[EDUCON] Using Virtual Internships as an Innovative learning technique

Using Virtual Internships as an Innovative learning technique Ana Rita Medeiros, Deniz Ìcen, Elia Alessandro Morciano, Marta Cortesão Board of European Students of Technology eliasalessandro.morciano@gmail.com Abstract— Internships have become an important system to bring students, companies and universities closer. It has also become one of the first preferences of students when it comes to complementing their education. However, in a globally connected world, mobility is a great value, being required by most of the professionals. In this way, the concept of virtual internships is being developed as an innovative approach to improve European Engineering Education (EEE). Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) has been playing an active role since 2009 in the establishment and improvement of virtual internships in Europe. This has been happening mainly by two ways: i) the organization of Events on Education (EoEs), each gathering the opinions of approximately 20 European students of technology on educational matters; ii) the participation in both Enterprise-University Virtual Placements (EUVIP) and Promoting Virtual Mobility in Placements (PROVIP) thematic networks, under the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission. Thus, we present the outcomes of several EoEs in EEE conferences, disclosing the students’ point of view regarding two main ideas: the concept and implications of virtual internships in Europe, and a set of guidelines for the communication between stakeholders during virtual internships.

Keywords— Virtual Internships; Board of European Students of Technology; BEST; PROVIP; Distance Education

I. INTRODUCTION As the job market becomes more competitive, attending internships is more important than ever, as they help young graduates to take the first steps in their career in a challenging economic environment [1]. By providing the opportunity for students to develop both technical and soft skills, internships play a crucial role in bridging the gap between University and Industry [2] ensuring the self-development of students during their studies. Traditionally, internship programs offer inperson opportunities to familiarize students with their work.

However, financial, geographical, and time constraints can limit student attendance. With the advancement of technology, students can make an immediate and measurable impact for companies without physically being in the office, meaning interns can work remotely from home just with internet connection [3]. That is when traditional internships give the way to virtual internships.

Since the first virtual internships in the 1990’s, the concept has become more and more common among various fields such as software development, journalism, engineering, or fashion [3]. Virtual internships do not represent a great

opportunity only for students. On the contrary, it gives flexibility both to employer and employee in the planning of an intern program, providing students with practical knowledge and employers with the benefit of results without facing any office space cost [4-5].

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) around Europe tackle the topic of distance education, where cooperation between students, teachers, company representatives and even software developers is essential [5-6] the same way as in virtual internships. It has been seen as an opportunity to support teaching in meeting learning goals and in homework tasks [78] or to facilitate the communication between stakeholders [9].

BEST is a constantly growing non-profit and non-political students organization that helps European Engineering students to develop themselves, to become more internationally minded and to connect a given standard education to a self-development path, which could broad their experience and their skills [10]. Since 1995 BEST has been playing a key-role in involving students in the development of EEE, mainly by organizing EoEs. These events aim to gather students input on educational matters, which are then transmitted to HEIs and other entities related to EEE. Several Events on Education have happened throughout the years in collaboration with PROVIP (PROmoting VIrtual mobility in Placements) [11] where the students’ perspective was analyzed and new input gathered. BEST has thus been one of the few NGOs actively involved in the development of virtual internships in Europe, addressing the opinions of technology students as potential virtual interns.

In this paper an overview of the outcomes of several EoEs is provided, disclosing the students’ point of view regarding two main ideas: the concept and implications of virtual internships in Europe, and a set of guidelines for the communication between stakeholders during virtual internships.

II. METHODS To bring the development of EEE closer to students, EoEs have been organized throughout the years [12]. There are two types of EoEs. One is BEST Symposium on Education whereas the other is BEST Academics and Companies Forum (BACo). Both usually last 7 days and involve 20-25 students, BEST members, representatives from European educational projects and representatives from universities. Unlike

Symposiums on Education, BACos additionally contain a dynamic collaboration with companies, approaching the perspectives of the three stakeholders in education (students, companies and universities) through the continuous exchange of opinions and experience. Within this framework, BEST has organized several events on education throughout the years: 2005 in Rome [13]; 2006 in Istanbul [14], 2010 in Sofia [15], 2013 in Timisoara [16], 2014 in Gdansk [17].

