Internships – Learning Goals

An intentional focus on student learning is what distinguishes internships from jobs.  Interns should be considered learners first and contributors second, regardless whether they are earning academic credit for their experience. Below are some tips to help you facilitate intern learning through the use of learning goals.

Importance

Co-create learning goals with interns.

  • Signals that you care about their experience, which can increase their commitment, productivity and desire to stay long-term
  • Helps ensure that expectations are aligned, resulting in a better experience for all
  • Models professional goal-setting, action-planning and accountability
  • Sets the stage for maximum intern learning

SMART Goals

We recommend structuring all learning goals in a SMART goals format:

  • S – Specific
  • M – Measurable
  • A – Action-oriented & Applicable
  • R – Relevant
  • T- Time-bound

Examples of SMART goals include:

  • By the middle of my internship,I will be able to write a 1 page press release using AP style
  • By July 30th, I will be able to troubleshoot Microsoft Excel questions with 97% accuracy
  • By week 5, I will be able to identify 3 possible career paths in this field and 1 way to learn about each

SMART Goal Prompts

  • What do you specifically hope to accomplish?
  • How will you measure your progress towards this goal?
  • What actions will you take to achieve this goal? Is this something that is appropriate given your previous coursework, work experience, career goals?
  • How is this goal relevant to your internship, academic interests and/or career aspirations?
  • What is your timeline for meeting this goal?

Process

Goal-setting is a process. Before an intern starts, encourage them to think of a few potential learning goals.

  • During the first week, schedule an hour with your intern to develop their goals in writing.
  • Set up a weekly or bi-weekly meeting to track progress.
  • After a few weeks, meet with your intern to calibrate on progress, review the action plan in place to achieve their learning goals, and suggest modifications to their original goals (as needed).
  • At the end of the internship, review all progress on stated learning goals as part of a formal performance evaluation meeting.

Tips

  • Try to avoid broad goals like “understand” or “learn” as they cannot be easily measured.
  • Two or three goals is typically sufficient for a quarter-long (10 week) internship.
  • Writing SMART goals may require several feedback and revision loops.
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