1. Evaluation of the First Year of an On-Campus Internship Program
Dr. Sharra Hynes, Executive Director, Experiential Learning
Mark Walvoord, Assistant Director, Student Transformative Learning Record

2. Pair and Share What is the state of internships on your campus?
What advantages would come from increasing internship opportunities on campus?
How do you differentiate on-campus internships from other on-campus student employment?

3. Today’s Outline Context Funding Program and Research Goals
Enhancements to Our Program
Participant Implementation Reflection

4. Context: About UCO 17,000 students
Primarily nontraditional, ~45% work off campus 20+ hrs/week
Oklahoma’s oldest institution of higher education (126 years)
40-50% First Generation college students
Primarily nontraditional (10% live on campus)
Most international UGs in OK (~10%)
450 FT faculty/~670 FTE faculty
Teaching load: 12 hrs/semester (4x4 load)
5 colleges, 1 grad college, 1 institute

5. Context: About UCO
Oklahoma City metropolitan area has 1.25 million people
With 10 Colleges and Universities
Our graduates need a competitive edge = experiential learning opportunities

6. Context: TL at UCO Four Strategic Themes: Transformative Learning
Mission: The University of Central Oklahoma exists to help students learn by providing transformative education experiences to students so that they may become productive, creative, ethical, and engaged citizens and leaders serving our global community. UCO contributes to the intellectual, cultural, economic and social advancement of the communities and individuals it serves.
Four Strategic Themes:
Transformative Learning
Student Success
Value
Place
UCO’s Center for Transformative Learning (2010)

7. Context: TL at UCO Transformative Learning:
Develops beyond disciplinary skills and
Expands students’ perspectives of their relationship with self, others, community and environment.
Expanded explanation. TL:
Helps students acquire critical, beyond-discipline skills that prepare them for successful workplace and personal life engagement.
Produces graduates who:
Better understand themselves;
Better relate to co-workers, family, and friends;
Better contribute to their communities;
Are better stewards of their environment.

8. Context: Experiential Learning at UCO
UCO Experiential Learning
Applies classroom knowledge to practical situations
Provides avenues to transformative learning
Student Research
In Class Activities
Internships
Clinical Experiences
Volunteer and Service Learning
Global
Experiences
through…
Student
Life
Created by Mark Walvoord, 1/23/15 for website

9. Context: History of UCO Internships
Decentralized (in Departments/Colleges)
Few with required internships
2014 move to enhance experiential learning opportunities
Less alignment of Career Services priorities to campus actions

10. Today’s Outline Context Funding Program and Research Goals
Enhancements to Our Program
Participant Implementation Reflection

11. Funding: STLR

12. Career Services A DIVISION OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
Funding
$7.78 million, DOE Title III grant, Oct 2014 – Sept 2019
Career Services A DIVISION OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
~$110,000 per year
30 positions

13. Today’s Outline Context Funding Program and Research Goals
Enhancements to Our Program
Participant Implementation Reflection

14. Program Goals
Give students work experience in a potential future career field
Create an internship program that is replicable in other settings
Enhance students’ employability through increased experiential opportunities
Sharra:
Quick review of program design (cohort, year-long, monthly development meetings, trained supervisors, mid- and end-semester reviews…)

15. Research Goals
Analyze students' satisfaction with the University’s attempts to enhance their career prospects
Determine if program helps students verify career goals
Quantify increase in students’ employable skills
Data:
Pre- and post-surveys
SIS Data
GPA, Major

16. Research Goals Pre- and post-surveys
4 Likert scale prompts for UCO’s contribution to their career readiness
10 skills-based Likert scale prompts (3 communication, 3 teamwork, 3 problem solving, 1 leadership)
Post-graduation plans

17. Research Results
Significant skills increases using traditional pre-post
--Significant increase in self-reported skills in “expressing ideas and concepts orally” (p=.002); “engaging with people whose ideas and experiences are different than my own” (p=.009); “working with others to complete a project” (p=.017); “interpreting data and information to apply to my task” (p=.017) (traditional pre-post on survey, pairwise t-test), all increased.
-- All 10 significant increases in self-reported skills using retrospective pre-post on survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals
--Significant increase in the 4 skills groups (retrospective pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test)
-- No significant change in student perspective about UCO helping them achieve their career goals (3 of 4 questions were already “strongly agree,” and 4th went from ”agree” to “strongly agree” on average in post-test, but not quite significant at p=.059).
--No significant change in post-graduation plans (pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals); for ANY change pre- to post-survey, _________.
N=24

