The Externship Experience: Developing a Short-Term Experiential Learning Opportunity to Enhance Career Development

Alexandra Finney

RESEARCH QUESTION

LITERATURE REVIEW

• Career Development Theories• Up to 75% of students change their major at least once in college, and up to 80%

of freshman have at least some career uncertainty (Kelly & White, 1993; Noel, 1985 cited in Orndorff & Herr, 1996)

• Experiential Learning • 450 B.C., Confucius: “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I

understand” (cited in Gentry, 1990, p. 9)

• Typical learning outcomes are: increased levels of self-confidence in their communication, decision-making, and problem solving skills

(“Experiential Learning,” 2013)

LITERATURE REVIEW CONT.

• The ‘Sophomore Slump’• Statistically sophomores have the highest withdrawal rates

and fall through the gaps in career programming(Tobolowsky, 2008)

• Externship Programming• Provide students with the opportunity to explore

a profession or field before they commit to it(“Experiential Learning,” 2013)

IMPLEMENTATION

Fall• Developed, marketed, recruited students/employers, placed and ran orientation

Winter• 18 externs were placed with 14 host supervisors at nine host sites

Spring• Mixed methods pragmatic methodological assessment of development and implementation

• Employer and Student Survey Evaluations• Student 30-45 minute Exit-Interviews

1.) How many externs did you host?

2.) How long was your Externship Experience?

1-day 5-day Two-weeks

3.) Overall, what is your satisfaction with the Winter 2013 Externship Experience?

4.) What do you think the student(s) thought to be the most valuable part of this experience?

5.) Were you able to share your industry knowledge and personal experience with your extern(s)?

6.) Did the extern(s) show professionalism and interest during their time with you?

7.) Were there any challenges that you dealt with while hosting your extern?

8.) Would you have benefited from more resources or training as an externship host?

9.) What can we do to improve on the Externship Experience in the future?

10.) Would you be interested in hosting another Merrimack Extern in the future?

11.) Are you interested in learning more about other ways to partner Merrimack College?

Thank you for participating in this experience and taking the time to complete this evaluation.

• 8/14 supervisors completed the survey

• 100% reported satisfaction as either ‘excellent’ (4) or ‘good’ (4)

• 100% reported sharing industry knowledge and personal experiences

• A few suggested that students come with more information about site

• 100% said they would host a future extern

FINDINGS: EMPLOYER QUANTITATIVE

• 14/18 students completed the survey

• When asked about satisfaction: (64%) ‘excellent’ and (36%) ‘good’

• 100% were able to identify skills and abilities needed to be successful in this field

• Almost 100% reported that they would recommend this experience to their peers

FINDINGS: STUDENT QUANTITATIVE1.) Overall, what is your satisfaction with the Winter 2013 Externship Experience?

2.) Would you recommend this opportunity to other Merrimack students?

3.) After participating in this experience, you have a better understanding of this field.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

4.) You were able to apply classroom knowledge to this experience.

5.) Your host was helpful in relaying knowledge and information about the field.

6.) This opportunity was helpful in evaluating a particular career path.

7.) You were able to identify skills or abilities needed to work in this field.

8.) Please describe what you enjoyed most about participating in this experience.

9.) Please describe what you found to be particularly challenging during this experience.

10.) What suggestions do you have to improve the externship program?

11.) Please provide any additional comments about this experience.

STUDENT QUALITATIVE PROTOCOL 1.) What is your year in college?2.) Can you tell me why you wanted to participate in the Externship Experience?3.) Did this externship placement align with your major or career aspirations?4.) Please give me an overview of where your Externship placement was and what your experience was like.5.) What activities did you participate in/observe while at this site?6.) Do you feel as though your perception of this career has changed after participating in this Externship Experience?7.) Are you now able to associate how this position relates to possible majors?8.) Are you able to recognize what interests, abilities, and skills are needed to be successful in this career? Please explain.9.) Were you able to connect your own interests, abilities, and skills with this experience?10.) Was your host supervisor helpful in explaining the responsibilities and requirements of this career and how they got to where they are?11.) Please explain how this experience made you less or more likely to pursue this type of work as a career?12.) What was most impactful aspect of this experience in terms of your career development?13.) Please explain what was the least valuable part of this experience?14.) What is your level of confidence in your choice of career path going forward?15.) What are the next steps you are planning to take in your career development?16.) Is there anything else you would like to add about your Externship Experience that I did not ask? Is there anything about the program itself that we can improve upon?

FINDINGS: STUDENT QUALITATIVE • 17/18 completed the interview

• Biggest impact: hands on experience • “If I didn’t do the externship I probably would not have known [career goal]

yet, but I just know what I want to do now.”

• 2 participants are changing their major because of their externship experience • “…while I was there I just realized as I shadowed them around and saw

some of the elements of their day I realized that that isn’t something I really want to be doing everyday for the rest of my life.”

• Most students were able to relate their major to the position they shadowed • “ It was awesome. Just to see how the field really does work, and what

you’re actually going to apply your knowledge to.”

FINDINGS: STUDENT QUALITATIVE CONT.

• For many externs this experience greatly increased their confidence level• “I definitely want to stay in this field now, now I am concrete convinced that I am doing

that I want to do.”

• “So after the first day [of the externship] I went right home and emailed Sarah [career advisor] and was like what are the steps I need to do to change my major because I’m in this. I really want to do this now…I was so exited!”

• Many students talked about how great their experience was when asked to summarize• “I feel that it gave me great insight to how it could be if I did this job and I was just

speechless. It was just an amazing opportunity and experience to be able to do.”

• Slight trend of some difficulty understanding or relating to concepts because of a lack in upper level class exposure (mostly freshman stated)

RECOMMENDATIONS

①Start employer outreach earlier in summer and go in person to meet and recruit employers

②Externships will be required for all ①Place themselves②online e-learning model that students can watch from

home as orientation

③Continue to find best employer-student fit

WORK CITED

• Experiential Learning. (2013). Northern Illinois University. 1-9. Retrieved from www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/strategies/experiential_learning.pdf. doi: 815.753.0595.

• Gentry, J.W. (1990). What is experiential learning?. Guide to Business Gaming and Experiential Learning. East Brunswick, NJ/London: Nichols/GP. 9-20.

• Orndorff, R.M. & Herr, E.L. (1996). A comparative study of declared and undeclared collegestudents on career uncertainty and involvement in career development activities.

Journal of Counseling & Development, 74, 632-638.

• Tobolowsky B.F. (2008). Sophomores in transition: The forgotten year. New Directions for Higher Education, 2008, 59–67. doi: 10.1002/he.326

QUESTIONS?