Abstract
This paper discusses the organization of students’ internship in new circumstances caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the research is on the IT companies in eastern part of Croatia and their perspective on how they managed students’ internship during and after the lockdown. Some of these IT companies successfully cooperate with the Department of Information Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Osijek. Since 2015 the Department enrolls students in graduate study of Information Technology track. From that time students used to do their internship and later find employment in IT companies in the region. The well based cooperation with local IT companies was interrupted in 2020 by the COVID-19 lockdown and semi-lockdown. In such a situation, teachers and IT companies’ managers have been trying to find out the proper ways in which students could fulfill their tasks via online or hybrid mode. To learn more about the experience from the perspective of IT companies, we interviewed 18 of them. The paper points out the observed advantages and disadvantages as well as suggestions for setting a framework for future internship programs. Employers are thinking about continuing to perform online or hybrid internships, and it is clear to them that one of the answers is well defined and regulated model of internships in the online environment.
Keywords
Introduction
One of the important tasks of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is to educate young people not only for the current market needs, but also to prepare them to understand various paradigms in the development of civilization and culture and their field of study, in order to be able to cope with changes and challenges in today’s digital age, and especially in crisis situations such as COVID-19 (cf Jakopec, Aparac-Jelusic and Szombately, 2022). During the Conference on the Future of the Information Profession or how it should look like in 2050 (Marchionini & Moran, 2012) one of the notable presentations (Goldstein & Rodrigues, 2012) dealt with the changes in the entrepreneurial environment, e.g., how to prepare students to adapt to new challenges in a ‘real working environment’. In companies which cover the IT sector, these changes constantly provoke the need for new solutions. Although there can be many directions of change in the IT sector nowadays, “there can be little doubt that the information profession must change with it. Such change will be more than an academic exercise” (Goldstein & Rodrigues, 2012, p. 88).
The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged universities and the IT sector to become even more connected and pointed out new forms of cooperation in conducting student internships. One has to be aware of the fact that universities have been preoccupied with the need to survive while fulfilling their basic goals in circumstances never seen before. COVID-19 pandemic provoked various situations that required fast and straight answers.
The focus of interest of this paper lies in the investigation of the ways and modes in which student internships are organized from the perspective of IT companies that accept students for their internship. We started our research based on the assumption that with access to IT, online internship provides new opportunities for experiential learning and planning future developments. As organizations and people have become more interconnected due to increased access to broadband and high-speed computing devices, telecommuting is seen as an inevitable part of the workplace. Kennedy et al. (2015, pp. 4–5) suggested that those who teach have a range of legitimate concerns, orientations and preferences for how educational programs might progress. During the COVID-19 pandemics one of the most sensitive areas was how to organize students’ internship when almost all public information institutions as well as private companies were (fully or partially) closed.
From the other side, HEIs had to continue their activities through online learning to cope with the pandemic outbreak. During COVID-19 pandemic, students around the world were exposed to many challenges, changes in the ways of conducting the approved programs and communications patterns with teachers who have had to get creative, open to improvisations, flexible and ready to learn new forms of teaching/learning at a distance. Though less common than face-to-face internships (in different information institutions such as libraries, museums, archives, documentation centers, referral units, IT companies, etc.), online internships in Library and Information Science (LIS) and Information Science (IS) existed well before the COVID-19 pandemic, complementing the growing number of hybrid and online-only graduate programs.
It is recognized and widely accepted that the host institution has to provide the workplace, training program, and supervision, in most of the cases according to the HEI partner’s curriculum. The benefit for the host is the opportunity to monitor/observe how students work, how they cope with obligations and how responsibly they fulfil their tasks on the basis of which they can make a decision about eventual employment of the best of them. However, in crisis situations host institutions have though some other goals that include the organization of the workload for their own employees and assuring the best possible network connections to be able to perform work from homes and regular online meetings. It is possible to observe that big IT companies have been providing the best possible technological solutions for hybrid and completely remote work options (see, for example, Microsoft News Center, 2022). These companies are also offering online internship programs for universities, individuals etc. (see, for example internship programs at Google, GE, Dell Technologies).
