Micro-Internships
Micro-internships are virtual interactions connecting regional industry partners with students aimed at teaching a select industry-specific technical and/or essential skills in a short period of time.
In small groups of 4-6 participants, micro-internships allow students to:
- Ask industry experts in-depth questions
- Learn and practice foundational work-place related skills
- Participate in work-related exercises
- Gain detailed feedback on work
- Broaden their professional network
This toolkit contains resources that can be utilized and modified as needed by teachers/districts to implement micro-internships in their communities. The Micro-Internship Taskforce comprised of the Alliance for Education & Mountain Desert Economic Partnership piloted this project and contributed resources to this toolkit.
Micro-internship Facilitation
Day of Session
Beginning of session
- Teacher opens 'room' 15 minutes before
- Industry partner logs in 10 minutes before
- Teacher makes industry partner a co-host
- Teacher and industry partner do a tech check
- Industry partner shares screen
- Students are admitted into the room 5 minutes before
- Teacher begins recording session (if permissible)
During the Session
- Teacher reviews online etiquette and professional expectations with students
- Teacher introduces industry partner
- Teacher remains throughout session, providing additional support when needed
- Teacher facilitates 'brain breaks' as needed
End of Session
- Teacher and/or industry partner reviews the independent assignment/project (if applicable)
- Teacher reminds students of date and time for next session (if applicable)
- Teacher and students thank the industry partner
- Teacher reminds students to look for an email requesting their feedback
- Teacher reminds students to also look for their badge via email
Student Recognition
3-5 Days After
Create badges at www.badgr.com
- Set up a free account
- “Create Issuer” and set up your organization as the issuer
- Under “Issuer,” click on “Create Badge”
- Complete the: General Information, Earning Criteria, & Alignment
- Click on “Create Badge”
- Click on “Award Badge”
- Enter email address of recipients
- Click “Award Badge”
Notify students
The micro-internship is a novel and fantastic idea! I encourage every person I talk with about careers to do informational interviews and I found that the micro-internship was a viable format. The students seemed interested and were engaging. It was a pleasure and I look forward to being part of these in the future.
Ashraf Hamdi, Senior Operations Manager, ConvergeOne
Credits:
Created with images by Unknown - "People collaborating over a project image - Free stock ..." • Unknown - "Female students studying image - Free stock photo - Public ..." • geralt - "application request work" • geralt - "laptop keyboard hands" • Edar - "business signature contract" • geralt - "hands write pen" • Unknown - "Person Talking Classes Online · Free Stock Photo"