Communication students in overseas internships: How they are challenged; What they learn

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Communication Students in Overseas Internships: How They Are Challenged, What They Learn

ANZCA Annual Conference

University of Auckland, 5 July 2018

Frank Sligo and Teresa Housel

Te Pou Aro Kōrero/ School of Communication, Journalism & Marketing

Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa/ Massey University

Te Whanganui-a-Tara/ Wellington

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Rising importance of

international students in

NZ

• _{International tertiary students in NZ}

comprised 33% of students in 2017, compared to the OECD average of 11%

• _{Tertiary institutions are becoming}

increasingly dependent on such enrolments given reductions in

government funding as a proportion of GDP

(3)

In tandem, a further

trend:

• _{Tertiary institutions are increasingly}

expected to build closer relationships with their community, including in

the form of experiential learning for their students

• _{Both domestic and international}

(4)

Prior Literature

• Much is known about tertiary domestic

students’ internship experiences, and about international students’ classroom-based

learning

• However little has been written about international students’ experience of internships overseas

• It’s thought likely though that these students will have diverse reasons for seeking WIL

(work-integrated learning), including career prospects, familiarisation with the host

country’s workplace norms, or personal

(5)

Perceived Importance of Internships

• Research among arts and cultural management

students from the USA, Singapore, UK, Australia and NZ reported that 91% of them believed that at least one internship should be required before graduation

• 70% reported that their universities required at least

one

• internship before graduation

• Almost 25% reported that they were required to

complete two or more internships

• It appears that students are being strongly socialised

(6)

NZ Research into International Students’ Satisfaction Indicates

• _{Good satisfaction with teachers’} competence and teaching styles

• _{Low satisfaction with their NZ tertiary} experience in respect of:

– Understanding of their academic needs

– Availability to help them outside class

– A sense of responsibility for them

– Opportunities for work experience

– Ability to compete with domestic graduates

for jobs.

(7)

WIL is being theorised …

• _{In more constructivist ways, building}

learners’ ability to apply what they have learned in classroom settings

• _{In terms of synergistic effects as}

students assess practice in the light of their theory, and critique theory in respect of what they have

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Debate in the literature

centres around opportunities for WIL to:

• _{Promote student self-formation and}

foster student mobility as “becoming”

• _{Mobilise knowledge across contexts}

• _{Permit students to access learning as}

acquisition and learning as participation

• _{Enable interns to make a genuine}

contribution to the workplace.

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The students were:

• _{From a collection of US universities} • _{In communication, media studies,}

advertising or related majors

• _{Mainly at junior or senior level.}

Some had travelled outside the US

(10)

Given that little is known about international interns’ experience:

We surmise that they will be impacted by a triple load of cultural differences:

• _{Academic cultural differences} • _{National cultural differences}

• _{Workplace cultural differences}

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The triple impact of cultural differences: Academic, national, and workplace

Academic cultural differences: First impact prior to arriving in the new country, on initial engagement with study materials. This becomes more challenging for

students as they start to grapple with the required readings and assignments, attempting to understand the nuances of what is expected of them.

National cultural differences: Second impact encountered initially via online prior research but then intensified on arrival in the new country. For many students this is their first time outside the USA. Their realisation of the very short time they have to come to terms with the new culture (six weeks) increases the pressure.

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Student interns and host

organisations

12

Student(s) Nature of host organisation A Older citizens advocacy

B Environmental advocacy

C Charitable foundation #1

D Civic volunteering agency

E Software start-up company

F A city council

G & H A government department retail outlet (2 students)

I Business start-up generator

J&K A government department (2 students)

L Charitable foundation #2

M Agricultural advocacy

N A theatre company

O&P A language teaching company (2 students)

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We explored students’

perceptions via:

• _{Group discussions with them at the end of}

each interning week

• _{Students’ presentations to staff and hosts}

at the end of the internship on what they had learned and what they had contributed

• _{Assessing students’ assignments that}

reported on what they had encountered

during their internship (while following the university’s ethics requirements around

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We explored this data in light of the four issues identified in the

literature

• _{Student self-formation and student}

mobility as “becoming”

• _{Students mobilising knowledge across}

contexts

• _{Students encountering learning as}

acquisition and learning as participation

• _{Students as making a genuine}

contribution to the workplace.

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Student self-formation and student mobility as

“becoming”

The two biggest challenges students reported were:

• _{A lack of structure in that detailed explicit}

instructions were often absent

• _{The expectation that they would show}

initiative

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Students mobilising

knowledge across

contexts

Students found that they had to dig into their prior knowledge to make sense of what they encountered on the job and to succeed:

• _{A student with accountancy ability was charged with doing}

the books for a theatre company, thus having to employ his knowledge in ways he had not experienced before

• _{[I had to] “convince people with facts and figures”} • _{[I encountered] “different ways of undertaking work”}

• _{[It was] “wonderful to work across so many work teams”}

(17)

Students encounter learning as acquisition and learning as

participation

They reported how their working as in a team, and how learning as a team

member was different to solitary study as a student. Team membership meant they had to adjust to new social norms about intellectual independence.

• _{[It was difficult] “to acclimate to the language here”}

• _{“NZ and the US have a common language but what with}

Kiwi slang and their specialist jargon, you wouldn’t know”

• _{[I became fluent] “in Raiser’s Edge NXT software for}

(18)

Students as making a genuine contribution to the workplace

Notwithstanding their intern status the

great majority of students reported feeling gratified by what they were told as having contributed.

This was the payoff for them of their being forced to work in more autonomous ways.

“They were so willing to promote our ideas;” [it is] “important and rewarding that our time here was taken seriously and put to good use;” [this was] “my first real internship”.

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Outcomes interconnecting

self-formation and mobility as "becoming", being

able to make a genuine contribution learning as