In such a situation, even before the COVID-19 pandemic it become obvious that LIS students need wider perspective. Thus, at the University of Osijek, Croatia, its Department of Information Sciences situated at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, has been offering three tracks at its graduate program. Along with Library Science and Publishing a new track in Information Technology was offered since 2015 attracting students who wanted to learn more about IT and who have been seeing their professional future closely connected with it. The cooperation between the Department and local IT companies started from the beginning of the new track. Such a cooperation resulted, among other positive outcomes, in an opportunity to carry out students’ internship not only in public institutions, but in private IT companies as well. Most of the students succeeded in getting jobs in these companies after graduation. Therefore, the Department decided, as soon as the COVID-19 lockdown started, to experiment with different modes of managing students’ internship in new circumstances.
Literature review
Much of the available literature on internships is focused largely on perceptions by students (Cooper, 2013; Bird & Crumpton, 2014; Bayerlein & Jeske, 2018; Wong Chien Teng et al., 2022), less so by academic supervisors (Wong Chien Teng et al., 2022). Even less research is dedicated to the perspective and perception of internship of the institutions/companies that accept students to realize their internship programs.
From the professional and scientific literature, it is also visible that notions of ‘internship’ and a number of other related terms, have been used interchangeably and do not always imply the same meanings. This relates in particular to differences within individual countries. Therefore, we will firstly discuss the interpretations of various terms related to students’ practical work, then we offer a review of the literature relating to the (L)IS internship programs and finally we discuss the results of rare research on the topic during COVID-19 pandemic.
Terminological dilemmas and pitfalls
When discussing the notion of internship one has to accept that “the very significance of the word intern lies in its ambiguity” (Perlin, 2011, pp. 23–24). According to Bird et al. (2015, p. 2) internships and field experiences provide learners with a chance to “immerse themselves in the daily routines of an information organization where they can experience the professional world, observe a variety of role models, and put theory and academic rigor into practice.” Internship is also defined as “a form of experiential learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional setting” (NACE, 2018).
Coleman (1989, p. 22) who used the term ‘practicum’ defined it as “a relatively short-term, professionally supervised work experience offered as part of the school’s curriculum and taken during the academic sequence.” The term ‘practicum’ appears to be used as an umbrella term when referring to a “course or session of practical training, especially in teaching; a practical study, a research exercise (Huggins, 2017, p. 5). ‘Practicum’ is also seen as an opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge previously gained during the teaching/learning processes. It should be added that ‘practicum’ and ‘fieldwork’ are used interchangeably to signify what Coleman (1989) characterizes as a supervised work experience offered as part of the curriculum. For (L)IS students the practicum is typically pursued in the library and other information and IT related institutions/companies for the total experience or as a part of one course specially designed task. This concept of combining some level of practical experience with academic learning is also widely accepted within a broad range of professional disciplines (cf. Južnič and Pymm, 2017, p. 92).
Another concept which refers to efforts to ensure an understanding of the work environment and work processes is known as Practice-Based Learning (PBL). Mcnaughton, Barrow and Bagg (2016) stated that PBL “integrates the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains and is influenced by students’ beliefs, values, and attitudes”. Concept mapping has been shown to effectively demonstrate students’ changing concepts and knowledge structures. Huggins (2017) pointed out that PBL has been a staple of the preservice curricula of (L)IS programs. While the status/importance of PBL continues to be debated in (L)IS education in US, an increasing number of programs offer these experiences to students in the form of practicums, internships, fieldwork, service learning, or community-based projects.
Moreover, the terms related to students’ practical work could be distinguished based on several characteristics such as length of time students spend in host institution (internships are usually short term, 1 to 3 months); structure (internship include a structured or semi-structured training plan); mentorship (internships always include mentorship or include several supervisors depending on a specific supervisor’s competencies); credentials/credits (internship is typically recognized through program/course ECTS or other way of markings).
Finally, it is necessary to define a term e-internship (virtual or online) which is simply the way to conduct the internship program in an online environment. However, among other advantages that are mentioned in the literature “e-internships have been praised for providing excellent opportunities for practicing and enhancing communication skills” (Jeske & Axtell, 2014, p. 462).
In this paper we are using the terms ‘internship’ and ‘online internship’ to cover a variety of approaches and models that are woven into the curriculum in order to allow students to connect the acquired theoretical knowledge and practice.
