2016 Annual Conference

Virtual internships are increasing exponentially as a distance and online experiential learning tool. The purpose of this session is to inform attendees of past virtual internship research and program successes that can be used in program creation, implementation, and management to meet adult learner needs.

Anyone interested in innovation research or ways to serve adult learners through virtual internships would benefit from this session. Information provided will focus on meeting the needs of the adult learner through a virtual experiential learning program. Virtual internships have demonstrated a capacity to serve as an effective tool to move the adult learner from student to worker in an education driven program for the purpose of increasing career marketability. Attendees interested in these topics will gain information and resources useful in practical applications.

Distance and online learning have been a successful tool in achieving many adult education objectives. One distance learning innovation growing in effectiveness is virtual internships. A virtual internship facilitates the transition from student to worker by allowing the adult learner to move learning beyond the classroom to the workplace. A study was conducted from an innovation diffusion perspective centered on data collected from the three stakeholder groups of students, faculty, and employers. Participants will learn about the collected data as well as existing virtual internship programs. At the end of the session, participants will understand how to use research results to increase the speed of virtual internship adoption as well as the adoption of other education specific innovations.