This poster presentation will display an outline, flow-chart and artifacts associated with the presenters' research on the impact of participation in an online Integrative Studies internship course. The presenters will share the rationale, development, implementation, and outcomes associated with a study which examines the benefits of this high impact practice.
Engaging in high impact practices is a sought after practice for many institutions because of the positive impact on the students. Providing an opportunity for the student to engage in a high impact practice in the online environment can be challenging and rewarding. Internships are considered a high impact practice providing the students with direct experience in a work setting. With our diverse student body demands for online courses, we decided to offer our internship course in the online environment and assess the student impact.
This poster presentation will display an outline, flow-chart and artifacts associated with the presenters' research on the impact of participation in an online Integrative Studies internship course. The presenters will share information about the rationale, development, implementation, and outcomes associated with the initial stages of this longitudinal study to examine factors that may enhance student's experiences with and benefits from the high impact practice of an online internship course. As such, the students' growth in the areas of experiential learning and academic integration are being studied to determine the efficacy of the online course in providing students with the knowledge and context necessary for maximizing the internship experience as one that facilitates the transition from college to the workplace while building the student's sense of well-being as a learner and team member. In the early stages of this research, we have already seen how student blogs and survey responses have provided recurring themes and other qualitative evidence of academic integration that suggests online course delivery is an appropriate method for framing and enhancing the learning that accompanies participation in an internship.
Additionally, we will discuss with the participants the challenges and rewards of offering a high impact practice in an online course so other institutions can adapt some of our strategies for implementation.