Human Ecology Commons^™

Instructional Scaffolding In Internships: Supporting Future Professionals In Family Science, Katy Gregg, Meghan K. Dove, Nikki Digregorio

School of Human Ecology Faculty Publications

Internships are known for being a valuable, albeit time consuming, opportunity for students, supervisors, and faculty in many fields. As undergraduate programs consider their current and future internship programs, we suggest the processes an intern takes to secure and complete an internship are key to furthering their learning and increasing their career marketability. In this article, we use scaffolding and self-efficacy theories as the foundation to developing an intentional internship program in the family science field. We share the steps faculty take to prepare students for the internship, use graduated guidance to support student learning, and to assess learning during …