Community-Based Internships: How a Hybridized High-Impact Practice Affects Students, Community Partners, and the University

Abstract

This qualitative participatory action research project demonstrates how participation in a communitybased internship (CBI), a hybridization of service-learning and internship practices, affects undergraduate students, community partners, and the university at a large public university. This article outlines a rationale for the study, demonstrating that robust knowledge regarding the effects of service-learning and internships exists, but there is a need to understand how hybridization of these high-impact practices (HIPs) affects program stakeholders. Next, the participatory methodological procedures will be highlighted as they are integral to the presentation and interpretation of the data. The findings will demonstrate that although stakeholders in a CBI have similar experiences to traditional service-learning and internship programs, the hybridization of these HIPs creates a unique environment that shapes these experiences. Furthermore, the participatory inquiry raises questions regarding how research ought to be conducted in service-learning and community engagement. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are charged with preparing students for their future professional roles (Coker et al., 2017) while maintaining a civic mission of developing engaged citizens (Ehrlich, 2000). Internships and service-learning experiences have been proposed as pedagogical practices that fulfill these goals-internships as a means to prepare students for professional life (Silva et al., 2016) and service-learning as a means to support the university's civic mission (Nichols, 2016). Therefore, understanding the structure of a program that amalgamates these two high-impact practices (HIPs) (Kuh, 2008) through an examination of the experiences of stakeholders of a community-based internship (CBI) is important. Furthermore, both internships and service-learning are relatively well understood and conceptualized in existing literature, yet there is much less information regarding the hybridization of these practices. Both service-learning and internships have been recognized for their positive impacts on students and have evolved into widely implemented practices; therefore, combining the two into one learning experience seems to be a pathway for future educational practice that meets the goals of HEIs. Context Investigation of a CBI requires a familiarity with existing knowledge of internship and service-learning structures and impacts. Before exploring these pedagogical practices, a brief discussion of HIPs provides a rationale for conceptualizing the CBI as a hybridization of internships and service-learning. According to Kuh (2008), both internships and service-learning are high-impact educational practices, which are defined as teaching and learning practices that are grounded in student activity, engagement, and collaboration. Students who partake in HIPs have shown gains in deep learning and personal development. More recently, hybridization of these practices has been described in the literature. Bringle (2017) termed the pedago...

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“…Community-based learning supports students' development of deep and broad critical thinking, grounded in real-world experiences, which are frequently among the intended outcomes of a liberal education; at the same time, US employers report being more likely to hire recent graduates with such experiences due to their confidence in the way these experiences contribute to employers' top-tier desired skills, including communication, critical thinking, ethical judgment, teamwork, and real-world applications (Hart Research Associates 2018). The positive impacts of community-based learning and service learning programs on student success in US higher education are well researched and extend to students' professional and social development (Trager 2020). Having engaged my own students in service learning, I can personally attest to those positive impacts (first-person statements in this chapter are in reference to Martin Springborg).…”

Framing the Effects of High-Impact Practices from a High-Impact Learning Perspective. A Review of Studies

“…Also, the practices enhance the ability to work effectively with others (Anderson et al, 2016), prepare graduates for employment after graduation with real world experiences (Murphrey et al, 2016), enable students to experience the needs and realities of a global society (Ferrari & Fine, 2016;Larson et al, 2020), allow students to engage in meaningful interactions (Ribera et al, 2017), help to achieve student-set goals such as gaining insight into possible career choices and increasing marketability for future competitive opportunities (Dupont & Rodenborg, 2020). Trager (2020) announced that internships facilitate the transition from university to work life as they offer students the opportunity to gain experience in their work environment before completing their education. In addition, while students have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for their careers, they may also have the opportunity to find a job with better conditions (Trager, 2020).…”

“…Trager (2020) announced that internships facilitate the transition from university to work life as they offer students the opportunity to gain experience in their work environment before completing their education. In addition, while students have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for their careers, they may also have the opportunity to find a job with better conditions (Trager, 2020). Also, according to Henderson (2017), through the internship experience, students have the opportunity to practice directly in a professional workplace setting and gain insight into when and how to apply the skills necessary to developing expertise.…”

“…As Anderson et al (2016) stated that students gain practical competence thanks to HIPs and HIPs enable students to analyse complex problems and find solutions to them. In addition, HIPs improve students' analytical and critical thinking skills (Shavers & Mitchell, 2019;Rodriguez & Koubek, 2019;Conefrey, 2018;Bampasidou et al, 2016;Zilvinskis & McCormick, 2019;Anderson et al, 2016;Einbinder, 2018;Myers et al, 2019;Miller et al, 2011;Perrotta, 2020;Smith, Lundy, & Dahlmann, 2017;Wismath & Newberry, 2019;Nelson Laird et al, 2014;Kilgo et al, 2015;Lane & Miller, 2019), leadership skills (Cotten & Thompson, 2017;Wolaver & Finley, 2020;McBroom et al, 2015;Bampasidou et al, 2016;Trager, 2020;Miller et al, 2011;Nelson Laird et al, 2014), personal growth (Shavers & Mitchell, 2019;Knouse, 2018;Perrotta, 2020;Goulette & Denney, 2018;Trager, 2020;Wismath & Newberry, 2019;Garvey et al, 2018;Nelson Laird et al, 2014;Kilgo et al, 2015), awareness of personal values and beliefs (Goulette & Denney, 2018;Cotten & Thompson, 2017;Alston & Ericksen, 2019), problem solving skills (Shavers & Mitchell,...…”

“…It was observed in 48 studies that the Collaboration and coaching was associated with the positive effects of high-impact learning practices, which are collaboration, personal growth and social development, communication, enhanced learning, appreciation of diversity, student-faculty/peer/community interaction, critical thinking, leadership of one's own learning, motivation, academic success, retention and engagement.To illustrate, it was suggested that while HIPs allow group work, they enable students to work effectively with others(Anderson, Anson, Gonyea, & Paine, 2016;Einbinder, 2018;Wismath & Newberry, 2019). Additionally, HIPs develop interpersonal skills such as, teamwork(Bampasidou, Grogan, Clark, & Sandberg, 2016;McBroom, Bullard, Kulhavy, & Unger, 2015;Trager, 2020;Larson, Downing, Nolan, & Neikirk, 2020;Farrow & Burt, 2018).Anderson, Boyd, Marin & McNamara (…”