Internships: Experiential Learning

experiential learning: And yet, as academics with experience in internships and related professional learning opportunities, we know internships can be of tremendous value to students, according to The Star. For Kolb, experience and learning are two parts of a circular and reinforcing pattern that works only when students are exposed to both. And then theres Dale, whose learning pyramid identifies doing as the most memorable of learning activities, while passively listening to a lecture is the least memorable. More recent work suggests that service learning a form of experiential learning in which academic learning is paired with volunteer work in a community organization can help students develop critical thinking skills as well as helping learners to form new perspectives on complex situations and circumstances. Furthermore, student participation in service learning in particular promotes the development of civically engaged individuals, even post-graduation and Recently, in this paper, and in others across North America, internships have been critiqued as a malaise in which interns work for no pay, and for which they receive little benefit. Ross Perlin, author of the 2011 book Intern Nation, argues in the New York Times that the exploitation of students through internships is rampant and unjust . The Toronto Star recently reported on internship programs at firms where former interns are suing for back wages , and winning. Education theorists, such as John Dewey , David Kolb and Edgar Dale, have been proponents of the value of experiential learning. In 1937, Dewey, the most famous North American educator of the 20th century, argued that experience was a vital element of education because students could reflect upon it, think critically about how knowledge and skills are used to address problems in the world and apply the knowledge learned from such experience to new contexts. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.