RAPID: Investigating the impact of online internships in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

RAPID：调查 COVID-19 大流行期间在线实习的影响

• 批准号: 2032122
• 负责人: Matthew Hora
• 金额: $ 14.5万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2032122&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Investigating; impact; online; internships

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions will partner with Parker Dewey to generate a robust mixed-methods dataset about the impact of online internships on student progression. Internships, mandated by many STEM academic programs, are a form of work-based learning that can lead to academic and workforce success for undergraduate and graduate students. Traditional face-to-face internships also can enhance students’ social networks and technical and transferrable professional skills. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has made face-to-face internships untenable for many workplaces, with stay-at-home orders and social distancing requirements, resulting in a large influx of college students to vendors such as Parker Dewey seeking these opportunities. However, there is little research on the quality of online or micro-internships, and higher education professionals have little knowledge about their students’ experiences with these new forms of work-based learning and their subsequent impact on students’ career and academic development. This study will fill this need by contributing both new empirical insights on online internships as well as actionable knowledge to inform faculty and career advisors’ decision making about students’ internship opportunities during and beyond the pandemic. The project will examine the following research questions: (1) What are the demographic characteristics of past (2015 to early 2020) and current online interns? (2) What types of tasks and mentoring are experienced by online interns? (3) What is the impact of an online internship on student career and academic development, professional networks, and transferable skills? and, (4) What are the prospects for online internships to adopt innovations in virtual simulations to enhance the internship experience? These questions will be answered through three distinct yet inter-related studies that include analyses of Parker Dewey’s past student participants (n=1,500), surveys (n=2,500) and interviews (n=50) with current Parker Dewey program participants, and interviews with employers in STEM-related fields (n=25) regarding the format of internship programs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the research leverages the strengths of large-scale survey data and the more fine-grained “insider” perspective of qualitative data. The study will be the first empirical study of online internships and represents a significant contribution to the fields of experiential learning and workforce development. Given the likelihood that online internships and some form of social distancing will continue, generating rapid scientifically rigorous findings on this topic is a time-sensitive concern for U.S. higher education. This RAPID award is made by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program in the Division of Graduate Education/Directorate of Education and Human Resources, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. ECR supports fundamental research focused on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, 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.

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的大学劳动力过渡研究中心的研究人员将与帕克·杜威（Parker Dewey）合作，生成一个关于在线互助对学生发展的影响的强大的混合方法数据集。由许多STEM学术课程授权的实习是一种基于工作的学习形式，可以为本科生和研究生带来学术和劳动力的成功。传统的面对面实力还可以增强学生的社交网络以及技术和转移的专业技能。但是，COVID-19的大流行使许多工作场所都无法面对面的实习，并有在家中的订单和社会疏远的要求，从而对帕克·杜威（Parker Dewey）等供应商产生了很大的影响，以寻求这些机会。但是，几乎没有关于在线或微观领域的质量的研究，高等教育专业人员对学生在这些新的基于工作形式的学习以及随后对学生的职业和学术发展的影响方面的经历几乎没有任何了解。这项研究将通过对在线实习以及可行的知识贡献新的经验见解来满足这一需求，以告知教师和职业顾问在大流行期间和之外的学生的拘留机会。该项目将研究以下研究问题：（1）过去（2015年至2020年初）和当前的在线实习生的人口特征是什么？ （2）在线实习生经历了哪些类型的任务和心理？ （3）在线实习对学生职业和学术发展，专业网络和可转移技能的影响是什么？ （4）在线实习在虚拟模拟中采用创新以增强实习经验有哪些前景？这些问题将通过三项不同但相关的研究来回答，包括对Parker Dewey过去的学生参与者（n = 1,500），调查（n = 2,500）的分析以及与当前Parker Dewey计划参与者的访谈（n = 50），以及与STEM相关领域（n = 25）的访谈（n = 25）的互动计划中的AMIDST AMIDST perc covics covics covics covics covics covics covics covics covic covics covics。这是该研究利用大规模调查数据的优势以及对定性数据的更细粒度的“内部人士”观点。这项研究将是对在线国际职业的首次实证研究，并代表了对学习和劳动力发展领域的重要贡献。鉴于在线国际职业和某种形式的社会距离可能会继续下去，因此对该主题进行了科学严格的发现是美国高等教育的时间敏感的关注点。这项快速奖励是由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划在研究生教育和教育和人力资源局的部门中使用《冠状病毒援助，救济和经济安全（CARES）法》的资金。 ECR支持着针对STEM学习和学习环境，扩大参与STEM和STEM劳动力发展的基础研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估来通过评估来支持的。