Eh. My first job was a remote (cross-country, even) internship when I was 16 for a 2-man bootstrapped startup that didn't have an office anyway. Since they were already setup to do most work conversations through Campfire, it worked great.
There's nothing keeping you from "pointing out the basics" via email, chat, or Skype and being available on chat if they hit walls just as you would be in person.
Sure, if you're not communicating well, maybe your full-timers can get stuff done despite that and your interns can't. But I'd say that means that having a remote intern is one of the most important things you can do from time to time. It will be a test of whether you're actually doing the distributed team thing right, instead of your team just being competent enough to work around it.
Maybe. I think there is much to be said for being able to just walk down the hall with your laptop and debug everything in person with someone who knows what they are doing. I didn't know much before that internship about software development and I learnt a ton about the whole field just watching other people. It's why I use emacs nowadays at a more than beginner level.
Again, if the intern is competent, then they aren't really an intern anymore. Just kind of a part time worker more likely to be hired in the future.
There's nothing keeping you from "pointing out the basics" via email, chat, or Skype and being available on chat if they hit walls just as you would be in person.
Sure, if you're not communicating well, maybe your full-timers can get stuff done despite that and your interns can't. But I'd say that means that having a remote intern is one of the most important things you can do from time to time. It will be a test of whether you're actually doing the distributed team thing right, instead of your team just being competent enough to work around it.