Two high school models reveal how virtual internships can still provide work-based learning’s most critical asset.
Last week, Mahnaz Charania wrote about how schools are using ImBlaze to support a virtual approach to Real World Learning.
"Grounded in the core values of relationships, relevance, and rigor, and well into its second decade, Big Picture Learning utilizes an edtech tool it built in house called ImBlaze to curate and track students’ internship experiences. True to Big Picture Learning’s emphasis on student-directed learning, students themselves populate the database with connections in their own lives, and through outreach to local businesses that pique their interest. From there, the tool allows educators and administrators to verify the quality of various opportunities and track a students’ journey to and through the internship experience in real time, including when the student checks in or out of the internship site, to help ensure that both students and internship hosts are having a valued experience."
Charania also hits on an important point, and one that will be a large part of our next blog post -- the importance of social capital (not just *work experience*) on economic mobility.