The Seoul National University Faculty of Liberal Education will offer a Public Internship program in the spring semester of 2008. Similar in concept to the Student Self-Directed Learning Program, It will provide students with a chance to do volunteer work for the public good, and establish invaluable leadership skills.

Students will have a chance to do internships at public institutions, find out what kind of social problems or issues are at hand, experience first hand the raising of issues, and decision making processes, solving and improving problematic situations, and gain introspect on such matters. The Public Internship is a form of service learning, aiming to provide, through these experiences, a chance to develop and foster insight and abilities regarding academic integrity, respect and concern for others, responsible citizenship, ethical communication, and a systematic sense of social obligation or duty.

This program, together with the establishment of the Leadership Center, will hopefully help SNU undergraduates to develop the qualities required to become a responsible leader, broadening their interests and abilities to more productive, socially oriented forms transforming them into a new kind of leader, one willing to commit herself for the greater good of society, state, and mankind.

The Public Internship can be taken by students in their junior and senior years. It will be worth three credits, counting as an elective class, and grading will be criterion based or absolute, from A to F. Students are required to select and submit a public service area of interest by e-mail, and acquire approval from the resident professor prior to enrollment.

The program will be run according to the principles of student directed learning in two aspects; first, independent, self-directed learning will be facilitated by weekly interviews with the instructor, and second, a total of sixty hours of service, averaging four hours a week during fifteen weeks, will be performed during the semester by the student at a public facility.

The students will perform the following four activities.

①  Online Journal Participation: Students will list their internship activities of the past week on the course website, prior to the weekly interview session with the instructor. The weekly online journal will be comprised of matters concerning internship activities, weekly readings with relevant to the internship, discussions presented by the students, and corresponding discussions between the instructor and the students.

②  Preparation of Talking Points: Students will prepare two major newspaper articles of their interest, listing the major concepts and arguments, or subjects of both pieces, and will use them as material for the weekly session with the instructor.

③  Public Internship Institution Activity Record: The institute or facility where the student performs his or her internship will record the students’ activities according to the provided format.

④  Project Papers: Students participating in this program are expected not only to gain in-depth understanding of social issues, but to develop a critical eye for social problems. The main purpose of the project papers are to have students reflect on what the causes of social issues and problems are, and whether there are better approaches to be taken.

The Online Journal will make 20% of your final grade; evaluation from the public institute where the student performed his or her internship will count for 20%, and the Project Papers will make up 40%.

The Public Internship Program hopes to promote, and further the awareness of community problems, the critical examination of the role of volunteer work in solving social problems, the bridging of gaps between practical and theoretical knowledge concerning community participation, the utilizing of first hand experience and investigation as learning methods, the examination of elements of ethical decision making by individuals or groups, the development of leadership skills and abilities as a catalyst for improvement of the community, and the development of analytical thinking and writing.