In order to improve students’ involvement in EoEs and consequently gather their valuable input, several facilitation methods have been used. Most of the discussion sessions have been performed in-group, giving the opportunity for both individual and group brainstorming [18-19]. The Open Space Technology (OST) has been used adapted from Owen et al.

2008 [20]. The “Learning Café” or “World Café” discussion facilitation methods have also been used to tackle problems from different perspectives, adapted from Brown et al. 1999 [21].

III. STUDENTS’ POINT OF VIEW ON THE CONCEPT AND IMPLICATIONS OF VIRTUAL INTERNSHIPS IN EUROPE The overall outcomes of the above stated EoEs have provided BEST with the insight of students’ opinion on the development of EEE and the establishment of virtual Internships in Europe, identifying them as a way to close the gap between university knowledge and the skills needed in company environments.

Initially students have also pointed out that grades are not always indicative of the level of knowledge or ability to act as an engineer and most of the times the diploma is not enough to assure employability. Extra-curricular activities are thus perceived by students as an important and positive element in their careers, since it is a way to obtain the soft skills that employers look for and that students believe are indispensable for the profile of every engineer. Students strongly suggested that companies should be more involved in the university study programs, making it easier to identify what employers expect from future engineers, and to have access to activities capable of filling the gap between universities’ and companies’ needs [13-14].

Internships were identified as the most appealing extracurricular activities to the students, representing a good opportunity to turn the freshly acquired theoretical knowledge into a practical experience [22]. In fact, on EoE Sofia 2012 it was asked from the students what they believed were the benefits of attending internships [15]. The most referred points were: practical experience in the field of studies; networking opportunities; learning industrial working-methods; getting insights into the corporation; adaptation of the students’ mindset to something closer to their future needs; profit (in case the internship is remunerated) and acquirement of new soft skills, such as Time Management.

As students seem willing to embrace the concept of virtual internships as a bridge to the corporate world, it was relevant to ask whether internships were integrated in study programs.

For that, in our EoEs students from the following countries: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, and Turkey, were asked about their study programs and how internships are integrated.

Although data is not representative of the study programs of all Universities, it can be seen as the trend of each country to involve internship experiences in the students’ academic curriculum. It was found that opportunities for internships are not the same around Europe, depending on the university as it is demonstrated on table 1, as most of the participants of our EoEs don’t have internships integrated in their study programs.

TABLE 1 INTEGRATION OF INTERNSHIPS IN THE STUDY PROGRAM OF THE INQUIRED STUDENTS’ COUNTRIES.

Country

Integrated in the study program

Spain

Mandatory in some study programs

No information

X

Estonia

X

Germany

X

Turkey

X

Hungary

X

Italy

X

Portugal

X

France

X

Slovakia

X

Russia

X

Austria

X

Macedonia

X

Croatia

X

Poland

X

Czech Republic

X

Romania Serbia

X X

Besides that, students showed that internship characteristics differ in each country. For instance, the student in France would do 3 internships with different lengths for up to six months [15]. In Romania internships would usually last for one year [17] whereas in Turkey they would last for sixty days [15]. In situations where internships are not part of the study program, students admitted the need to search for practical experience, which demands a big effort but can reflect in student’s performance in the university [15].

It is clear how internship opportunities are not equally distributed among Europeans, hence new strategies and methods are being developed to tackle this problem. Distance education is one of these strategies, being approached in this paper mainly as virtual internships.

In the search for the concept for virtual internships in the students’ perspective, BACo Timisoara 2013 and BACo Gdansk 2014 were organized. Students stated their perception of virtual internships represented by its advantages and disadvantages [16-17]. Results are shown in table 2. The interest from students’ side was clearly presented during the event, along with the need for a greater collaboration between the company and the university.

