CIS Internship Survey

1
CIS Internship Survey

• Center for Information Systems
• Internship Committee
• February 10, 2006

2
Internship Survey

• Developed during fall of 2005.
• Started with Career Services Survey
• Added Theory of Planned Behavior component.
• Presented at university-wide meeting of
  internship coordinators in January.
• Paper version pilot tested at MISA meeting last
  week.
• Electronic version pilot tested in database class
  this week.

3
Purpose of Survey

• Discovery of student attitudes towards
  internships.
• Why do students choose to or choose not to pursue
  internships?
• Why do some students who pursue internships
  choose not to receive course credit for them?
• What benefits do students expect to get from
  internships? What benefits do they perceive after
  interning?
• What can we do better from the students
  perspective?

4
Theory of Planned Behavior
5
Tour of the Online Survey

• http//
• (contact Alan Brandyberry (abrandyb _at_ kent.edu)
  for link if you would like to test the system)
• What should we ask that we are not?
• What should we not ask that we are?
• Other problems or suggestions?

6
Suggestions from Pilot Tests

• Ask if internships should be required? (done)
• When asking if you are planning to stay in
  current job give uncertain option.
• What to do with non-trads and others that would
  have no interest in internships?
• Most comments received were that it was clear and
  user-friendly.

7
Some Pilot Test Results

• 28 observations
• 26 CIS majors, 2 Acct. majors, 3 double majors
  (CIS with either Management or Finance).
• 2 sophomores, 15 juniors, 11 seniors.
• 19 have not had internships, 3 have accepted but
  not started an internship, 3 are in progress, 3
  have completed internships.

8
Intention

• Out of the 19 who have not had internships
• I intend to participate in an internship.
• 9 very strongly agree, 3 strongly agree, 2 agree,
  6 neither agree or disagree.

9
Credit versus Non-Credit

• Of students who are in an internship or have
  completed one 3 of 9 did or will receive academic
  credit, 2 did (or will) not receive credit, 3
  are uncertain, 1 did not answer.
• Reasons for no credit (number of responses)
• (1) I did not need the credit hours.
• (0) I did not know how to receive credit.
• (2) I did not want to pay for the credit hours.
• (0) Internship registration was not available
  during the semester I completed my internship.
• (2) My internship experience did not fit the
  criteria required for academic credit.
• (3) Other
• don't have an internship
• I have not yet met with the professor in charge
• not interested in credit

10
What was the most positive aspect(s) of your
internship? (unedited student comments)

• Team experience was key with self-initiative.
• Since I havent started my internship yet, the
  most positive aspects of the recruiting process
  were how comfortable I was made to feel with my
  inquiries about the company and the positive
  feedback.
• I was given the chance to take over for full time
  people and showed that I could compete in the
  real world against people twice my age.
• Havent started yet
• I feel that in the one month i have been on the
  job I have gained more information and knowledge
  then i could in a month in the classroom.
• Recieving credit while getting paid.
• Engaging in a corporate environment, while being
  treated as a normal employee.

11
What was the most negative aspect(s) of your
internship? (unedited student comments)

• New environment - takes time to adapt.
• The most negative aspect of the recruiting
  process would be that it is only done one time a
  year, and so quickly after the semester begins.
  If I wouldnt have been able to interview during
  the fall semester then I would have had to wait
  till the next fall, which by that time, I would
  have graduated. Some non-traditional students,
  such as myself have other committments and would
  like to get involved with an internship for the
  experience. Having recruiting more than one time
  a year will allow then the opportunity to choose
  to go through the process when their schedule is
  lighter. I feel recruiting should be done during
  both the fall and spring semesters, possibly with
  different employers for variation.
• Waking up at 430, to get to work at 600 was a
  negative aspect. I have battled all semester to
  stay awake and in good spirits all day.
• An internship brings extra stress and
  responsiblilty to you life, especially if you are
  taking a full schedule.
• Having to pay the university for 3 credit hours.
• Desire to be a full-time worker

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What could we do better? (unedited student
comments)

• Stress the importance in all classes. Alert CIS
  students in particular that entry level jobs are
  hard to come by internships help with the first
  job.
• Have more opportunities for students to find out
  about internships.
• Create a website for each department that is
  updated with current internships and jobs that
  are currently available to students in that
  field.
• Share more about internships via meetings,
  conferences, etc.
• Minimizing the cost of the class.
• Involve students more. Have internship fairs or
  simply post flyers announcing internships
  available.
• The Internship should be enough without having to
  give a presentation to a class in the field.
• Show students how important internships are. I
  have worked with several students who seriously
  lack creativity and skills because they have
  never partaken in an internship.
• They should handle all the backend arrangements
  for the internship for each student. All the
  student should have to do is pick the internship
  they want to take from a list, and show up.

13
What could we do better?

• They could advertise particular internships a
  little more. Such as actually describing types of
  work (networking, programming, etc) rather than
  label something just as a CIS internship or
  something.
• I believe professors should make announcements in
  class and provide a sign-up sheet for those
  students who are seriously interested. Then the
  professor should see those students either
  individually or in a group and basically hold a
  meeting discussing the employers, what they're
  looking for, etc. Similar guidance helped me with
  my internship process.
• Guest speakers would be a good way for students
  to learn about internships in there organization.
  Student feedback on the internships they have
  been a part of.
• Compile a list of internships that local
  companies are offering, ways of contacting those
  companies, and requirements of those companies
  for internships.
• Make it easier to schedule classes around
  possible internship work hours.

14
What could we do better?

• Publications explaining internships would be
  helpful.
• I have only heard of available internships from
  professors/instructors. Nothing from the Career
  Services. A friend told me about a job fair
  Career Services held and told me to go to it, but
  have no heard of any upcoming dates, etc. I do
  not know who is in charge of distributing
  internship information, so I don't know who to go
  talk to about pursuing any internships.
• Let the students know the details needed in
  getting the internship.
• I am not familiar with many other departments in
  the university but I believe that the College of
  Business, especially the Management and
  Information systems department does a very good
  job of offering and exploiting internships.
• Making them more obvious. Maybe move internship
  postings to 1st floor.
• Advertise about organizations such as MISA more.
  MISA helped me to gain knowledge about
  internships.
• Post a larger amount of internships.

15
Skills Developed

• (9) Technical/programming skills
• (7) Ability to work as a contributing/cooperative
  member of a team
• (6) Oral communication skills
• (6) Ability to learn
• (6) Professionalism
• (5) Problem solving skills
• (5) Initiative and self-directed work habits
• (4) Written communication skill
• (4) Ability to adapt to organizational rules,
  policies, and culture
• (4) Ability to work accurately and with attention
  to detail
• (4) Dependability
• (3) Creativity
• (3) Research abilities
• (2) Leadership abilities
• (0) Other