Internship in Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Spring 2015

Instructor: Dr. Stephen J. Vodanovich

Required Text: None

Office: Building 41 Room 220; Lab Room 225

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday: 1:30-3:30; Wednesday: 1:30-2:30. Other times are available by appointment.

~ Student Learning Objectives ~

Students will be able to:

1)   Apply and integrate I-O coursework (e.g., Personnel Selection, Organizational Psychology, Organizational Development, Training) to practices used by your internship organization

       [Primaily assessed by an intergrative paper]  Relevant core areas: Content, Critical thinking, Communication, Project management

2)   Perform internship duties/tasks/projects in a professional and ethical manner.

      [Primaily assessed by supervisor evaluation and regular contact with internship Chair]  Relevant core areas:Values/Ethics, Communication, Project management

3)   Formally sumarize and critique the activities performed in the internship.

      [Primarily assessed via a PowerPoint presentation and answering questions from audience]  Relevant core areas: Content, Critical thinking, Communication, Project management

4)   Orally apply and expand upon the content of the internship paper. 

      [Primarily assessed via the oral defense of the intersnhip and internship paper]  Relevant core areas: Content, Critical thinking, Communication, Project management

Course Requirements:

1)  Complete the Application for Internship form and get approval of proposed activities by internship committee.

2)  Perform a minimum of 600 hours of I-O-related activities .   Immediate site supervisor must verify the number of hours  worked on the supervisor  evaluation form.

3)  Keep in regualr contact with the internship course instructor (chair) throughout the semester.  Students are encouraged to contact the course instrutor

      for advice, suggestions, feedback, etc. regarding thier internship activities and internship paper requirements.

4) Have immediate supervisor complete and sign the Internhsip Evaluation form

5)  Submit internshp paper to course instructor by the end of week 11  (3/20).  Internship papers that are late, incomplete or of poor quality, as judged by  me, will not be accepted

and will have to be resubmitted the following semester)  Submission of drafts to me  for  feedback before this initial deadline date is highly encouraged.  The internhsip paper requires you to answer 4 questions. 

Specific questions will be emailed to students during the first week of the term. 

Faculty will provide feedback to your answers by the end of week 12  (3/27) .  For a given question, you’ll receive feedback from only one faculty member based on their area of expertise

(e.g., Training Question, 4a or 4b, Dr. Kass).  Each faculty member will email their feedback to you individually.  So, expect 4 separate emails with feedback to your answers.

6)  Submit revised internship paper to  me by end of week  13 (4/3).  I will forward them to the I/O faculty.

7)  Give a formal presentation and critique of internship duties between 4/13 - 4/17 and from 4/27 - 5/1 (Presentations must be scheduled with me in advance).

8)  Orally defend and elaborate upon your internship paper.

9)  Receive a passing grade on the internhsip paper and the oral defense.

*** Click here for a genreal description of the I-O Internhsip capstone on the departmental web site..

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Grading:

The final integrated paper and defense is scored on a pass/fail basis. A passing score is equivalent to a grade of “B” or better. Pass/fail decisions are made by the I-O faculty as a group after the oral defense. During the oral defense, students are asked to elaborate upon and clarify the content of their paper, and answer questions posed by faculty.

If a "fail" decision is made, students may be given the opportunity to revise the content of their paper and /or answers given during the defense.  The type of revisions vary and are chosen by the faculty as a group. Generally, the revisions are chosen on a case by case basis to best assess shortcomings in the internship paper and/or oral defense.  For instance, the revisions can consist of modifications to existing answers, the answering of supplemental questions, a second oral defense, or other methods to assess knowledge and application of I-O material (e.g., a written examination).  Depending on the nature and extent of the remediation, students may be required to enroll for an additional internship hour and complete the requirements the following term.  Students will no longer be allowed to continue in the program if they receive a failing grade after their second attempt.