TABLE 2. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VIRTUAL INTERNSHIPS

Advantages

Disadvantages

Mobility

Self-organization

Flexibility (special conditions)

Lack of physical access (intranet, equipment)

Different countries, and economies

IV. GUIDELINES FOR THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS DURING VIRTUAL INTERNSHIPS

In [16-17] both constant communication and feedback between the students, companies, and universities were identified by students as the key for the success of virtual internships. In this way students were asked to explain how the three stakeholders should communicate and what were their expectations (Figure 1), as well as the importance and impact of interns feedback. They expressed that feedback should be as a service and that students should see the result of their feedback implemented during the internship. It is also a way to raise awareness among companies about the needs and values of students. Companies should present what they implemented from students’ feedback to encourage students to continue to do so, as they should make direct speeches with practical examples to show that their opinion actually matters [17].

These outcomes are consistent with previous studies, where the use of students’ feedback has been reported as a mean to benefit teacher professional development [23]. In fact, research studies have frequently confirmed a strong correlation between learning and teaching environments and levels of satisfaction [24].

Using the communication model suggested by PROVIP for the stakeholders’ interaction in a virtual internship (Figure 1), students presented their expectations towards the different aspects of this interaction. The following mentioned outcomes can be set up as student guidelines for a successful communication between stakeholders during virtual internships.

Lack of social interaction

Access to university resources Different time zones No extra costs for intern Limited subjects Autonomy Company saves resources

Communication problems and misunderstandings

Enhanced creativity by choosing workspace

Limited resources

Empowered diversity for company

Slow process

More place are available and more students can apply

Information breach

English

Low attachment

Learning opportunity Building up interns professional network

Difficult knowledge transfer

Fig. 1: PROVIP model of stakeholder face-to-face and ICT supported interactions. A: students-university face-to-face interaction. B: studentscompanies ICT supported interaction. C: companies-university ICT supported and face-to-face interaction [1].

In Fig.1.A, which represents university-students interaction, the most referenced issues were: the high demand for promoting virtual internships among students; the need for compulsory communication; the establishment of deadlines.

Participants also concluded that virtual internships should be a part of the study program with the right to have a scholarship.

They believed that a professor–student close relationship would be the best for the success of virtual internships.

In students-companies interaction (Fig.1.B), the relevant factors were: the students’ connection with their mentor inside the company; constant communication by e-mail, phone, Skype; weekly meetings and on demand; clear communication about tasks, problems, progress, reports, ideas, schedules and the management of expectations towards each other to ensure effective, friendly atmosphere. Finally, in Fig.1.C, companyuniversity interaction students though companies should send offers to universities and those universities should look for certain positions and specific programs. Participants also believe that companies should provide feedback about students’ knowledge and universities should ask about the performance of the student. Moreover, it was said that a more specific way of communication between the two was needed, perhaps including specific people such as a mentor/teacher.

Students also concluded that universities should send requirements of the internship program and transmit the student complaints [16].

V. CONCLUSION The presented work shows that virtual internships are perceived by European students as an important and innovative approach in the development of EEE by offering an effective way of applying students’ academic knowledge in a modern corporate environment, regardless of the intern physical or financial limitations. It also became evident that both students’ access to internships and their integration in study-programs is not consistent throughout Europe.

Although students believe the requirements of virtual internships would not be very different from the ones of a real-life internship, there are two main suggestions drawn from students regarding the well-maintenance of a virtual internship. These are constant communication and regular feedback between company-intern-university. In this way, a successful communication strategy can be based on PROVIP model of stakeholder face-to-face and ICT supported interactions, which will facilitate the flow of knowledge and allow constant evaluation of the stakeholders’ performance during a virtual internship.

The collaboration between NGOs and market research might play a key-role in the progress of EEE, as it can help defining the stakeholder’s needs and facilitate the establishment of strategies aligned with the globalization vision [25], such as virtual internships.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT BEST would like to thank all the members involved in the organization of EoEs as well as all the participants, partners, professors and thematic network representatives.

