WHY INTERNSHIP?
In their article for the National Association of Colleges and Employers “Internships as a
Pedagogical Approach to Soft-Skill Development” (2017), Kim Stack and Jacquelyn Fede
share data describing soft-skill development. Having identified critical soft-skills sought by
employers, the authors used the Center for Career and Experiential Education’s survey
design with a sample of Rhode Island University students enrolled in an internship and
seminar course. The survey assesses 24 soft-skills encompassed in four domains pre/post
internship to determine the benefits of the internship semester. Using a scale of 1(poor) - 4
(great), there was a mean difference of about 3.57 in students’ rating of their ability pre/
post experience.
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