18. Research Results And ALL increased using retrospective pre-post data
--Significant increase in self-reported skills in “expressing ideas and concepts orally” (p=.002); “engaging with people whose ideas and experiences are different than my own” (p=.009); “working with others to complete a project” (p=.017); “interpreting data and information to apply to my task” (p=.017) (traditional pre-post on survey, pairwise t-test), all increased.
-- All 10 significant increases in self-reported skills using retrospective pre-post on survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals (p = .005, .001, .002, .001, .000, .000, .000, .000, .001, .001)
--Significant increase in the 4 skills groups (retrospective pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test)
-- No significant change in student perspective about UCO helping them achieve their career goals (3 of 4 questions were already “strongly agree,” and 4th went from ”agree” to “strongly agree” on average in post-test, but not quite significant at p=.059).
--No significant change in post-graduation plans (pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals); for ANY change pre- to post-survey, _________.
N=24

19. Research Results
Changes in self-reported skill groups using retrospective pre-post data
--Significant increase in self-reported skills in “expressing ideas and concepts orally” (p=.002); “engaging with people whose ideas and experiences are different than my own” (p=.009); “working with others to complete a project” (p=.017); “interpreting data and information to apply to my task” (p=.017) (traditional pre-post on survey, pairwise t-test), all increased.
-- All 10 significant increases in self-reported skills using retrospective pre-post on survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals
--Significant increase in the 4 skills groups (retrospective pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test)
-- No significant change in student perspective about UCO helping them achieve their career goals (3 of 4 questions were already “strongly agree,” and 4th went from ”agree” to “strongly agree” on average in post-test, but not quite significant at p=.059).
--No significant change in post-graduation plans (pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals); for ANY change pre- to post-survey, _________.
N=24

20. Research Results
No significant change in students’ beliefs about UCO helping them succeed
--Significant increase in self-reported skills in “expressing ideas and concepts orally” (p=.002); “engaging with people whose ideas and experiences are different than my own” (p=.009); “working with others to complete a project” (p=.017); “interpreting data and information to apply to my task” (p=.017) (traditional pre-post on survey, pairwise t-test), all increased.
-- All 10 significant increases in self-reported skills using retrospective pre-post on survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals
--Significant increase in the 4 skills groups (retrospective pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test)
-- No significant change in student perspective about UCO helping them achieve their career goals (3 of 4 questions were already “strongly agree,” and 4th went from ”agree” to “strongly agree” on average in post-test, but not quite significant at p=.059).
--No significant change in post-graduation plans (pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals); for ANY change pre- to post-survey, _________.
N=24

21. Research Results Change in post-grad plans pre-post
Enroll in graduate school
Begin working in a different field from which I currently work
Travel
Don’t have any idea yet
Begin working in a position directly related to my chosen major
Other
--Significant increase in self-reported skills in “expressing ideas and concepts orally” (p=.002); “engaging with people whose ideas and experiences are different than my own” (p=.009); “working with others to complete a project” (p=.017); “interpreting data and information to apply to my task” (p=.017) (traditional pre-post on survey, pairwise t-test), all increased.
-- All 10 significant increases in self-reported skills using retrospective pre-post on survey responses, pairwise t-test for individuals
--Significant increase in the 4 skills groups (retrospective pre- to post-survey responses, pairwise t-test)
-- No significant change in student perspective about UCO helping them achieve their career goals (3 of 4 questions were already “strongly agree,” and 4th went from ”agree” to “strongly agree” on average in post-test, but not quite significant at p=.059).
--Significant change (for ANY change) pre- to post-survey, p<.001
N = 24, p < 0.001

22. Today’s Outline Context Funding Program and Research Goals
Enhancements to Our Program
Participant Implementation Reflection

23. Enhancements
Intern UCO Handbook to help students and supervisors stay on track
Weekly reflections and increased LMS usage
Compile Year 2 data to combine with Year 1
New funding model
Expansion to 8 Off-Campus positions
Photo from

24. Today’s Outline Context Funding Program and Research Goals
Enhancements to Our Program
Participant Implementation Reflection

25. Implementation Reflection
Choose one, then go to your corner:
Assessing your existing internship program
Starting a new internship program
Expanding an existing internship program
Ideas for non-internship, experiential programs

26. Evaluation of the First Year of an On-Campus Internship Program
careers.uco.edu/InternUCO
Dr. Sharra Hynes
Mark Walvoord
uco.edu/stlr
@ucostlr