Investigations on internship programs in (L)IS field before the COVID-19
LIS/IS schools as well as i-Schools routinely offer their students experiential learning opportunities such as internships or practicums (Van der Molen, 2007; Franks & Oliver, 2012). These courses are viewed as a means of introducing students to the realities of the workplace and of fostering a sense of professional identity and values. Although internship and other forms of practical learning have been a major component of (L)IS curricula in many countries, in some settings, especially in the Austro-Hungarian university tradition, it has long been neglected, indeed even unacceptable, except in medicine and law, for example.1
In Germany and in the countries of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy, universities were strictly separated from universities of applied sciences (Fachhoschulen) that offer orientation towards certain professions and where internship and apprenticeship programs took place as mandatory. At universities, for example in Croatia, until the 1980s, student internship was possible only in a small number of hours, as priority was given to theoretical subjects. This specially relates to the faculties of humanities (which in most cases host the LIS/IS departments) where the internship used to be connected mainly to archaeology or psychology.
The benefits of library internships and field experiences are well documented (O’Neil, 2010). Thus, we will focus on several surveys that shed light on specific issues and offered some useful results.
Research conducted by Juznic and Pymm (2011) revealed generally highly positive responses toward a placement or internship, or field experience from the perspective of students. In their comparative study the results showed that over 80% of Australian LIS students already had more than one year of work experience in a library or related organization, compared with only 7% of Slovenian students. The other study of Pymm and Juznic (2014) which investigated the attitudes of host institutions brought in the responses from the supervising host institutions in Slovenia and Australia and proved that both sets of hostings expressed generally highly positive feelings about their placement role and activities.
Bird et al. (2011) conducted an extensive survey to reconceptualize internship opportunities globally with regard to attitudes towards conducting practical work as a mandatory part of the academic curriculum and ways to implement it, offering a new model of 4 ‘I’s (Intentional, Interconnected, Interdisciplinary and International). In a later study the same authors Bird et al. (2015) investigated the training of librarians as part of the LIS curriculum in US and in international arenas such as IFLA, with the support of its Education and Training Section. As for the ALA accredited programs, a review showed that in North American LIS program internships were required in only 10 of 59 (17%) programs, except for students who intended to work in school libraries. In addition, only three of 59 (5%) programs explicitly stated that virtual or international experiences were available or encouraged. For comparison, in Europe which has adopted the principles of the Bologna Process (Ratzek, 2006), the internship requirements become more common. However, in 11% (5 of 44) of the countries that responded, the internship was elective, and in 23% (10 of 44) it was not offered as part of a master’s program. At the master’s level, the majority of respondents (89%) estimated that less than 25% of their students took the opportunity to practice when they volunteered, while only 7% said a high level of student participation was seen in optional internships (Bird et al., 2015).
There are also other views and experience. Martínez Arellano and Ortega (2012) who gave an insight into the state-of-the-art relating to the internship in Latin America, argued that sometimes LIS education is essentially based in practice, due to the non-existence of an adequate theory, or that the existing theory is unrealistic to common library issues.
Južnič and Pymm (2016, p. 95) were among the few authors who pointed out the role of the industry placement and internships in preparing students for the (L)IS workforce.
From the perspective of HEIs there is broad consensus in Europe that internship models can be an effective way of helping young people make smoother transitions from education to employment environment and of addressing labor market imbalances (Council of European Union, 2018).2
There are many examples of funded internship programs such as CERN Internship Program, Erasmus plus Internship program (for example Enterprise-University Virtual Placement – EUUV or Digital Libraries and Learning – DILL), which aim to place students virtually in different organizations across national borders so that they can improve their skills and competencies internationally without leaving their country of residence (Vriens et al., 2010; Tammaro, 2015).
However, the COVID-19 pandemic circumstances had caused a number of challenges for teachers who have stepped up to ensure that all of their students are able to pursue meaningful learning experiences through online internships (Kobert, 2021). To be more precise, alternative ways began to be sought instead of face-to-face internships. One way was to organize online internship in these institutions/companies that were willing to accept students to work online. As libraries and other information institutions had to adapt to the new circumstances primarily by offering their services online and organizing work from homes, they slowed down student admission activities related to internship programs until they found ways to do business during the lockdown. Business companies reacted faster but also encountered problems with monitoring student work in an online environment, providing assistance in cases where the students were not able to solve their duties on their own, how to get feedback from mentors and the like.
