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Does engagement in high impact practices such as technical internships and undergraduate research influence engineering students’ career decisions and future plans? And how is learning that comes from these high impact practices related to “school learning”? These high impact educational practices have been shown to increase the rates of student engagement and retention in higher education. While access to and participation in these activities is often unsystematic across various institutions, these practices have been shown to benefit college students with diverse backgrounds and learner qualities. This paper establishes a context for understanding the characteristics and attitudes of students who participate in internships and undergraduate research by drawing from analyses of the first administration of the Engineering Majors Survey (EMS), a longitudinal study designed to examine engineering students’ career objectives related to creativity and innovation, and the experiences and attitudes that might influence those goals. In addition, using interview data from product development interns at a single engineering firm, we add insights into the specific skills that interns identify as learning in their internship and suggest connections between school-and-work learning. The more general picture of the impact of internship and research experiences (from the EMS), complemented with a “deep dive” into the learning that happens in internship experiences (from the interviews) provides a solid starting point for future exploration of how high impact practices such as internships and research experiences might be better integrated into a student’s educational development.
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Internship Experiences Among College Students Attending an HBC: A Longitudinal Grounded Theory Exploration
Internships are a form of experiential learning whereby students can apply and practice their skills in a professional setting while gaining career and life experience. This study explored internship experiences among students attending an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the Southeastern region of the U.S. Using Grounded Theory, 18 students participated in in-person small group interviews at Time 1 and 11 participated in follow-up individual phone interviews 1 year later at Time 2. The grounded theory that emerged from the data depicts the process by which students engaged with, and made meaning from, the internship process. Participants are unique individuals with individual and contextual factors that impact the values and beliefs they bring to the internship process. The internship application process is complex, and support from important others, limitations to internship opportunities, and financial considerations impact students’ experiences. These experiences shape perceptions regarding the value of internships, which informs students’ future projections. In combination, the internship process is a process that unfolds over time and in which students’ experiences mutually influence and inform one another. Implications for internship employers and higher education institutions, applications to career theory, and future directions for research are discussed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1920560
- PAR ID:
- 10331928
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Career Assessment
- Volume:
- 29
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1069-0727
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 589 to 607
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Does engagement in high impact practices such as technical internships and undergraduate research influence engineering students’ career decisions and future plans? And how is learning that comes from these high impact practices related to “school learning”? These high impact educational practices have been shown to increase the rates of student engagement and retention in higher education. While access to and participation in these activities is often unsystematic across various institutions, these practices have been shown to benefit college students with diverse backgrounds and learner qualities. This paper establishes a context for understanding the characteristics and attitudes of students who participate in internships and undergraduate research by drawing from analyses of the first administration of the Engineering Majors Survey (EMS), a longitudinal study designed to examine engineering students’ career objectives related to creativity and innovation, and the experiences and attitudes that might influence those goals. In addition, using interview data from product development interns at a single engineering firm, we add insights into the specific skills that interns identify as learning in their internship and suggest connections between school-and-work learning. The more general picture of the impact of internship and research experiences (from the EMS), complemented with a “deep dive” into the learning that happens in internship experiences (from the interviews) provides a solid starting point for future exploration of how high impact practices such as internships and research experiences might be better integrated into a student’s educational development.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072721992758
