Graduation internship assessment bachelor

Summary
This page describes the procedure for the assessment of the graduation internship.

1. Introduction

During the graduation internship, the student receives formative feedback and at the end of the internship there is a graduation session in which the student presents the graduation work for a broad audience. This is followed by a defence before the graduation committee and then the summative assessment is determined and substantiated.

2. Formative feedback

During the graduation internship, the student receives formative feedback from the company supervisor and any other involved parties from the work field partner where the student is completing the graduation internship. Feedback is focused on both content and process. The assessors also provide feedback in their role of supervisor (see further section 3.2, the role of the assessors). Halfway through the graduation internship, an evaluation moment takes place where the company supervisor, the student and the assessors evaluate the progress. The company supervisor gives development-oriented feedback to the student and the student also evaluates himself (both are recorded). Based on this input and their own observations, the assessors share their findings on progress with the student and also record this in Canvas. The findings are explained and support the student with feedback, feedforward and feed-up.

3. Summative assessment

The summative assessment is determined holistically during the assessment based on the criteria as laid down in the assessment form and with the following input:

  • The progress during the entire graduation period;
  • The portfolio as delivered by the student at the end of the graduation internship;
  • The input from the company supervisor as collected during the 2nd company visit;
  • The feedback of the external expert;
  • The presentation and answering of questions during the symposium;
  • Answering questions during the assessment.

3.1 The portfolio

The portfolio contains the delivered professional products that are relevant for the assessment and additional information such as a reading guide, a process report or a thesis. This gives the assessors and external experts a picture of the course of and the work delivered during the graduation internship. The student works on the professional products and additional information during the entire graduation internship, so that the assessors can give feedback and feed forward on these during the entire course of the graduation internship and not only at the end.

3.2 Role of the assessors in the assessment

The 1st assessor gives formative feedback during the entire internship, preferably once every 2 weeks orally. Furthermore, formative feedback, feed forward and feedup is recorded in Canvas at a number of points during the graduation internship:

  1. At the conclusion of the problem analysis and preparation of the project plan or project document;
  2. Halfway through the graduation internship, including the evaluation of the business supervisor and the self-evaluation of the student.

At the end of the graduation internship, after handing in the portfolio, the assessors agree on their findings about the graduation work and give feed-forward to the student in which he/she can still take into account when preparing for graduation assessment.

The 2nd assessor also gives formative feedback, in particular on 1) the project plan or project document that is made in the first weeks of the graduation internship on the basis of the problem analysis; 2) during the review moment halfway through the graduation internship the 1st and 2nd assessors give formative feedback and feed forward.

Summative assessment takes place at the graduation session after the presentation and defence by the student. Assessment by both assessors including advice from the company supervisor and external expert. Before the graduation session, the assessors have already discussed and calibrated their findings with at least 2 other assessors.

3.3 Role of the company supervisor in the assessment

The company supervisor accompanies the student during the entire internship and can follow the progress most directly, thus providing important information for the assessment. The company supervisor gives formative feedback to the graduate during the entire graduation period, so that the student can work towards the expected level and can develop in a targeted manner. Halfway through the graduation internship, the company supervisor also provides written development-oriented feedback to the student that is also available to the assessors who can use it for their formative feedback and feed forward halfway through the graduation internship. At the end of the graduation internship, the company supervisor gives a written evaluation of the work and development of the graduate student and discusses this with the 1st assessor for the benefit of the summative assessment.

3.4 Role of the external expert in the assessment

In addition to the company supervisor and the two assessors, a fourth role is involved in the assessment of the graduation internship, the external expert. The external expert has both an advisory role on the assessment of the graduate student in which he/she is directly involved and a more general role to give feedback on the quality of the graduation process, the level of the students in general and the connection of the gained knowledge and skills of the Fontys ICT students to the ICT professional field, see Role and tasks external expert. The external expert reads the portfolio of the graduate, and is part of the graduation committee during the graduation session. The aim is to involve an external expert in the assessment at each graduation session, with availability of suitable experts a potentially limiting factor.

3.5 Preparation for assessment at the graduation session

In preparation for the graduation session, the assessors collect all input as mentioned above. The assessors jointly establish a preliminary assessment. To increase the reliability of the assessments, this is followed by a calibration meeting where at least 4 assessors jointly fine-tune the assessments of their graduating students, thereby building a substantiated and common assessment framework.

3.6 The graduation session

The graduation session is physical on location in Tilburg or Eindhoven, where the student presents the thesis work and answers questions. The graduation session is public unless otherwise decided by the PLOU, based on substantiated request from the student to do so (in case of strict confidentiality or in case a public session does not support the student's development). The graduation sessions will take place in weeks 19 and 20 (for Education for Professionals students also possibility in wk 10). Invitations to the public sessions will include students, lecturers, PiE, PiI and family and other immediate stakeholders.