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (United Kingdom) has issued on January 18 2021 (updated April 23, 2021) a document about the ongoing implications of the pandemic for placements and practice-based courses, including field work (cf. QAA, 2021). As for the internship programs (including, for example, work in conservation and restauration labs, computer labs, eye tracking labs) it was felt that several challenges such as continued lack of access to specialist facilities or restrictions on social interaction during the pandemic had an impact on students demonstrating skills that are required to meet the intended learning outcomes of the course. However, HEIs needed to decide about some possible options that could help in overcoming challenges and finding the host institutions for students that could offer online internship.
Public health guidelines and closures prevented many students from fulfilling internship and field experience requirements needed for graduation (Juarez & Blackwood, 2022, p. 81). The pandemic intensified already existing challenges for students all over the World, especially for those coming from underrepresented communities. The pandemic also provoked the new situation in which students faced new social and economic barriers on top of their typical course loads and graduation requirements (Juarez & Blackwood, 2022, p. 81).
During 2022 a number of articles were published about student internship from the point of view of different study areas (for example, psychology, tourisms, events and hospitality education, business studies, health studies). Wilson et al. (2023) discussed, for example, the problems in planning and implementation of the hybrid internship with a special emphasis on benefits to the interns. Hora et al. (2020) offered a short guide to online internship. However, it is obvious that there have been less examination of the role and perceptions of the host organizations that enable such programs to function.
In the study taken by Bayir (2021) the online internship program was presented and discussed. The program was conducted between June 29 and July 24, 2020, via the Zoom platform. The analysis of the survey results demonstrates that the majority of the interns who participated in the program preferred to have a face-to-face internship. But they also explained that this program was a valuable contribution to their theoretical learning as it was run by professionals from different information organizations. However, the students highlighted also a number of disadvantages such as: missed social interactions; impossibility of applying practical skills (time management, working on teams); electricity cuts; lack of technology infrastructure; different levels of digital literacy skill; and living conditions.
Juarez and Blackwood (2022) were interested to learn how do first-year students and incoming transfer students experience the library when they have not yet been to campus due to the pandemic restrictions? The results of the conducted studies showed that there are no simple answers and that the experience from one HEI does not map to another institutional environment. Not every internship host institution has the capacity to accommodate an intern in a meaningful way, nor have digital related projects with which an intern can assist. However, theirs study stated that host an online internship is easier than one might think. The research question model presented in theirs article and designed by the intern herself is one that any library professional can replicate. According to their study the online internships are, by and large, easier to administer than it is the case with theirs in-person counterparts.
In Croatia, more specifically in Slavonia region, where the city of Osijek is located, there is a number of successful IT companies which cooperate with the Department of Information Sciences. It is known that the IT sector is a dynamic environment that requires great efforts of all employees to ensure success. Accelerated development of information technology has been taking place in the wider area of the city of Osijek since 2012 (Jakopec, 2020) thus the region is known as “Croatian Silicon valley”. In the wider area of the city of Osijek, there are over 200 different IT companies that potentially can carry out practical teaching activities. However, the Department cooperates on a regular base with some 30 IT companies that host students for their internship programs. Thus, we were interested to learn how the patrons reacted to the situations in which they had to organize internship when having their own workers doing their jobs from home.
Methodology
In such a competitive environment, it is difficult to expect focus on a potential online questionnaire and obtain relevant results. Therefore, a semi-structured interview research method was chosen following some theoretical works on qualitative methodology (Given, 2006; Carlin, 2008; Silipigni Connaway & Radford, 2021). The aim of the research was to obtain the answers and collect data related to three research questions:
How did local IT companies used to manage their work and student internship before the COVID-10 pandemic? (RQ1) How did local IT companies organize student internship during COVID-19 lockdown? (RQ 2) and What are advantages and disadvantages of online student internship? (RQ 3)
Company directors, branch managers or human resources employees of a total of 20 companies were invited to participate. 18 companies responded to the invitation. Our research questions were built on a presumption that IT companies could better adjust to the lockdown situation as they were practicing remote work even before the COVID-19 situation.
