The College Internship Study: A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study Exploring the Impacts of College Internships on Student Outcomes at HBCUs

大学实习研究：一项纵向混合方法研究，探讨大学实习对 HBCU 学生成绩的影响

基本信息

批准号：
1920560
负责人：
Matthew Hora
金额：
$ 148.93万
依托单位：
University of Wisconsin-Madison
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-07-15 至 2023-06-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1920560&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
College Internship Study Longitudinal Mixed

项目摘要

Internships and other forms of experiential and work-based learning are increasingly a common feature of STEM education in the United States and are all central to the goal of preparing a STEM workforce for the 21st century. In focusing on access and equity related to internship participation, this study will be one of the first to empirically explore these issues, which are of increasing concern to higher education scholars.The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for College-Workforce Transitions launched a translational mixed-methods longitudinal College Internship Study in 2018 at three different types of institutions in Wisconsin and South Carolina to produce empirical evidence on student outcomes of internships. An integrative theoretical framework that views internships as a problem of situated learning as well as a venue for students' development of self-efficacy beliefs and vocational identities was used to inform the study design. The project adds six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to this study to track a cohort of students and employers, faculty, and career centers over three years and measure psychosocial and labor market outcomes. Additionally, the proposed research project will leverage the strengths of large-scale, generalizable survey data and the more fine-grained perspectives of qualitative data. In addition, the longitudinal aspect of the study promises to shed important light on the impacts of internship experiences on a cohort of college students over time. This study represents one of the few empirical studies examining the relationship between internships and psychosocial outcomes that are of central importance to the fields of vocational psychology and persistence and equity in STEM education. Finally, expansion of the College Internship Study to encompass HBCUs will contribute to the research on these campuses as a unique institutional context in general and to the research base on the experiences of African-American students with college climate, persistence, and career planning. The College Internship Study builds upon two bodies of literature - the learning experience as a form of situated and experiential learning and developmental processes of vocational identity. The investigators will examine what students do and under what forms of mentorship. They will use situated cognition theory to interpret these results along with Social Cognitive Career and career Construction theories from vocational psychology to conceptualize the developmental processes of interns themselves. The internship experience will be characterized as comprising three elements - participation and access, program design features, and student outcomes and experiences. The research questions are: (1) How, if at all, does internship participation vary by students? demographics, academic programs and performance, and life/employment situations?; (2) What, if any, are the major barriers for students to access and then persist in an internship?; (3) How, if at all, are internship program features associated with students? satisfaction, career-related self-efficacy beliefs, sense of adaptability, and employment outcomes? and (4) What are the strengths and weaknesses of institutions regarding provision of internship programs and subsequent student supports? Investigators will conduct three waves of data over three years via online student survey, student focus groups, employer interviews, and faculty/career advisor interviews across the six institutions. Using statistical and qualitative techniques, they will compile reports and interactive data and visualizations for institutional partners. They also will use a comparative case study approach that involves situating cases within specific cultural, political, and historical contexts. The translational aspect of the project will ensure its impacts extend beyond the contribution of new scientific knowledge to policy and practice related to internship programs on participating campuses. These impacts could involve meaningful changes to students? experiences and learning, to institutional practice regarding internship programming, and to continuous improvement efforts.The project is supported by the ECR Core Research program that supports fundamental STEM education research focused on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

实习和其他形式的经验和基于工作的学习是美国STEM教育的共同特征，并且都是为21世纪准备STEM劳动力的目标。在关注与实习参与有关的访问和公平性方面，这项研究将是最早在经验上探索这些问题的研究之一，这些问题越来越关注高等教育学者的关注。实习。一种综合理论框架，将实习视为位置学习的问题以及学生发展自我效能信念和职业身份的场所，以告知研究设计。该项目在这项研究中增加了六个历史悠久的黑人学院和大学（HBCU），以跟踪三年来学生和雇主，教职员工和职业中心的队列，并衡量社会心理和劳动力市场的成果。此外，拟议的研究项目将利用大规模，可推广的调查数据的优势和定性数据的更细粒度的观点。此外，随着时间的推移，研究的纵向方面有望使实习经历对一群大学生的影响有重要意义。这项研究代表了少数几项研究实习与心理社会成果之间关系的实证研究之一，这对STEM教育中的职业心理学，持久性和公平性至关重要。最后，扩大大学实习研究以涵盖HBCUS，将为这些校园的研究做出贡献，这是一般的机构背景，以及关于具有大学气候，持久性和职业计划的非裔美国人学生的经历的研究基础。大学实习研究建立在两种文学的基础上 - 学习经验是一种位置和体验式学习和职业身份发展过程的形式。调查人员将检查学生的工作以及在哪种形式的指导下。他们将使用位置认知理论以及从职业心理学到概念化实习生本身的发展过程的社会认知职业和职业构建理论来解释这些结果。实习经验将以包括三个要素的特征 - 参与和访问，计划设计功能以及学生成果和经验。研究问题是：（1）如果有的话，实习参与会因学生而异？人口统计学，学术计划和表现以及生活/就业情况？（2）什么（如果有的话）是学生可以进入然后继续实习的主要障碍？（3）如果有的话，实习计划功能与学生相关联？满意度，与职业相关的自我效能信念，适应能力和就业成果？（4）机构在提供实习计划和随后的学生支持方面有哪些优点和劣势？调查人员将通过在线学生调查，学生焦点小组，雇主访谈以及教职员工/职业顾问访谈在三个机构中进行三年的数据浪潮。使用统计和定性技术，它们将为机构合作伙伴编辑报告以及交互式数据以及可视化。他们还将使用一种比较案例研究方法，其中涉及将案例置于特定的文化，政治和历史背景下。该项目的转化方面将确保其影响不仅仅是与参与校园实习计划有关的新科学知识对政策和实践的贡献。这些影响可能涉及对学生有意义的变化？经验和学习，以实习计划的机构实践以及持续改进的努力。该项目得到了ECR核心研究计划的支持，该计划支持基本的STEM教育研究，专注于STEM学习和学习环境，在STEM领域的参与以及STEM Formforce开发的参与。该委员会通过评估委员会的范围来反映出该委员会的范围，并以评估的范围来进行评估。