The student presents the graduation work for 20 minutes, preferably including a demo or product demonstration as part of the presentation. After the presentation, the audience (if present) has the opportunity to ask questions for a maximum of 5 minutes. Following this, defence takes place where the student defends himself/herself before the graduation committee. (maximum 20 minutes).

The graduation committee consists of:

  1. External expert; 
  2. 2nd assessor or chairperson; 
  3. 1st assessor; 
  4. Company supervisor.

At the defence, the chairman allows the members of the graduation committee one by one to ask a question in the above order (in several rounds). The chairman sees to it, that the members of the graduation committee do not monologue, but that the candidate is asked questions and that no discussions arise outside the candidate.

In case of an “unsatisfactory” assessment, the assessors determine the form and duration of the new graduation internship. This can be a full restart, or a more limited assignment that allows the student to demonstrate the deficiencies identified.

After the defence, the graduation committee (without the presence of the student and audience) considers the assessment. Having heard everything, the chairman of the graduation committee determines the assessment. For the assessment, the form is used and processed as described in the paragraph below. (maximum 20 minutes).

At the end of the graduation session, the graduation committee (in the person of the 1st assessor) will announce and explain the result to the student (not public). The announcement will last a maximum of 5 minutes.

3.7 The Assessment Form

The assessment form (VT) or assessment form (Education for Professionals) and is divided into a number of dimensions. Per dimension an O/V/G/U (or in English U/S/G/O) can be obtained. For each dimension, a minimum of S (Sufficient) must be obtained to achieve a satisfactory final assessment, whereby the final assessment is determined holistically (no numerical calculation of the graduation assessment based on the dimensions but an integral final assessment).

If the final assessment is insufficient (Unsatisfactory), there are two possibilities: Improve or re-graduate.

  1. In case of re-graduation, the candidate has to go through all the steps of the graduation process again.
  2. In case of improvement, the assessors record the following:
    • firstly, it is substantiated which learning outcomes still require improvement;
    • secondly, the period of improvement is established and thirdly, by whom and how the assessment is made;
    • the period for improvement is as short as possible, but certainly no longer than 10 weeks;
    • the final assessment for graduation after improvement is determined by the examiners in its entirety;
    • if the improvement is not successful within the set period or is still insufficient after that, the candidate will have to graduate again.

After the assessment (and possibly again after improvement) the assessment form is filled in and the assessment is substantiated. This is followed by signing by the assessors and handing in so that the Student Desk can process it further. The 2nd assessor is responsible for this. The assessment is entered into the registration system by a staff member of the Student Desk. The assessment form is also placed in the Canvas course by the 1st assessor, so it can be consulted by the student.

4. Unforeseen circumstances

The student must make every effort to ensure that the graduation session can take place at the time as agreed upon at the start of the graduation 1). If a student cannot be present at the graduation session due to special and/or unforeseen circumstances, he must report to the first assessor and submit an individual request to the graduation committee at the same time, stating reasons and submitting evidence, such as a dean's statement in case of illness.

The graduation committee may decide to postpone the graduation session if the reasons are found to be legitimate. If the reasons are not assessed as legitimate, no assessment will be made and the assessors will advise the examination board on the form of the resit.

Starting point: the presentation at the graduation session and the assessment take place even if the (original) assessors or external expert are not all present. Possible situations:

  • The external expert or company supervisor is absent; in that case there is no formal problem as he/she is only an advisor in the assessment;
  • The second assessor is ill; he will report this as soon as possible via the Student Desk to the responsible Project Leader Programme Implementation (PLOU), and he will arrange a replacement; this can be any other graduate teacher; if this replacement can only be arranged last minute, it is possible that the assessment will take place but that the determination of the assessment will be postponed (because the second assessor has not yet had time to prepare himself substantively);
  • The first assessor is ill at the graduation session; he will report this as soon as possible via the Student Desk to the PLOU responsible, who will arrange a replacement;
    • In case it has been reported in time the replacement will take over the entire tasks: preliminary consultations with the company, going through and assessing the portfolio, calibration, etc.;
    • In case of last minute and the 1st assessor is not able to transfer adequately to the substitute, the assessment will still be postponed. This is the only situation where we cannot stick to the set starting point.

The Student Desk acts as a reporting point in case of illness of one of the assessors, the company supervisor or external expert. From there, the PLOU concerned is informed so that it can take the above-mentioned actions.

5. Target group, status and distribution

The information on this page is intended for stakeholders in assessments of Fontys ICT graduation internships. The information on the graduation sessions is distributed by the Student Desk to students, external experts, company supervisors.

1)
For full-time programmes after 20 weeks, for part-time programmes another arrangement can be made.