Virtual internship during the COVID-19 pandemic: exploring IT students satisfaction

Abstract

PurposeThis paper examined the evaluation of the virtual internship program for KAU IT students during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 summer.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method survey was utilized for the data collection. Out of 164 enrolled students in the 2020 summer training program, 147 students opted to participate. This gives a response rate of 89.6% of the total students' number who could participate. In addition to collecting quantitative data, qualitative data were collected. The sources for qualitative data were survey open questions, weekly reflective writing and video recordings.FindingsThe quantitative result showed that the students were satisfied with their virtual internship. These results were further qualitatively explored and discussed under five themes: information and knowledge, work experience, live interaction, the comfort of achieving tasks and soft skills. The outcomes showed that the plan which offered students opportunities to be trained online with real companies accomplishing real work tasks was the best in fulfilling the requirements of the internship. Thus, it emphasized the importance of a strong alliance with the industry to provide useful virtual internship opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsThough this study made a novel contribution to the timely literature on the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not without its limitations. The difference in the three sample sizes makes it difficult to get in-depth comparative analysis. For future research, it is highly recommended to study the impact of online training with real existing companies on a relatively larger sample number.Practical implicationsIn order for a higher educational institute to successfully adopt the proposed plans for the virtual internship, here are the reflections and lessons learned from our three plans. (1) Emphasize your efforts on extending your partnership with the private sector and computing industry. (2) The MCIT training focuses on developing technical skills; therefore, it is great to be offered to students in the computing field as extracurricular activities but not as the fulfillment of the internship program. (3) Blackboard training sessions, which cover nontechnical skills, are good to be offered prior to the internship.Social implicationsFor governmental human resource agencies, it is highly recommended to further develop and invest in manpower to develop online platforms. In normal situations, these platforms act as an extra training resource. In abnormal situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, they act as useful source for online training. For students, this sudden unexpected transition from normal to online training should enrich them with the ability to be flexible and adaptive, tune them with opportunities for independent and innovative creative work, encourage them to take risks and provide them with opportunities to do things differently. As an outcome, students will enhance their self-efficacy and capabilities.Originality/valueDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, not only classes and internship programs have been done remotely but increasingly jobs have also gone in that direction. A virtual internship today might be good preparation for the virtual/remote work of tomorrow. For this reason, this study was conducted to add a novel contribution to the virtual internship literature.

Exploring the Factors challenging Virtual Internships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An insight on students’ perspective in the United Arab Emirates universities

“…The online surveys were sent to the participants using Google Forms online. This study extends the hypotheses based on previous studies using a simple conceptual framework that enables the testing of specific predecessors and challenging factors that may contribute to particular student academic achievement in the internship course (Alhamdi,2022 62 ; Hora et al2021 63 ) . SPSS version 28 was used to analyze the data was used to analyze the collected data.…”

“…Firstly, the study result is consistent with Baker and Fitzpatrick 69 indication that virtual internships could greatly benefit students. AlGhamdi, 70 study agrees that virtual internships offer students opportunities to be trained online and offer independent, innovative, creative work with actual companies accomplishing 69 71 agree in Singapore that supervisors and e-interns reported high levels of satisfaction and documented learning gains, such as developing technical and soft skills unique to remote work. Accordingly, Medeiros et al 72 in their study, agree that European students observe virtual internships as an important and innovative approach.…”

Work from home amid black swan event (Covid-19): a bibliometric analysis from a social science perspective

“…The term with the highest frequency this year is mental health with term frequency of 13 times (Abrams et al ., 2022; Aknin et al ., 2022; Karasek, 1979; Prabowo et al ., 2022; Sasaki et al ., 2020; Thomas, 2021). Using author keywords, the impact of COVID-19 while working from home is closely integrated with many other outcomes such as other keywords with terms frequency, productivity (11) (Beno and Hvorecky, 2021; George et al ., 2022; Howe and Menges, 2021; Straus et al ., 2022; Toscano and Zappalà, 2020), job satisfaction (10) (Aslan et al ., 2022; Bellmann and Hübler, 2021; Feng and Savani, 2020; Țălnar-Naghi, 2021), leadership (Andressen et al ., 2012; Attieh, 2022; Bartsch et al ., 2020; Bizilj et al ., 2021; Contreras et al ., 2020) (8), education (AlGhamdi, 2022; Aparicio et al ., 2019; Hatlevik et al ., 2018; Wray et al ., 2022; Zapata-Garibay et al ., 2021) (8), technology (6) (Pennington et al ., 2022; Vargo et al ., 2021), innovation (5) (Raišienė et al ., 2021; Wissmann, 2021) and depression (5) (Anwar et al ., 2021; Nguyen et al ., 2022).…”

Work-home interaction: a challenge to human resource management

“…Students who were offered internships through online or e-learning platforms by their companies during the COVID pandemic gave overwhelmingly positive reviews of the experience (Grzeszczak, 2021). HR, however, would need to design and implement new online training courses that meet the needs of both applicants and employers (AlGhamdi, 2022). Another potential issue is the onboarding of new employees, which can be complicated by the lack of contact between workers and the office.…”