Abstract

Cooperative education (coop ed) is an essential partnership between academia and industry. Its importance in this role is likely to continue to grow in the emerging global knowledge economy. A review of the coop ed assessment literature revealed that most evaluations are from the perspective of aligning a student’s internship experiences with the learning objectives and outcomes of his/her major. Under this paradigm, coop ed is primarily assessed using surveys to measure student and employer perceptions. A new framework for assessing university cooperative education internships is proposed. This framework specifies a process wherein a student’s coop ed internship experiences are aligned with the theoretical framework of her/his major, while measuring the extent of the acquired competencies and knowledge that will enhance the student’s employability in the global knowledge economy. The evaluation procedures proposed comprise measuring student work tasks in relationship to the tacit and practical knowledge inherent in the major. Moreover, the procedures include assessment of student ability to demonstrate learning transfer in a hypothetical coop ed internship experience. To implement the framework, a new role for faculty would be to identify and define the alignment of internship tasks with students’ majors. The components of the recommended cooperative education assessment model fulfill one of the university’s core objectives of providing qualified potential employees to employers in an unstable and dynamic economic environment.