CCWT Publications

Banerjee, M., & Bingen, K. (2024). A Case for Equity in Experiential Learning: Work-Based Learning as a Viable Alternative to Internships. Experiential Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 7(4 – December). Retrieved from https://journals.calstate.edu/elthe/article/view/4145

Abstract

This study presents a course model to demonstrate how students’ current work experiences can be utilized as a viable alternative to internships. While internships have been shown to enhance a student’s college experience, underserved and underrepresented students are often unable to pursue this high impact practice due to financial, socio-cultural, and institutional barriers. To address this inequity, the authors present an alternative course model to internship completion that can be just as effective. SEE’s principles of good practice for experiential learning and NACE career competencies were used as a guiding framework for developing this course. Student outcome data (n=20) is presented from a small four-year public Midwestern university that serves a disproportionately higher percentage of disadvantaged students in the state. Paired sample t-test shows that students achieved significant improvement in all eight career competencies with the most gains in leadership, career and self-development, and critical thinking. The results demonstrate that work-based learning can be an alternative to internships, allowing students to achieve career competencies. When structural barriers beyond a student’s control prevent them from participating in an internship, work-based learning can be a tool to mitigate equity concerns and level the playing field as it relates to access to internships.

Jang-Tucci, K., Hora, M.T. & Zhang, J. Gatekeeping at work: a multi-dimensional analysis of student, institutional, and employer characteristics associated with unpaid internships. High Educ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01254-6

Abstract:
Internships are recognized globally as a high-impact practice that substantially enhances students’ future prospects. However, concerns persist about their legality and potentially exclusionary nature. While prior research  indicates participation varies based on key variables, such as gender and major, empirical work remains limited and tends to focus on univariate or single-actor explanations. We employ multi-actor models from management studies to analyze survey data (n=1153) from 13 U.S. institutions, nine of which are minority-serving institutions (MSI). The data reveal that only 30.3% of the students participated in internships, of which 43.4% were unpaid. Linear probability analysis results indicate that contrary to expectations, individual demographic characteristics, such as gender, were not signifcant predictors of internship compensation on their own. Instead, academic,
institutional, and employer characteristics emerged as signifcant predictors. Interaction analysis results highlight the combined efects of race, gender, major, MSI status, and employer characteristics in predicting participation in unpaid internships. Further, the data suggest that gender efects are largely infuenced by academic major afliation, emphasizing that unpaid internships do not uniformly afect all students but are predominant in specifc sub-groups. We conclude by proposing a strategy to eliminate unpaid internships in the interest of transformative social justice work.

Keywords: Work-based learning · Access · Unpaid internships · Minority-serving institutions · Inequality · Student success · Multi-actor frameworks · Linear probability model