You are expected to post to your personal journal weekly (URL to be uploaded to Canvas). You can see more about what content is expected in your posts below, but first I want to express why this weekly journaling assignment exists. First, we want you to have a record of what you accomplished on the job! You may think you will easily recall everything when the semester is over, but the experiences you have now may benefit you years down the road, so it is important to have a good record of what you've learned and what you have experienced! Additionally, your journal can serve as a product that you can use to demonstrate to future employers and academics your accomplishments, approach to work, and ability to communicate. You may also find the contents to be a useful reference for future projects and research.
Secondly, one of the first interview questions you will inevitably be asked is about your degree. "I see you have a B.A. in Energy and Sustainability Policy; explain the program and how it relates to this job..." While you may have a good understanding of the degree and it's learning competencies, and you may already be applying much of the information in your current job, being able to communicate the connection between your education and your real-world experience may be a challenge. By reflecting weekly on how what you did relates to your coursework and the program overall, you will be versed in connecting the dots. That way, when you're in the hot seat, that question will be one of the easiest you address!
Students are expected to set up a blog site to journal about the internship experience. You can use sites.psu.edu to set up a personal blog space, or you can choose another blogging site. If you would like to use the Penn State Sites, first you need to [1]Activate Penn State Personal Web Space [2]and then you can create a blog at sites.psu.edu [3].
For the journal entries themselves, please provide as much detail as you can without compromising any proprietary or private information. It is expected that if you adequately address the weekly topics and other requirements as outlined below, your post will be 800+ words in length. Please refer to the syllabus and grading rubric (in Canvas) for further information regarding the level of effort that is expected for your journal. In short, it should be a formal, polished product that you would be proud to hand over to a potential employer as an exhibit of your abilities and experiences. The journal entries should include:
Discuss ideas or theories related to your experiences/observations: How does what you've seen/experienced connect to what you already knew? What was suprising, and why? Have you drawn any new conclusions? How does what you've seen/experienced connect with material you've learned in your coursework?
Each Journal will be graded out of 40 Points.
A detailed rubric is available to you on the dropbox pages in Canvas. Below is a summary of how you can earn full credit. Your journal post must:
What do we mean by "well-written?" Your submissions should always be a scholarly piece of polished work. Your post should demonstrate that you've not just simply typed it into the text editor box as you went, with little regard for organization, syntax, or spelling mistakes. It should be written with the tone and style that is appropriate for college coursework, not a text message. In summary, it should be work you'd be proud to share with a potential employer.
Submit the url to the appropriate week's "Original Draft Journal" Dropbox in Canvas by the date specified on the course calendar. Once your original draft is graded, you will have an opportunity to edit your journal and resubmit for a higher grade. The updated journal MUST be submitted to the appropriate week's "Final Draft Journal" Dropbox in order for it to be regraded.
Keep in mind that your journal entries may be searchable by anyone on the Internet, so this opening post should not assume that the reader knows anything about you or the organization in which you are working.
Other than the first week (see "Week 1" above) and the last week of the semester (see "Last Journal Entry" below), journal entry topics can be chosen from the topics listed below (see Topics 1-5 and "Remaining weeks"). The topics directly relate to the program learning competencies [4] and your prior coursework. The point is to get you to think through how what you are doing daily relates to the coursework you have already completed in the program and how you can convey that information in an interview-like scenario. Use the prompts below (if applicable) to guide your post. The prompts are intended to help you think through ways in which you used a specific competency or addressed a learning objective while fulfilling your internship responsibilities. When you are discussing the weekly topic provided, be sure to include experiences related to that topic, to date, at the internship - not only the happenings of that week. For example, for week 6, discuss all ways in which you have gained energy industry knowledge so far this semester. These journal entries are meant to be polished pieces of academic work, therefore, no yes/no answers. Include any other relevant/interesting information regarding your experiences and learning to date.
Contact me immediately if you have questions regarding journal content.
Have you had any experience utilizing your communication skills in the following ways? If not, how have you been using your communication skills in your position?
Have you had any experience utilizing your analytical skills in the following ways? If not, how did you use your analytical skills to fulfill your job duties/responsibilities?
Have you consciously employed your sustainability ethic in your current position?
What are the broader, global implications of your job/the services/products provided by the organization?
Are you gaining knowledge in the energy industry?
There are no designated topics to discuss during these three weeks. Quality posts are still expected, but you have been given the freedom to pick the subject. Some ideas of topics include:
This is your last week of journal posts. It will serve as a Summary. Some questions you may want to address include:
Links
[1] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/egee495/node/477
[2] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/library/node/699
[3] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/library/node/712
[4] https://esp.e-education.psu.edu/node/25
[5] http://www.e-education.psu.edu/egee495/node/471
[6] https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/