The Internship Course: Adding Depth, Breadth, Flexibility and Connection

Although internships enable students to make connections between their academics and the workforce, the key to this maturation is the reflective process. However, as students intern abroad, they may be isolated from the dialogue occurring in classrooms that deepens their understanding. A decision was made to harness digital technologies to bring distance students into the classroom, including them in the collaborative work and spontaneous exchange core to the internship course’s learning outcomes. This presentation will review student perceptions, discuss university infrastructure, outline plans for converting the course into an online format and suggest additional applications of the “portable student”