotapes and to use word processing software.

 

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this study was to determine the professional contributions of the agricultural communications interns employed by the Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Education, Communications, and 4-H Youth Development as perceived by their internship supervisors.

Specific objectives of the study were as follows:

Methodology

The internship coordinator provided the intern’s supervisor with an evaluation instrument at the end of the student’s internship. The instrument identified nine factors that were used to evaluate the intern’s professional performance. The supervisor was asked to rate the student in each performance area, based on a five-point scale (5=outstanding; 4=excellent; 3=good; 2=fair, 1=poor). The performance factors were quality of work, cooperative spirit, contribution to the organization, care/proper use of equipment/material, reaction to constructive criticism, punctuality, initiative, creativity, and ability to meet deadlines. Student’s performance was to be compared to agricultural communications professionals doing the same tasks. An open-ended question allowed supervisors the opportunity to provide additional analysis of the student’s work.

Additionally, interns submitted biweekly written reports during their respective internships through which they identified tasks they had been assigned and analyzed their learning experience.

Results

Approximately 50 students were placed into one or more departmental internship positions during fiscal 1992 through fiscal 1997. From the supervisors’ evaluations submitted (n=46), the highest performance factor of the student interns was "cooperative spirit" (X=4.35) while the lowest was "punctuality" (X=3.8261) , as presented in Table 2. Supervisors indicated that the work completed by students was used in teaching, research, and extension areas within the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

 

Table 2. Supervisor Ratings of Student Intern Performance Factors

 Performance Factor

Mean (X)

Standard Deviation

Quality of Work

4.261

0.773

Cooperative Spirit

4.35

.87

Contribution to the organization

4.067

.863

Care/proper use of equipment/material

4.2

.59

Reaction to constructive criticism

4.022

.83

Punctuality

3.8261

1.0812

Initiative

3.9348

.09522

Creativity

3.8571

.8136

Ability to meet deadlines

3.9348

.9522

 

In the biweekly reports, which were signed by the interns’ respective supervisors, students indicated the tasks assigned included writing news releases; designing newsletters using desktop publishing; shooting photographs; developing black and white film; printing black and white contact sheets and photographs; operating various television equipment to assist in production of live television shows as well as to produce video packages; updating mailing lists; updating organizational notebooks; editing publications including fact sheets and research reports; designing recruitment brochures; creating and distributing video news releases; building displays; converting documents for use on the Internet; and creating/editing lesson plans.

Students analysis of learning identified several dominant learning areas: working with individuals in an office setting; improving computer skills; improving proofreading skills; improving organizational skills; improving interviewing/news gathering skills; improving time-management skills; and learning to operate/ improving skills on TelePrompTer, character generator, video camera, and flyer.

 

Conclusions
  1. The findings indicate internship supervisors in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications, and 4-H Youth Development believe the professional performance of the student interns is "excellent" in nine performance categories: quality of work, cooperative spirit, contribution to the organization, care/proper use of equipment/material, reaction to constructive criticism, punctuality, initiative, creativity, and ability to meet deadlines.
  2. Undergraduate student interns contributed in a meaningful way to the work undertaken by the agricultural communications unit, producing items and programs used to advance the mission of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, and the OSU Experiment Station.
  3. Undergraduate students developed and/or improved technical and personal skills while participating in the departmental internship program.

  

Recommendations
  1. Evaluation of students participating in on-campus internships should be based on the same criteria as used to evaluate professionals and students participating in off-campus internships.
  2. Agricultural communications units in other land grant institutions should consider implementing an internship program if one does not exist.
  3. Additional research should be completed to determine the agricultural communications staff’s satisfaction with the internship program.

 

 

References

Alexander, J.P. (1993). Internships in communications. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press.

Bekkum, V. (1993). "Experience needs of college of agriculture graduates as perceived by business and industry." NACTA Journal. Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 49-51.

Tyler, R.W. (1981). The values of cooperative education from a pedagogical perspective. Journal of Cooperative Education. Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 48-56.

 

To Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists-Agricultural Communications Section Home Page