I.          Purpose

The journal is the key component that distinguishes the EBE from other internship, volunteer, or employment experiences.  Learning about a career field through direct observation is valuable to one's career development and is greatly enhanced through the process of daily journal writing. 

Reviewing the journal is the main way the Faculty Sponsor and Director of Career Services assess the quality of a student's performance and experience.  In the journal, a student should record and reflect on the experience through daily entries (for each day worked) and periodic responses to assigned questions.

II.         Writing Expectations

The Experience-Based Education program is a valuable part of the academic program at Bethany College.  To maintain its academic integrity, all writing must be of high academic quality.  Journal writing is often confused with diary entries or other types of informal writing. However, journal writing is very different and one should approach the journal as you would an academic paper.  

Writing must meet the following requirements:

• Include language which is appropriate and to the level of standard academic discourse
• Be grammatically correct
• Express critical thinking and reflection through quality writing
• Include complete sentences with proper sentence structure
• Clearly describe events and activities

If journal writing does not meet these requirements, the Faculty Sponsor and/or Director of Career Services reserve the right to require students to rewrite part or all of the journal before credit is awarded.                      

III.        Daily Entries

Daily entries should be written after the completion of each day worked at the EBE site. 

The format for these entries can be found on the EBE CD in the folder labeled "Daily Entry."  This folder contains multiple documents saved as "Entry 1, Entry 2, etc."  Simply complete an entry each day, beginning with Entry 1, save it, and  submit the completed entries to Career Services by attaching these entries to an e-mail message.  Journal entries must be submitted to Career Services via e-mail every Monday by 5:00pm covering work from the previous week (Monday through Friday).  To submit these entries, attach the appropriate files to an e-mail message and send it to career_service@bethanylb.edu. 

The daily entry format will consist of the following components:

A. Time Frame

Date                       Time/Hours                                   Cumulative Hours

Today's date            Time you began and ended work      Total number of hrs worked

                        B. Activities:    In this section, list and briefly describe IN COMPLETE SENTENCES what you did that day.  This should not be a lengthy process.  Simply tell what activities/tasks you performed. 

            C. Contacts:     An EBE allows you to network with professionals and develop contacts with persons who will be essential to your job search.  In this section of the journal, list any and all persons you meet in a given day.  Certainly, this list should include coworkers, managers, colleagues from other offices, students, etc.  But also include persons who might seem "irrelevant" to your professional development.  A waiter in a restaurant, a client, the mail deliverer, someone you meet on the street.  Being an influential member of any community, be it office or neighborhood, is all about who you know.  Professional contacts may be able to write the letter of reference that gets you your dream job.  In ten years, when you are looking for a new job, a contact from your EBE might be willing to distribute your resume to potential employers.  Perhaps one of the seemingly "irrelevant" contacts will help you find good childcare for your family.  Never underestimate the potential of knowing another person. 

 In the journal, list:

• Person's name
• Position (e.g. manager of marketing, computer technician)
• Contact information (phone, email, employer)
• Professional details (career background, education, etc.)
  
  It may be helpful to carry a small notebook every day and keep track as you meet people.  Obtain business cards whenever possible. 

D. Challenges: Write about something that challenged you today.  This could be a task that you had not performed before, a computer mishap, getting bored in a meeting, or a personality conflict with a coworker.  Reflect on:

• How did you deal with the challenge?  
• What forces contributed to the challenge? (staff, technology, other external issues)
• Has this challenge occurred before in your daily work? 
• What would you change to avoid this challenge in the future?

E.  Skills: List what skills you used today.  This should not duplicate the "Activities" section.  Rather, in the "Skills" section write about what specific skills you used to perform these activities.  See the sample entry for an example.  After this EBE, you may decide that you never want to work in a similar setting.  So, you may apply for a job that involves completely different activities, but you should be able to apply many of the same skills.  For instance, you might complete an EBE with a doctor, learn that you don't want to be a doctor, and later apply for a business marketing position.  You can translate your EBE skills - relating to patients, meeting drug company representatives, meeting people from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, etc. - into skills that will look good on a resume when applying for the business position. 