The interviews were conducted between March 2 and March 15, 2022 and lasted on average 45 minutes. Each interview was audio recorded and the transcripts of all recordings as well as coding are stored in the Puh.3
Puh is a system by which SRCE (University of Zagreb Computing Centre) enables users from science and higher education to store and share files on its storage systems. It is also available to researchers and scientists from abroad. Available from:
The interview consisted of three sections of questions. In the first third of the interview respondents were asked to represent their company and give some data about the work organization e.g. whether employees had the opportunity to work remotely (from home) before the COVID-19 pandemic. They also explained the context of conducting student internship e.g. whether the company accepts interns or not. The opinion of companies on practical training in the context of the availability of resources (people and time) within the company that can conduct practical training activities before the COVID-19 pandemic, during and after the lockdown was also questioned (RQ1).
The second part of the interview was based on RQ2. We collected the data on how the local IT companies organized student internship during COVID-19 lockdown, including a series of answers about supervising, technologies, tools and processes. The questions related to the explanation of the current situation, especially in regards to the way their employees prefer to work (face-to-face, hybrid, remote).
The third part of the interview aimed to collect opinions about advantages and disadvantages of the face-to-face, online or hybrid models of conductions the internship at their companies. Finally, respondents were given time to add their opinions and views regarding the topic (RQ3).
Data about the IT companies participating in interviews and their experience with interns
In the interview, respondents presented 18 companies (one respondent for each – coded from R1 to R18) that have been operating from 2 to 32 years. Respondents answered that there have between 8 and 160 employees. In the response of one respondent (R13), the number of employees was 310, however, this is the number at the level of the entire company, while in Osijek, the number is at the level of 50 employees. Primary business activities of respondents are presented in Table 1.
In addition to their primary activities, these companies additionally provide services from computer programming, development of websites and applications, Project Management (PM), Quality assurance (QA), production and maintenance of Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, etc. Table 2 represents possibility of remote work before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Primary business activities of employers
Primary business activities of employers
Possibility of remote work before the COVID-19 pandemic5
Almost half of the interviewed employers stated that the possibility of remote work was not used too much before the pandemic compared to the period during and after the pandemic. It was also pointed out that, regardless of the possibility of working from home, most employees, especially junior workers, worked in the office.
In relation to the question whether the company accepts interns and with what level of education (high school pupils, undergraduate or graduate students), most employers stated that the company accepts interns, mostly students. One employer (R12) stated that the company accepts interns, but not under that name, rather as apprentice. One employer (R9) stated that the company does not accept interns, but students who assist in the company. The process of internship in companies is based on projects that the interns have to complete in cooperation with their mentors. Regarding the duties of interns, one employer (R17) stated that they are the same as the duties of employees.
Most employers stated that the duration of the internship is usually several months. A slightly smaller number of employers stated that the internship usually lasts for several weeks, while one employer stated that the internship usually lasts for 2 months. As for the Department’s curricula, the internship program is linked to the academic subjects of a particular study year e.g. 2nd year of the graduate program in Information Technology. The program requires that students spend 60 hours in a host institution/company which brings them 4 ECTS. Usually, good students are offered to stay longer and in such a case ‘the continuation’ of their internship could be paid for.
The data relating to employees’ choice how to approach their working obligations (e.g. to work in office even during lockdowns or to work completely or partially from home) reveled that most employers allowed them to make their own choices. Exceptions were employees who could not work from home due to the nature of their work, and employees who had a lower level of seniority. After COVID-19 lockdowns and semi-lockdowns, some 70% of employees work in the office or in hybrid manner.
Data related to respondents’ attitudes, their expectations, understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of online internship, are accompanied in the Sections 4.2. and 4.3. by their comments taken from the interviews’ transcripts. The respondents discussed the issue of the way internship was organized during COVID-19. The answers related to question about the preference among face-to-face or online practice ranged from the decisions of refusing online practice because they thought it was simpler to organize work in offices, to those respondents’ answers that conducting the online internship was easier because it enabled better communication and supervision over the performance of tasks.
