Internships are widely valued by students, faculty, and employers. A well-designed internship experience can be a powerful learning opportunity, full of chances to apply knowledge and skills, work collaboratively with others, and develop career interests. As a faculty member and codirector of my department's internship program, I help lead an internship program designed to give students meaningful professional experiences closely tied to their academic program and supervised by a faculty member. Recently, my codirector and I became concerned that our students at more distant internship locations might be at a disadvantage compared to our students placed more locally. It seemed that distant interns experienced less close supervisory relationships with their faculty supervisor, which might negatively affect student learning. As a result, we developed some strategies to enhance our supervision of interns at a distance.
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