Virtual internship during the movement control order: interns' experiences

• Main Author: Ahmad, Zeti Azreen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UPM Press, Universiti Putra Malaysia 2021
• Subjects: H61.8 Communication of information; H96 Public policy (General), Policy sciences
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/95510/7/95510_Virtual%20internship%20during%20the%20movement%20control%20order.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95510/; https://journalfbmk.upm.edu.my/ojs3/index.php/ajac/index
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions not only to our health and wellbeing but also to our socio-norms, economy, politics, culture and education, to name a few. Most countries that have been affected have taken drastic action by implementing a lockdown to flatten the curve of infection. The Malaysian government has imposed a Movement Control Order (MCO) that enforced closure of all non-essential sectors, including the educational institutions. At institutes of higher learning, all regular physical teaching and learning (RPTL) and other cocurricular activities have been put on hold. In addition, the MCO has also affected students who are pursuing an internship programme. The implications of MCO on interns vary from temporary suspension, revocation or substituting traditional internship with a virtual internship. Thus, the purposes of this study are to basically explore students’ experiences in pursuing a virtual internship, looking at the major challenges that they have encountered and how the challenges have affected their performance as interns. A semi-structured interview was employed as a method of data collection. Respondents were Communication students from one public university in Malaysia who did a virtual internship during the MCO. The situated learning theory was applied to guide the research. The findings of the study contribute to improving the practice of virtual internship in the midst of a public health emergency such as COVID-19. The study suggests that a guideline for the virtual internship during a pandemic would be useful. The guideline will facilitate all stakeholders involved - interns, host company and university - to understand the limitations of an online internship and work together to ensure a mutually beneficial internship programme for all.