Artifact of Out-of Class Learning

Spring 2014
Danny Oliveira
San Diego State University

SPRING 2014 OUT-OF-CLASS-ARTIFACT REFLECTION

The artifact of out of class learning that I have selected for
Spring 2014 is my presentation for the SDSU Career Services
Internship Summit. This was a second annual event that Career
Services hosted for faculty and staff who coordinate internship
programs or internship courses in various academic departments on
campus at SDSU. I gave a brief overview of my internship survey
conducted in Fall 2013 where I interviewed internship coordinators
from 37 academic departments to gain understanding of the various
approaches in which students can secure an internship experience for
experiential learning. I highlighted the most common themes and
challenges learned in the survey as a means to address ways in which
Career Services can offer assistance in meeting some of these common
challenges faced by academic departments. Some of the challenges
include the need for orientations for students prior to beginning an
internship experience; systems for posting of internship opportunities
for students and expanding opportunities for student access and
benefit; the development of systems to engage SDSU alumni in
student internship programs; and the establishment of Service
Learning Agreements with off-campus employers offering internships
for academic credit.
The agenda for this Internship Summit was driven by these
common themes to outline opportunities for collaboration with Career
Services to address the shared challenges that many departments

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struggle with to varying degrees. The development of a three-part
Internship Workshop Series was introduced to provide an orientation
for students seeking internships (Internship 101) as well as important
items for students to consider during and after an internship
experience (Internship 201 and 301). The Aztec Career Connection is
an online resource available for students and faculty/staff as well as
employers to post internship opportunities. Career Services staff
screen potential employers prior to posting on A.C.C which alleviates
time and resources required to properly vet potential internship
employers and advertise opportunities for students. Service Learning
Agreements (SLA) are required by the university as a means to limit
liability when students are participating in an internship for academic
credit with an off-campus employer. The process for establishing SLA
can be a tedious task of documentation, signatures, and insurance
requirements that is often prohibitive to establishing new opportunities
for students and requires staffing and resources for the administrative
tasks related to SLAs. Career Services is now involved in streamlining
this process in order for all documentation to be conducted online in an
expedited fashion. Lastly, Career Services has partnered with the
SDSU Alumni Association to develop the Aztec Mentor Program to
connect current students with alumni employed in the their industry of
choice. This initiative will assist in the intentional engagement of
alumni with internships and a means for departments to expand their

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alumni networks.
I selected this artifact because it represents a unique
collaboration between a Student Affairs department and many
academic departments across the entire campus. Although Student
Affairs often seeks to collaborate with Academic Affairs in initiatives to
enhance student learning, it is not a common practice. I was fortunate
to have this opportunity to be directly involved in establishing this
collaboration. Beyond the interviews and surveys in the Fall Semester
and coordination of the Internship Summit in Spring, I was involved in
establishing a monthly seminar series for department internship contacts to foster
collaboration & support around common issues of interest to internship
coordinators/faculty. Lastly, I developed an online newsletter called iExchange to
provide a forum for exchange of best practices and discussion of hot topics of interest to
the SDSU internship community.
The Program Learning Outcomes demonstrated by this artifact include
communicating ideas and concepts effectively in written and spoken word (PLO 10).
These were demonstrated through my interviews with individual faculty and staff, my
presentation at the Internship Summit, and the iExchange newsletters. The principles of
access, equity, and learner success in postsecondary education were demonstrated by the
variety of approaches to student internship opportunities (PLO 8). There is a great
variety in the access to internships for students from department to department. Student
success in their internship experiences is not equitable across all departments. I observed
varying leadership styles prevalent within student affairs and academic affairs as I

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interviewed various academic department leaders as well as staff in our Career Services
department (PLO 4). I found a correlation between leadership styles and sophistication
of internship programs across departments. Lastly, this experience helped me identify my
own leadership strengths and areas for continued development (PLO 5). Some of my
strengths include an ability to communicate effectively with professionals in an interview
setting as well as in giving presentations and facilitating workshops. My newsletters
demonstrate my ability to communicate effectively in written and digital format.
This artifact demonstrates my professional goals of expanding
my professional network by meeting and interacting with many faculty
and staff in Academic Affairs that I would not likely meet in other
student affairs departments. It also demonstrates my professional goal
of further developing my skills and strengths in order to become a
highly competitive candidate for positions in student affairs. I
developed a valuable skill in developing an online newsletter and blog
as a means of fostering collaboration. Prior to this experience, my
interactions were primarily with students and much less frequently
with other professionals.
This artifact demonstrates my personal goal of being fully
engaged in my education and personal growth. This assistantship with
Career Services was a step away from my comfort zone of mentoring
and advising student leaders. I was in an unfamiliar environment in
student affairs for the first time. I learned a great deal about the role
of career services and the impact they have on student learning and

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preparation for life after college. I especially learned a great deal
about the internship experience and the importance it can play for a
students success in their career. The experiential learning is
invaluable in itself but the addition of establishing a professional
network prior to graduation is equally important for success in ones
career. The opportunity to be directly involved in an effective
collaboration between student affairs and academic affairs was a
unique experience that I can now seek out more effectively in the
future because of this experience.