IV.        Assigned Periodic Writings

The Daily Entries provide a valuable opportunity to keep track of and immediately reflect on daily activities.  Through the Assigned Writings, you will learn and write about the profession and reflect more openly about your goals for the EBE.  There are a total of five assigned writings.  The first of these writings, The Project List, is due with your first set of Daily Entries and should be attached and sent in the same e-mail. Just as the Daily Entry forms are included in a folder on the CD-Rom, so the assigned writings have their own folder.  There are five templates in this folder.  Read through each assignment before you begin the EBE.  Two of these writings can be completed before you arrive at the worksite.  The others should be worked on throughout the EBE with the EBE Overview written after you complete the EBE. 

V.         EB397 Credit

Students enrolled for 300 level credit must complete an additional project to distinguish the experience from lower level credit.  The additional project is to be determined by the faculty sponsor and the student.  Examples include:

• Developing a database to enhance the efficiency of an organization 
• Giving a power point summary of your internship
• Conducting research on a current topic in your career field
• Reading professional journals and summarizing information

The additional project is due on the same day as the EBE Summary.

Sample Journal Entry

Date: Wed, Sept.17, 2004          Time: 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.        Cumulative Hours: 41

Activities:

Newspaper clippings: I looked through the Salina Journal and Wichita Eagle and clipped articles related to the stock market.

Division meeting:  I sat in on the Investment Department staff meeting.  The agenda focused on the recent change to office policy regarding vacation time.  We also talked about yesterday's dip in the mutual fund market. 

Lunch: I ate lunch with the mailroom and marketing interns. 

Client directory: I spent the next hour calling clients to update the information in our client directory.

Contacts:

Perry Como - Applicant for investment secretary position.  He recently graduated from Brown Mackie College.  Because he was applying for a position, I didn't feel it was appropriate to ask for his contact information.

Jackie Smith - Security guard in lobby.  I finally got up the courage today to talk to Jackie.   She's a neat woman.  I learned that her nephew recently graduated from Tabor with a degree in business.  Her contact information is in the staff directory, which I will keep after completing the EBE.  She is in partial retirement after spending her career as security supervisor at NorthWest High School.

Paul MacNeil - Client who I spoke to while updating the client directory.  Mr.MacNeil is the president of the bank's Board of Trustees.  He was the CEO of Pittman Industries for 25 years and knows everyone in town.  He asked about my plans after college and said he'd be happy to talk with me more about the local business community.  He'll be at the bank tomorrow.  I hope to meet him in person. 

Challenges:

I continue to struggle with the jargon of investment bankers.  It was especially difficult during the staff meeting today because I could not understand some items which were discussed.  Everyone speaks to me as though I understand the topics presented.  I find that doing the newspaper clippings everyday helps me expand my investment vocabulary.  In some ways, I think it is more difficult for me because I really want to learn this information.  The concepts and changing pace of investments are exciting.  Yet I don't feel very comfortable talking with professionals so early in this experience. 

Skills:

The first skill I am developing is an eye for investment related stories.  The newspaper project has aided in developing this skill. The project has also helped me understand how investments relate to everything else that occurs.  For instance, at lunch today, myself and the other interns were talking about the governor's race, and I said something about how this state needs a governor who will carefully reexamine the tax structure and how Kansas attracts investors to state industry.

The second skill I am learning is how to run an effective meeting.  Today, the associate director ran our staff meeting and it was much more efficient than when my supervisor directs it.  Today we stuck to the agenda, spent less time in the meeting, and got more done. 

Finally, my phone skills are improving.  Last week when I called clients about the bank's anniversary dinner, I stuck to the script.  Today, I found it much easier to speak openly and even struck up some interesting conversations.  Before this internship, I thought I wanted to do investments more than sales or something that involves a lot of contact with strangers.  But I'm actually enjoying that part and would like to learn more about a career in sales.