Virtual Experiential Learning: A Description of an Internship Framework That Engages Students to Build Public Health Competencies

Abstract

As technology for remote learning advances, it is critical to understand how public health internship preceptors or faculty can provide engaging virtual experiential learning experiences for pre-professionals. We aimed to examine whether a virtual internship offered through a breastfeeding education company engaged learners to develop public health skills resulting in products beneficial for the internship site and learner. We provided a menu of tools to consider when developing virtual experiential opportunities. Master of Public Health students seeking dual-degrees in dietetics, nursing, and social work participated. Value of the interprofessional team, engagement, knowledge attainment, and translational skills were assessed through diverse modalities including surveys, oral communication, and products relevant to the internship site and interns’ academic program. Interns indicated that they valued the internship team and felt the team valued each intern’s opinion. Interns developed products useful to the internship site, suggesting active engagement in the virtual experience. Interns’ breastfeeding knowledge developed as the internship progressed demonstrated through oral communication as the content conveyed and discussed by interns advanced in cognitive level. The most frequently practiced translational skills reported by interns were research and communication. Virtual experiential learning can be hands-on resulting in professional skill development. This work aides in the understanding of how to feasibly implement an engaging remote internship.

role of virtual placements in promoting self-regulated learning

“…At this time there were relatively few in Europe (Jeske & Axtell, 2014) but they are now increasingly used as an alternative to the 'traditional placements' (Jeske & Axtell, 2016). Some were beginning to be trialed in other contexts such as public health education (O. S. Anderson, McCabe, Chuisano, Wicoff, Grabowski, & Sadovnikova, 2020). There are many different reasons why virtual placements have been introduced, from the pragmatic to the desire to provide an alternative learning experience.…”

Faculty as Designers of Authentic Learning Projects in Online Courses

“…(Meredith et al, 2020, p. 91). To develop and demonstrate such competencies, students need to have opportunities to bridge theory and practice in authentic contexts through experiential and hands-on learning projects, such as community engagement or service-learning projects (Anderson et al, 2020;Gakh, 2020;Cribbs et al, 2020;Hou, 2009;Pendergrast 2020;Rhodes et al, 2020).…”

Remote TPC Internships: Infrastructures for Success

“…Virtual simulations in nursing, for example, have garnered interest for their ability to replicate traditional hands-on activities (Rim & Shin, 2021; Verkuyl & Hughes, 2019; Verkuyl & Mastrilli, 2017). Anderson et al (2021) discuss a virtual internship framework in the health professions in which they posit key elements for virtual internships, which include clear learning outcomes, oral assessments, and consistent check-ins. Engineering education has also provided resources for virtual internships, but focusing more on ways to teach design thinking (Arastoopour et al, 2016; Chesler et al, 2015).…”