A virtual internship program forged international connections between a Peace Corps volunteer, a faculty member and students at Kaplan University, School of Information Technology. Virtual internships and international partnerships provide high-impact experiential learning opportunities for students while providing means for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to build capacity and cultural bridges. This type of program allows non-traditional adult students in particular to maintain their family responsibilities and to continue their full time jobs while working on projects overseas in an online capacity. This program has led to increased student confidence in their skillsets as they continued to develop their assigned projects for the NGO. They also gained exposure to cultural diversity and international collaboration atypical of your average IT class. The Sloan-C Effective Practice Awards recognize and honor innovation in online learning. The award recipients have demonstrated leadership in advancing the goals of access, learning effectiveness, faculty andstudent satisfaction, and scalability.

1. Sloan-C Effective Practice
Webinar
December 3, 2013
2pm ET

2. International Collaboration with
Virtual Internships
• Technical needs at a distance, a solution from
abroad
• “Mutually beneficial agenda”- students
practicing newly acquired skills while building
experience, win-win for both beneficiaries and
students.
• Skills transfer and global understanding, social
responsibility
• Technology aides in making the world a smaller
place: necessary equipment

3. Author(s)
• Allison Selby
• Julie Frieswyk
• Information Technology
faculty specializing in
creating high-impact
experiential learning
opportunities through virtual
partnerships.
• Experienced marketing
professional with extensive
startup activity in both the
private and non-profit
sectors.
• Kaplan University
• U.S. Peace Corps

4. Evidence of Effectiveness
• Small sampling of student participation, evidence is largely anecdotal and
based upon student and NGO team feedback:
▫ Students felt was a unique international opportunity , working together with
international clients to experience real-world project management.
▫ The NGO gained exposure to more skills and up-to-date technology while building
their own capacity.
▫ Students enjoyed the experience overall and loved the new addition to their
resume and credentials.
• The virtual internships creates problem-solving activities with the potential
to result in real-world skills such as collaboration for problem-solving,
technology proficiency, presentation skills, and a greater appreciation for
intercultural diversity (Humphreys, 2009).
• This opportunity provides students with an international experience who
may otherwise be limited by finances, work responsibilities, family
obligations or physical limitations. In addition, there is a considerable costsavings when compared to studying abroad for the same amount of time. A
virtual internship program incurs regular tuition fees, no additional costs
are required by the student.

5. Application To Others
• Virtual internship partnerships offer experiential learning in a
wide variety of study areas from social entrepreneurship,
micro-finance, marketing, business administration and design to
organizational development, project writing and fundraising
activities.
• This type of project benefits tremendously by considerable
advanced preparatory stages.
▫ Using project charters to outline weekly outcomes and deliverables is
very important.
▫ Defining the exact scope of the deliverables, what assets may be needed
and the key stakeholders were all important topics to clarify.
▫ Synchronous weekly team meetings using Skype with the clients gave the
students a vested interest and motivation to succeed.
▫ Having the students train the clients for site maintenance gave them
ownership of the process and pride in their proof of success.