Classroom learning alone is not enough to guarantee students success in the various careers they wish to specialize in. They need to practice whatever they have learned in class to a real-world setting. The inefficiency of classroom learning has been solved by an internship as this provides the students with an opportunity to practice the skills they have been taught in school (Hergert, 2009). Both internship and classroom learning has been acknowledged for developing all-round professionals in many careers. I was given an opportunity by Forkaia Corporation to work as a social media marketing intern. Some of my responsibilities included creating social content for major media platforms, developing and administering online campaigns, facilitating online conversations, collecting customer data, and analyzing interactions, among others. My supervisor was Ali Sina and my working hours were 25 hours per week. In this final internship paper, I will discuss how the internship experience was effective by trying to compare the theory part of classroom learning and actual practice during the internship. I will address how the internship was important, ways I learned during the period, my expectations from experience, and how the internship was better compared to classroom learning.
My internship experience, when compared to classroom training, was more effective for various reasons. First, the internship enabled me to gain experience in my journalism career. Classroom learning had just taught me how to become a journalist, but the internship showed me what is entailed in journalism. Working as an intern at Forkaia Corporation provided me with an opportunity to learn how journalism is practiced in the real world. I was exposed to many elements of journalism, and this improved my capabilities in this career. Second, the internship provided me with an opportunity to apply what I had learned in class. The primary purpose of an internship is to provide an opportunity for students to understand relevant issues concerning their career (Bukaliya, 2012). The field experience bettered my classroom knowledge. Third, the internship experience increased my marketability. In a classroom setting, a student has limited interaction with real career experts and companies. The field experience exposed me to many employment opportunities as a result of increased interaction with journalism experts. The experience was worth it since I was able to perform in a realistic environment.
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There are incidences in the corporation that made me prefer internship experience to classroom training. There was teamwork within the corporation. No employee would be found doing a task single-handedly. The employees depended on one another to accomplish the tasks assigned to them. Unlike in a classroom setting where students used to work alone, this experience showed that we all need the support of other colleagues to succeed in our careers. The corporation promoted a sense of responsibility among its employees. During the internship period, I was assigned some duties that I had to finish within a specified period. This motivated the employees to work hard and be accountable for the work given to them. This challenged me to be goal-driven, motivated, confident, and understand my duties when employed. In a classroom setting, some students have no sense of responsibility since they just do assignments to please the tutors. There was satisfaction within the corporation. I observed that employees in the corporation received rewards for their efforts. The positive comments from my supervisor encouraged me to pursue my dream of becoming a journalist. I was also anticipating a payment for the services I had offered to the corporation during my internship period. In a classroom environment, there was no appreciation for the hard work.
However, there were some challenges that made dislike internship experience and prefer classroom training. First, the experience is too demanding. I was allocated many responsibilities that I had to finish, and some of them were very difficult. For instance, carrying out an online conversation with customers and recoding the same information was tiresome. The maximum tasks that I could handle were four, but, in the corporation, I was given around seven tasks. This was by far beyond my capability as an intern. I felt like this was not adding value to the knowledge I had in class. There is ignorance by senior members of the corporation, and this affects the morale of an intern to a greater extent (Kasli & Ilban, 2013). They seemed to forget that I was an intern who had gone there to learn. They assumed that I knew everything about journalism, which was wrong. Sometimes they did not bother to check how I was progressing, but they will demand a report by the end of the day. Some superiors were also hostile, and I was afraid of approaching them for guidance. Unlike in the corporation, the students were allowed to seek for clarification during classroom training. There was competition with other interns in the corporation. All the interns wanted to please the supervisor to secure a position in the firm. This made some interns lose their moral values just to impress the supervisor and clinch an employment opportunity. Students are required to maintain their morals values in a school and work to better themselves other than some people
Learning is a continuous process, and the internship provided me with an opportunity to continue learning. There was the various method that I deployed to enhance my learning. First, I always asked questions. I posed questions to my supervisor and experienced journalists on several occasions. This enabled me to get clarity on confusing ideas. I then took notes from their feedback for future reference. Second, I made connections within the corporation by establishing a mutual relationship between my colleagues and the management team. Having connections is important in building a professional network of people with similar careers and interests (Maio, 2018). Listening from the narrations of the seniors enlightened me on the challenges to expect and how to respond to them. Lastly, I gained knowledge through observation. I focused on different ways the firm works and how employees conduct themselves and summarized those facts in my notebook.
The internship experience turned out to be exactly what I had expected. My tutors had informed me in advance that there are challenges to be encountered during this period, and that is what exactly happened. The few problems I faced have been explained already. I expected this experience to open more employment opportunities to me. The firm urged me to be in contact since they admitted that I have the potential to become a good journalist. The supervisor recommended many companies that can employ me. The experience helped me to develop skills to guarantee my success. My communication improved greatly, and I had become a good team player.
In conclusion, it is evident that having good grades from a classroom experience does not guarantee success to the students. The students should improve their learning experience by practically applying what they have learned in class in the real world. This is only possible through an internship. This will enable the students to develop work ethics in their specific careers. Through the internship, the students will gain experience, improve on their classroom knowledge, and identify more employment opportunities. During the internship, the students should be prepared to face challenges such as hostility, more tasks, and competition from other interns. Learning is a continuous process, and the students should continue to learn even in an internship by asking questions, observing, and making connections. The overall positive impact of this experience is to develop individuals who are fit to work in their respective fields.
References
Bukaliya, R. (2012). The potential benefits and challenges of internship programs in an odl institution: A case for the Zimbabwe open university . International Journal on New Trends in Education and their Implications. 3 (1): 118-130.
Herbert, M. (2009). Student perceptions of the value of internships in business education. American Journal of Business Education . 2 (8): 9-12.
Kaşlı, M., & İlban, M. O. (2013). The relationship between problems faced during internships and interns’ view of profession and intention to work in the tourism industry. Egitim Arastirmalari-Eurasian Journal of Educational Research . 52: 79-96.
Maio, J. (2018). 10 Reasons why an internship is important to all students. Suny. Retrieved from https://blog.suny.edu/2018/06/10-reasons-why-an-internship-is-important-to-all-students/ .
