Summer Internships For Engineering Technology Students: Sharing The Experiences

Students in engineering technology programs seek summer employment opportunit ies to expand their education, provide work experience, and assist in financing their education. Consulting firms, public agencies and contractors provide the majority of summer employment opportunities for students. The variety of students and summer employment opportunities results in a range of student experiences. Assessing the advantages and disadvantages of different summer employment opportunities from student and faculty perspectives can help students pursue opportunities most appropriate for their career goals. In addition, faculty can better advise students on summer job opportunities to suit student academic and professional needs. Student feedback was obtained to assess summer employment experiences and quantify the resulting learning experiences. The interactions between student learning experiences in the classroom and in their summer jobs are assessed and discussed. Suggestions for advising students on summer job opportunities are also presented. Introduction Civil Engineering Technology (CET) students at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown take advantage of summer employment opportunities within their major to provide work experience in their field of study and assist in financing their education. Some students find positions with consulting firms or contractors. A large number of students however, take advantage of the Engineering, Scientific, and Technical Internship (ESTI) program sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). Students completing their freshman year in Engineering Technology are eligible for the program. PennDOT Interns work on various projects throughout the state. Most are assigned to inspection positions on construction field projects near their homes. Advantages of this program are the professional work experience, the minimum amount of education required to qualify, and the above average pay rate with potential for overtime. Previous discussions with students suggested the educational experience as a PennDOT summer intern varies greatly depending on the assignment as well as the student. Some students find the experience rewarding. Others have felt their assignment was less challenging. However, considerably lower pay and locations away from home often deter students from considering more challenging summer jobs with consulting engineering firms. As a result, some choose the PennDOT program for financial reasons and convenience, rather than for the challenge of the work experience. In other cases, students participating in the PennDOT summer internship program are exposed to new knowledge that will be covered in their courses the following year. This can benefit the student, as well as others in the class. Knowledge gained by one student through summer experiences can be shared with others during collaborative learning exercises in a team-based P ge 7.042.1 Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ” 2002, American Society for Engineering Education environment. Other summer experiences require use of knowledge from prior courses. Occasionally faculty have been told that procedures taught in the classroom differ from those used by students during the summer, resulting in confusion for students. Students with summer jobs in consulting engineering have a variety of experiences, as well. Often paying less than the PennDOT program, summer jobs in consulting can provide valuable experience for students. Consulting work is often based in the office and involves design and calculations. PennDOT positions usually are field oriented involving more construction inspection. To assess the summer work experiences of CET students, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to sophomore through senior CET students. Completion of the questionnaire was required to receive credit for attending a particular session of the weekly CET seminar course. Student Questionnaire The questionnaire was designed to obtain feedback regarding the summer work experiences between the freshman and sophomore year, the sophomore and junior year, and the junior and senior year. Current sophomores therefore only had to complete the first part of the questionnaire. Juniors had to complete the first and second part, while seniors would likely complete all three parts of the questionnaire. If students had essentially the same job each summer, they were allowed to note that on the questionnaire. It was hoped that they would reflect on their experiences each summer individually, relative to their academic level at the time. A copy of the questionnaire is included in the Appendix. A total of 62 students completed the questionnaire. Table 1 presents the breakdown of the academic level of the students. Table 1. Current academic level of students completing the questionnaire Current Academic Level Number of Students Sophomore 20 Junior 22 Senior 20 Total 62 Summary of Results Students reported a total of 107 summer employment experiences. Sophomores have only had one summer work experience. Juniors and seniors have two or three summer work experiences. Not all juniors and seniors reported a work experience for each summer, and it is assumed they did not work during those summers. Of the summer work experiences students reported, 41% of the experiences were in the PennDOT Internship program. Figure 1 and Table 2 summarize the distribution of summer work experiences of the students. 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