Six of respondents (R3, R4, R7, R9, R12, R16) answered that they did have engaged students exclusively online during the full lockdown:
“We had, yes. And that means both practitioners and mentors, exclusively online, with cameras and it worked very well.” (R16)
On the other side, some claimed that the full online interns worked only during the first period of lockdown:
“In that strictest period of lockdown, it was fully online.” (R2)
A number of employers responded that the internship was implemented in a hybrid manner:
“(…) we had a practitioner here. In the complete closure, we had a crazy situation. We had an Erasmus student from Spain and he worked from home, but we were here for a while and used to see each other, to help him, so it was a drama.” (R5) “(…) interns were 90% online and it worked, let’s say. We are such a company that we never shut down one hundred percent, that is, we tried to achieve at least 10% of some social contact, so that 90% of us were online and that worked, but I believe that this social contact is still necessary in some 10%.” (R1) “(…) actually, we never had interns who were only online, it was already summer, so the measures were a little more lenient and then we combined them, we never asked students to come all the time, except at the beginning (…) but of course we respected all epidemiological measures, then we combined, part of the time they worked from home, part from the office.” (R13) “Well, for a period of about two months, it was entirely online. After those two months, we decided as a company to go back with the assurance of all existing measures. We actually measured the distance between people and tried to design life in the office through some kind of safe way. When we managed to do it after two months, most of the company employees declared that they wanted to return, that they missed that usual old normal life and we made it possible for people, and consequently (…) it continued to be done in some kind of hybrid model.” (R10)
Finally, some of them stated they were not conducting internships at all during the period of COVID-19 measures:
“We didn’t have interns at all, neither online nor like this (e.g. in office), because our focus was on preserving jobs.” (R3) “Now, when there was a total lockdown, when no one was actually coming, then, for one period we reduced interns and for one year we didn’t even take interns, because it was difficult to do it operationally (…)”. (R8) “So, we didn’t even keep the students during the COVID pandemic, so we dissolved everything there. There was simply no time to do the work and to additionally mentor, educate, check someone else via Skype (…) it made no sense.” (R9)
Employers who decided to conduct internships exclusively online explained their reasons for such a decision. Their answers ranged a) from the decision to continue organizing the student internship, which was only possible online; b) positive experience company had worked remotely before the lockdown, so they were familiar with it; c) decision to prepare for what would come after the pandemic and improve on the knowledge and experience during the pandemic; and d) internship was conducted online because it was difficult to teach people in person during the pandemic. From the point of improving cooperation between the Department and IT companies, one of the especially important issues was to detect the most commonly used tools in online internships (Table 3).
The most commonly used tools in online internships
The most commonly used tools in online internships
In offering their views on advantages and disadvantages as well as the future of online internship the interviewed participants stated:
“Well, I would say that like this, the greatest advantages of this complete online business are some, let’s say, that, let’s say, apart from that some loss of time, traveling to work, returning from work (…) is that kind of freedom that someone can dedicate himself to that private part of his life, that means if someone has a family, a wife, children, that he can dedicate himself to that. So this is a social aspect, a private one, it has some benefit.” (R1) “The advantage is that they have some flexibility, rights and obligations. The right to work when he/she wants, but the obligation to still finish it by Friday at 12:00 (…) so it’s just a question of how a person positions himself/herself.” (R6) “Well, the advantages are, let’s say, maybe some kind of comfort for the students, they don’t have to travel, come here and so on, however (…) and the positive, I say, is that let’s say some kind of speed, easier organization in the whole story, because they don’t have to adapt, they can work from home.” (R2) “Okay, I mean, as for the pros, I’d say there are a lot less of them than the cons, unfortunately.” (R10) “The advantage is flexibility (…) There are advantages, but I say, perhaps the best is a hybrid model, for people to see each other and continue online, when the processes are learned and the teams are established.” (R5)
Disadvantage is seen in regards to supervising the students when employees are not in the office all the time:
“Well, I would say that as far as practice is concerned, I see some shortcomings, especially when a person is new to practice and where some mentoring is important, that it is much more difficult to send someone messages, than to pull someone by the sleeve directly in the office, the communication itself is more difficult, the person doesn’t feel like working in a team and in a company, because it definitely can’t be done online.” (R13) “Well, the disadvantages (…) that energy is also different, it’s worse to be with people you haven’t met live, they can’t experience you in the same way, you can’t transmit the same energy. You can’t work online and offline equally, in my opinion.” (R5) “I’m kind of old school, I think that a face-to-face conversation is somehow better and a personal conversation when people are present in the same place is better than the online way of working, however, let’s face it, it’s a kind of inevitability nowadays.” (R11) “Well, with online internship, I actually think that the biggest disadvantage is the lack of a quick response from the mentor if he is not physically available.” (R10) “Well, I would say that we generally do not prefer online internships because it is difficult to mentor, because especially the students who come, they are afraid to ask, I don’t know how they can (work) (…) when they are in the office we put two, three, four of them together plus a mentor. There is always someone (…)” (R3) “(…) the interaction between students is very important, they help each other, communicate, exchange experiences and direct communication with the mentor (…) when they work online and encounter the problem for the first time, it’s quite difficult, so I would say that there is a lot more negative things.” (R2) “Well, what I said, I think the disadvantage is that they didn’t get a real impression of working in the company. First, they weren’t used to working at all, they didn’t work, and then they got some kind of new way of working where, I say (…) but they lacked that live contact and impression of the company which I think is very important, especially for the first job or first practice in this sense.” (R6)
In the context of complete remote work, the respondents were asked how they view the implementation of internship activities today and in the future. The answers ranged from a) that they will continue to implement internships on the grounds of lockdown experience; b) it will be important to communicate as often and quickly as possible between the mentor and the intern and to better organize frequent feedback; c) the internship could take place completely online, and to d) regarding the problem with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in an online internship model when preparing and installing the programs on the interns’ computers.
