Paula K. Dixon, M.A. Communication

Communication Department  ::  Emmanuel College  :: www.ec.edu/communication

Paula K. Dixon, M.A.

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Course Description

Emmanuel College's Communication Department is committed to providing career-related experiences to enhance theory and knowledge learned in the classroom environment. Internships may be scheduled with a broad range of organizations and departments including broadcasting, video production, churches and other ministries, publishing and media resource centers, hospitals, human resource and training departments, area Chambers of Commerce, and varied Emmanuel College departments (Alumni, Student Life, etc.). 

Internships provide an excellent opportunity to learn how well you fit a particular communication-intensive career. Students are frequently invited to join the organization where they interned. Internships are good for organizations too. Think about it--a company gets to watch a prospective employee for 150 hours before hiring him or her. That provides recruiting without risk.

Requirements

See the complete list of requirements.

Communication majors must complete one approved communication internship during their junior or senior year. With department approval, students may be allowed to take this course more than once for credit as communication electives or general electives.

Applicants are expected to have completed sufficient upper-level courses related to the proposed internship. For example, if the internship primarily involves video production and editing, the student should have six hours or more in videography; writing or public relations, six or more hours in writing and layout courses plus introduction to public relations.

E-mail Requirement

Students MUST activate their campus e-mail accounts with our college no later than one week into the semester. The student's campus e-mail account will serve as the primary channel of communication between instructor and student, so students should check no less than once per week. Likewise, students will submit assigned work to the instructor via e-mail and NetLearn, which is EC's online class system.

However, the instructor welcomes face-to-face meetings and invites those as often as needed.

Course Goals & Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to successfully apply communication knowledge gained through coursework and academic experiences to professional work situations. This is the main goal of this course.

Interns will be able to complete these objectives:

Weekly Timesheets

Weekly timesheets are the primary communication the instructor and student will have regarding the nature of student's internship work, how many hours the student works, etc. Because the weekly timesheets are critical to monitoring this course, they account for a significant portion of the course grade. Timesheets account for 70 percent of the student's final course grade; late timesheets receive a grade of zero. Timesheets are due each Friday.

Required Reading, Reflection Papers

Students will read the nine chapters in Robert Briner's Roaring Lambs and e-mail a reflection paper each week for each chapter no later than the second week of the internship. Click here for more information. (NOTE: If the internship timeline is less than nine weeks, submit more than one per week, e.g., a three-week term means three papers per week.) Students who do not submit paper regularly will not receive credit for this portion of the course grade, which accounts for 10 percent.

Automatic Grade Reduction

    Missed Deadlines

Because of the nature of the communication industry and the importance of time management skills in any field, this instructor does not accept any assignment or in-class exercise after the deadline/due date, which results in a grade of zero for the assignment or exercise. (For example, electronic timesheets are due via e-mail each Friday. See Requirements for more deadlines.)

Each deadline for each assignment and exercise is clearly outlined in the course schedule of this syllabus. It is the responsibility of the student to keep up with deadlines and plan accordingly. If the student foresees a problem with meeting a deadline, for example an absence on that particular deadline date, then that student should plan to submit that assignment before the deadline and should talk to instructor to arrange that. Early submissions are always welcome.

    Citing Sources

Assignments which intentionally or unintentionally omit sources will receive a grade of zero. The instructor may or may not give one warning, but do not expect two. This refers to written, visual, and audio sources. "In plain language, plagiarism is taking someone else’s work and passing it off as one’s own without proper acknowledgment or documentation" (www.ala.org, July 3, 2003).

Calculation of Course Grade

Grading Scale

A = 90-100, B = 80-89, C = 70-79, D = 60-69, F = 0-59

Writing Across Curriculum Policy

This instructor grades all assignments for correct grammar, spelling, etc. Any written work containing spelling or grammatical errors will not receive an A regardless of the content. For assistance, visit EC's Student Success Center on the second floor of Aaron.

Multicultural Objective