Hiatt Career Center

The Learning Agreement is a document that details your intended learning goals for the internship. It is developed in conjunction with your supervisor to ensure a mutually beneficial internship experience. Drafting a learning agreement with your supervisor helps you make better connections between your academic and career development, inside and outside of classroom learning.

Consider the following steps when creating your Learning Agreement:

1. Develop and compose learning objectives
   • Learning objectives should be specific, measurable and achievable. You must address all three areas (academic, career, skill development) in your responses. Think about how your internship might affect the following areas of your life:
     • Academic learning: Internships often provide an opportunity to apply classroom learning to a real-world setting.
     • Career exploration: Many students explore career options through internships. An internship can be a way to test the waters and see whether a career field will be a good fit.
     • Skill development: Internships may afford the chance to develop skills (e.g., learn to use new software, develop oral communication and writing skills, organize and analyze data, observe and develop leadership skills, etc.)
   • In 100-250 words each, answer the following questions:
     • What do I intend to learn during this internship? (Ex: learning objectives)
     • What will I do during this internship to help me accomplish the above objectives? (Ex: activities)
     • How will I know if I achieved these objectives? (Ex: evaluation)
2. Speak with your supervisor to review your learning objectives. Make sure that:
   
   • The Learning Agreement is developed in conversation with your supervisor
   • It serves as a contract between you, your supervisor and the university
   • Your supervisor receives a copy once submitted
3. Submit the online Learning Agreement within two weeks of your start date. You will be asked to provide the following information:
   • Company and supervisor contact information
   • Your information, including major, class year, student ID number
   • Essay questions

The Letter of Offer is a document from your supervisor confirming your start and end dates, responsibilities, time commitment and supervision. Obtaining a Letter of Offer is an excellent professional practice not only because it again outlines your responsibilities, but also gives you terms of employment (dates, compensation, etc). You should expect to receive a similar letter if you get a full-time job after Brandeis.

The Letter of Offer must be:

• Submitted to Hiatt no later than two weeks after your start date
• Written on organization's letterhead and include supervisor signature

View a Sample Letter of Offer (Doc) 

At the end of the internship we encourage you to reflect upon your experience and think of strategies to apply what you have learned in your future endeavors. At the completion of your internship:

• Ensure that your site supervisor submits a Supervisor Evaluation.