In the context of a possible internship framework design it is important to listen to the opinions of employers, which ranged from a) their belief that internship could be well implemented if a structure of its implementation would be created; b) inclination towards the hybrid manner; c) expectations that remote work will be transferred to Onboarding in the future, as well as the education of individuals who strive to achieve a certain workplace; to the d) better online presence of interns in the future. Furthermore, the interviewees believe that non-verbal communication is very important and that for successful remote internship, it would be necessary to prepare materials or guidelines according to which the internship will be implemented. In addition, they believe that a successful remote internship would require the organization of online activities in order to involve interns in the teams.
Finally, very useful suggestions were offered stating that for a successful online internship it is necessary to organize an online repository with all the application documentation that employees could access at any time and that it would be desirable to prepare in advance all the tools necessary for work and that continuous and frequent communication between interns and mentors should be maintained.
Discussion
In the company descriptions, employers proudly highlighted their successes in the specific areas in which they operate. When answering the question about the age of the company and the number of employees, all respondents tried to explain their current position in the market along with the factual values. Employers’ responses should be placed in the context of the current stage of company development. Due to the diversified survey sample seen from the side of the company’s age and the number of employees, the responses of employers vary. Some of them were well prepared for the new working environment e.g. how to manage the company by engaging workers to work remotely. From the other side, these IT companies that used to work online, were better prepared to manage student internship in hybrid mode (RQ1).
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a positive impact on the entire IT sector. Therefore, the context of the conversation was how to successfully cope with the new challenges. Based on the reasoned discussion, we can conclude that the answer to RQ2 is related to how to successfully deal with the new situation in a positive sense. Viewed from the angle of the basic preconditions for an online internship, regardless of the absence of a ban on office work before the pandemic, half of the respondents pointed out that their employees had the possibility of remote work even before the pandemic. These results coincide with the papers from the immediate period before the pandemic when remote work was discussed in the context of younger generations and the notion of digital nomads (Yuen Thompson, 2018), and the discussion of its advantages and disadvantages (OSTI. GOV., 2018; Bayır, 2021). A third of the employers in the survey decided to implement internships exclusively in an online environment, while a third of them opted for a hybrid model, and a third of them did not implement internships during the strict lockdown. A third of those who implemented internships stated that they adapted well. Most of them had a model of remote work for their employees before the pandemic, so they were familiar with the applications, technologies and tools that support such work.
Regarding the advantages and disadvantages of online internships (RQ3), employers pointed out that they see more disadvantages than advantages of online ways of conducting internships. For most of them, the advantages are flexibility, saving time, the possibility for the interns to dedicate themselves to their private and faculty obligations, comfort, easier organization, the possibility of self-organization and reduced risk of COVID-19 infection. These results are correlated with the results from studies we analyzed (cf. Bayır, 2022; Juarez, & Blackwood, 2022; Kobert, 2021).
For most of them, the shortcomings are difficult communication between the mentor and the intern, the extended response time to the interns’ inquiries, the reduced speed of work and problem solving, the inability to transfer knowledge as in office work, the inability to get an impression of office work and the lack of team spirit. In response to the RQ3, it was evident that the respondents see different advantages and disadvantages of online student internship, but put more emphasis on the disadvantages.
The stated advantages are also correlated with the answers of students (for example, Jakopec and Aparac-Jelušić 2021; Bayir, 2022) on the topic of performing online internships.
