Supporting Learning Through Internship Design Gill Frigerio Wed 25 March 2015

Learning from work experience is: Experiential Social Connected Qualification and Curriculum Authority (2008)

Concrete experience The ‘immediate’ Reflective observation ‘Internal reflection’ Abstract conceptualisation ‘Interpretation’ Active experimentation ‘Manipulation of the external world’ Experiential Kolb, 1984: 41-2

Learning is situated (Lave and Wenger, 1991) learning experiences and task approach skills results in two forms of learnt generalisations. Instrumental & associative learning……leads to…Self- observation generalisations and worldview generalisations (Mitchell and Krumboltz, 1996) Allows access to Communities of Practice Social

Connected Vygotsky, 1978

There was very little sense at all of community, but an us and them divide between the completed administrative based interns, and those who's work on the campaign was having far more visible and tangible results…. The problem was in part perhaps that I was restricted to a community of practice with as little information and experience within this context as I had. Therefore, it was difficult to learn - there was no upskilling going on because of the nature of the tasks (envelope stuff and data entry) and because we were not engaging with other team members, it was hard to ascertain whether there would be a sense of 'fit'. There was not enough of a collective team identity to feel that there was a opportunity for identity change.

So, how? Pre-placement: design On placement: scaffolding, rotating, reflecting Post-placement: theorising, planning, sharing Intern person specification Initial assessmentProcess ‘Ideal’ person specification

Task episodes Encounter:AccomplishReview Show and tellFollow a scriptFormal review Sink or swimCoached from the sidelinesOngoing coaching Self-startingPlay it by earTest the outcome Underpinned by Personal reflection and Social interaction Simon et al, 1991

Tasks become: More demanding More important More independently performed More revealing of the overall organisation context Underpinned by Personal reflection and Social interaction

Thank you for listening! @GillFrigerio

References Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Mitchell, L.K. & Krumboltz, J.D. (1996) Krumboltz’s learning theory of career choice and counseling, in D. Brown, L. Brooks and Associates (eds) Career choice and development (3rd edition), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Qualification and Curriculum Authority (2008) The Diploma and its Pedagogy. Coventry: QCA Simon, R.I., Dippo, D., and Schenke, A. (1991) Learning work: a critical pedagogy of work education, New York, NY: Bergin and Garvey. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.