Volume 11, Number 1
Internship Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
Authors
Marianne HADDAD-ADAIMI1, Roy ABI ZEID DAOU1, 2 and Yves DUCQ3, 1Lebanese German University, Lebanon, 2MART Learning, Lebanon, 3Univ. Bordeaux, IMS laboratory, France
Introduction
With the increased pressure on higher education institutions to review and improve their practice in the area of students’ learning outcomes as part of quality assurance efforts, this paper aims to propose a systematic approach to internships’ learning outcome evaluation. Internship or work-integrated learning provides students with the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge to relevant experiences in workplace settings. It is an essential requirement in many higher education undergraduate programs where students integrate their learning through a combination of academic and work-related activities. While proving the benefits of practical training seems redundant, very few efforts were made with regards to its evaluation and the evaluation of its learning outcomes. Academic research and quality assurance systems seem to neglect this rather essential component of undergraduate education. Moreover, accreditation standards show little emphasis on internships’ evaluation and performance assessment when those topics are at the heart of quality assurance when it comes to assessing theoretical courses. This paper demonstrates the worldwide lack of models and assessment methods of practical learning and suggests a multidimensional and practical approach based on both a qualitative and quantitative study using performance measurements to assess students’ outcomes following an internship and proposes corrective measures accordingly. The purpose being to close the gap between students’ skills and the job market requirements for a better preparedness of graduates.
Keywords
Internship Evaluation, Internship Learning Outcomes, Performance measurement, Performance Indicators, Accountability, Higher Education, Accreditation, Quality Assurance, Corrective actions.