Sign and return the intern contract to The Evaluation Center. Send copies of your current resume to both the Center and your ATE project representative.
Review ATE project documents. You will need to have a basic understanding of your respective ATE project in order to begin to formulate an evaluation work plan at the orientation. We do not expect you to understand every detail of the project by the meeting, but to know enough in order to communicate with the project representative. Copies of key documents from the ATE project will be sent to you.
Attend the orientation. This required meeting in Kalamazoo will provide a thorough introduction to the framework of the program and allow time for you to begin collaborating with the ATE representative on the evaluation work plan. Travel costs, up to $1,000, will be covered. Information about travel arrangements and a tentative orientation schedule is sent out several weeks prior to the meeting.
Complete the evaluation work plan. Your first major responsibility is to collaborate with the ATE representative to determine the evaluation tasks to be completed and the methods and time lines of completion. In overseeing your work, MTS staff will rely heavily on this plan in monitoring your progress. A rough draft will be due by the close of the orientation meeting. The final evaluation plan is to be submitted within one month of the orientation. MTS staff will review and approve the plan.
Complete the weekly Web log. This log is entered on the MTS Web page. Weekly entries will inform your collaborator, mentor, and the internship coordinator of the progress of your work, enable them to review the log and assist you, and provide quality feedback. It is your official time sheet. Please fill out the log each week whether work has been completed or not.
Conduct the evaluation work. Stay on schedule according to the evaluation work plan. The work plan will be the document we rely on to provide oversight and counsel for your work. If there is a reason why a particular evaluation commitment cannot be completed on schedule, please let us know why.
Contact The Evaluation Center staff if you have questions or concerns. If there is anything you are uncertain about, contact us. Joan Farland, the internship coordinator, can be reached by phone at (269) 387-5895 or via e-mail at . At the orientation, each intern will be paired with a mentor from The Evaluation Center who will provide supervision and counsel throughout the internship.
Maintain necessary communication with the ATE project representative. Your evaluation will likely entail site visits and regular updates to the ATE representative. Phone and fax costs are covered under the $1,000 provided for travel, communication, and related expenses. Travel time to the project may be included in your 80 hours, but interns are placed as close as possible to their projects to keep travel time at a minimum. A site visit to the project by the mentor (from the MTS staff) and intern will be scheduled at the orientation.
Expenses (within approved contractual limits and university guidelines) for the intern's involvement will be covered by the MTS grant. Travel expenses (airfare, lodging, per diem) for interns and ATE representatives to attend the orientation in Kalamazoo will be covered up to $1,000 per person. Interns are also reimbursed for up to $1,000 in travel, communication, and related costs to visit and maintain contact with their respective ATE site.
Request reimbursement for travel, work, and other expenses in a timely manner. Include original receipts. Joan Farland, internship coordinator, will handle all reimbursements for expenses. She can be contacted at the main Evaluation Center number, (269) 387-5895, and reached via e-mail at . Interns are paid at the rate of $175/day (up to 10 days) for their work. You will be
reimbursed twice for work completed-after you have completed 40 hours of work and after 80-unless you request other arrangements.
Respect the confidentiality of the ATE projects. Evaluation information, data collected, and reports prepared by you should be treated as confidential information (i.e., confidential to the ATE projects and Evaluation Center staff). None of this information should be reported to NSF or other agencies or individuals without the explicit written permission of your ATE project representative. However, evaluation designs, instruments, and other materials and resources developed for use in conducting the evaluations will be placed in the MTS database.
Send a final report. At the end of the program, we ask that you send a final report to your collaborating project and The Evaluation Center outlining the major evaluation tasks completed. This is a brief report (5 to 8 pages) summarizing the purposes, methods employed (samples, instruments, and procedures), results obtained, and conclusions reached.
Complete an Intern Summary Report. Your last responsibility is to complete a 13-item, short-answer questionnaire on the Web site in the Intern Reporting section. This is to be filled out via the Web after the final report has been completed.