REFERENCES [1] M. Stanojevic, I. Sanchez Martinez, N. Mazur, “Virtual Internships provided in collaborating among companies and universities - The future of practical development of students” INTED proceedings, 2014 [2] http://www.internships.com/virtual (accessed in 17.11.2014)

[3] A. Wampler, A. Charny, L. DeHaven, C. Banta, “Development of a virtual open house to market a dietetic internship program; Journal of the American Dietetic Association vol. 111, Issue 9, Supplement, 2011, pp.A78, [4] M. Majerič, A. Enea, W. Villerius., “Virtual Internships,” SEFI AC proceedings, 2012 [5] D. Orr, C. Gwosć, N. Netz,”Social and economic conditions of student life in europe. Synopsis of indicators,” Final report. Eurostudent IV 2008–2011. Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag, 2011 [6] M. Stefanovic, “The objectives, architectures and effects of distance learning laboratories for industrial engineering education,” Computers & Education vol. 69, 2013, pp. 250–262 [7] D. Bentaa, G. Bologaa, I. Dzitaca, “E-learning Platforms in Higher Education. Case Study,” Procedia Computer Science vol.31, pp.1170 – 1176, 2014 [8] U. Rintala, “State-of-the-art in support of virtual placements: A study carried out in the framework of the EU-VIP project” [9] P. Häfner, V. Häfner, J. Ovtcharova, “Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the programme committee of the 2013 International Conference on Virtual and Augmented Reality in Education Teaching Methodology for Virtual Reality Practical Course in Engineering Education.” Procedia Computer Science vol. 25, 2013, pp.

251 – 260 [10] http://best.eu.org/index.jsp [accessed 1-11-2014] [11] http://provip.eu/ [accessed 1-11-2014] [12]http://best.eu.org/academic/educationalInvolvement/documents.jsp [accessed 1-11-2014] [13] BEST Educational Committee.”The role of extra-curricular activities in the formation of engineers”, 2005 http://best.eu.org/download/edu/Symposium_Rome_Tor_Vergata_2005 [14] BEST Educational Committee, “Accreditation, learning outcomes and the role of extra-curricular activities in the formation of engineers,” 2006 http://best.eu.org/download/edu/BACO_report_Istanbul.pdf [accessed 1-11-2014] [15] BEST Educational Committee, “University in not enough? Cross the bridge to the real world!,” 2010 http://best.eu.org/download/edu/BACo_Report_Sofia_2010.pdf [accessed 1-11-2014] [16] BEST Educational Committee, “Bringing education and entrepreneurship under students’ scope,” 2013 http://best.eu.org/download/edu/BACo_Timisoara-Final_report.pdf [accessed 1-11-2014] [17] BEST Educational Committee, “LINK: Le’t introduce the network of knowledge”, 2014 http://issuu.com/bestorg/docs/baco_gdansk__final_report/0 [accessed 11-11-2014] [18] A. Fumham, T. Yazdanpanahi, “Personality differences and group versus individual brainstorming,” Pcr.wn. mdiGd. Drfi, vol. 19. No. I., 1995, pp. 73-80.

[19] E. F. Rietzschel, B. Nijstad, W. Stroebe, “Productivity is not enough: A comparison of interactive and nominal brainstorming groups on idea generation and selection,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology vol. 42, 2006, pp.244–251 [20] H. Owen, “Open Space Technology: A User's Guide,” BerrettKoehler Publishers inc, 2008 [21] J. Brown, D. Isaacs, N. Rgulies, G. Warhaftig, “The World Café: Catalyzing Large-Scale Collective Learning,”Pegasus Communications, Inc. 1999 [22] B.P. Green, P. Graybeal, R. L. Madison, "An exploratory study of the effect of professional internships on students’ perception of the importance of employment traits", Journal of Education for Business, vol. 86, Issue 2, 2011, pp. 100-110 [23] B. Erik, K.V. Noel, "Improving higher education practice through student evaluation systems: is the student voice being heard?", Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2014

[24] C.S Nair, D.L. Fisher, “Learning environments and student attitudes to science at the senior secondary and tertiary levels,” Issues in Educational Research, vol.11(2), 2001, pp.12–31 [25] Dr. D. Giannoni, A.P. Selby, “The Synergy of Virtual Internships and Competency- based Online Learning”, p. Global Opportunities with Online Internships, Journal of Virtual Leadership