Although in the aforementioned research among students on the topic of online internships (Jakopec & Aparac-Jelušić, 2021) students stated communication as both an advantage and a disadvantage, the employers did not see communication as an advantage but only as a disadvantage. Therefore, according to the suggestions for the implementation of online internships, the employers would improve communication between students and employees and the standardization of the internship process, as well as the development of the internship policy and some kind of guidelines or framework in order to boost it in the online environment.
After the end of the total lockdown, all employers provided their employees with a remote manner of working. Employees, however, in most cases embraced a hybrid manner of working. These results are correlated with other reports from the sector (Vrbanus, 2022). These results contribute to the expectation of an increase in the number of online internships or at the very least of the hybrid internships. In the survey, the employers expressed fear of conducting exclusively online internships because the company is not just a business, the company are the people, and each company cultivates its own organizational culture. Employers expect employees, but also interns, to embrace and nurture the life of the company, not just the operational work the company does and to get acquainted with the office etiquette. The participants of the online internship program during lockdown in the Turkey thought similarly (Bayir, 2021).
We didn’t find that the administration of the online internship was seen as a barrier and such a claim is close to Juarez and Blackwood (2022) findings that online internships are easier to administer that it is the case with theirs in-person counterparts.
Conclusion
The context of the increase in workload consequently poses a challenge in finding a workforce for employers. The logical source of the new workforce are also young people who have not yet entered the area. Hosting interns is, by and large, a solid base for employers to get additional workforce and to monitor them in order to get an insight into the capabilities of interns who then have the opportunity to become their employees. By combining the business strategy of enabling remote work of employees and conducting internships, the prerequisites for online internships have been realized. The pandemic has ambushed the entire world and thus the process of conducting internships.
The question still under the review could be formulated like this: is online internship a more equitable way to expose students to the (L)IS field than a traditional internship is? In a certain sense it could be said that by eliminating the time and geographic barriers of conventional internships, employers can reach students who may have considered such an experience out of the realm of possibility. The mentorship that a well-administered internship provides is a concrete way in which students can work to increase diversity in their field.
Employers’ view on the topic of challenges and opportunities in conducting online internships partly coincides with the view of students, but brings much broader reflection on the topic itself. This approach of employers is understandable because it is a much more responsible and relevant side of the process of implementation of internships. To adapt or to disappear is at the core of the business world itself. The IT sector has shown tremendous profitability as well as the flexibility. The products and services that come from this sector have been an integral part of our lives for many years. The pandemic only emphasized this dependence on technology and thus enabled the business world in the IT sector to gain even stronger dominance. Therefore, it is not surprising that IT employers are willing to completely change the usual (face-to-face) way of implementing internships to the online way, whether there is an immediate need for such a way or not. However, there are others who still reflect on the broader context and see more negative sides of the implementation of online internships and, while allowing part of the implementation of internships online, still want the interns to get to know both the organizational, business and ultimately the human side of the company. As emphasized in most of the reviewed studies, for both parties – students and employers – communication is a very important factor that must be taken into account. Although students do not think about it, employers and teachers are thinking about establishing a new model of performing internships, and it is clear to them that one of the answers is a clearly defined and regulated model of internships in the online environment. Before setting up the model itself, it is necessary to conduct the same or similar survey in other social and/or business environments in order to be able to take into account all relevant facts based on the obtained data and set up a comprehensive model of performing internships at times when there is no alternative.
As one employer stated about the whole situation with COVID-19 pandemic “(…) and this whole period, a strange, unusual experience, honestly, I think that we in IT, as a rule, even did very well”. As we presumed at the beginning of this paper the pandemic brought in new opportunities for experiential learning and planning future development. It is obvious that the experience gained during the two pandemic years could work well also for the HEIs in their attempts to strengthen cooperation with IT sector, and especially in offering new ways for online and hybrid internship.
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
The study was conducted as part of the Erasmus plus funded project DECriS (Digital Education for Crisis Situations: Times When There is No Alternative, 2021–2023) which is focused on European context. It is related to project’s Intellectual Output 6: Internship/Apprenticeship Framework for crisis situations. This survey was taken in Osijek, Croatia and it has been followed by similar studies in other partners HEIs (Barcelona, Spain; Sofia, Bulgaria; Hildesheim, Germany and Zagreb, Croatia) from November 2022 till April 2023.