Internships: Good, Bad or Ugly

Students are currently searching for their summer internships. We have some questions about the appropriate length of internships and would like to have some words of wisdom directly from the "horses mouth" to pass on to these students. Please give your opinion regarding what would make an effective internship for the Digital Effects & Animation Technology students. Keep in mind that students complete these internships during the summer semester which is 9 weeks long.

Educational Objectives for an internship are:
* develop an enhanced understanding and knowledge of businesses that use computer graphics, animation, motion graphics, game graphics, or video post-production
* develop relationships with professionals who may offer advice or assistance in finding future employment
* learning or increasing fundamental day to day skills used in the workplace
* develop an appreciation of the need to meet deadlines on a consistent basis
* help clarify career goals through a career experience

You may use any experience you had as an intern, using interns or thinking about how you might use an intern in your own business.
Thank you for taking your time to complete this survey.
Name (optional): 


A red asterisk (*) indicates required questions.

  1. How many contact hours do you need (over a 9 week period) to provide a good internship experience for a student.*
    15 hrs. per week
    20 hrs. per week
    25 hrs per week
    30 hrs. per week
    35 hrs. per week


  1. Did you complete an internship in your training and/or education for your current position? If no proceed to question #4. If yes, please answer question #3. *
    Yes
    No


  1. How many hours did you spend in completing your internship (approximately)? 


  1. Do you think internships should be required or optional in our program?*
    REQUIRED
    OPTIONAL


  1. Do you,or have you in the past, employed interns (paid or unpaid)?
    If YES please answer question #6 . If NO skip to question #7*
    Yes
    No


  1. Please let us know how that internship experience affected your company. Was it a good experience? Did you feel your student(s) was capable of contributing to your business? Do you feel the student gained something from it?


  1. What additional advice would you like to provide our school and/or our students regarding internships?





Paula Hindman
Piedmont Community College
Yanceyville, NC