Erasmus School of Philosophy
March 2022
Description of the course
The Philosophy Internship is a pilot course that is part of the school of philosophy (ESPhil). This internship allows students to engage with real-life problems while utilising their philosophical knowledge to redefine the challenges identified in the organisations.
What have we learned about impact-driven education in practice?
- The students value reflection as a characteristic of impact-driven education in this course. Weekly feedback sessions with teachers and peers allowed students to reflect critically on their assignments, challenges they were encountering, and ways to solve them. Students felt this setup allowed for more personal attention to their learning process. Students indicate they have improved their critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity skills.
- Students found that ‘complexity’ is the aspect that made this course different from regular courses. The aim of the course, which is to incorporate actively wicked problems, was acknowledged by the students as one of the aspects that made this internship stand out. In addition, we asked open-ended questions to the students about the differences with other regular courses: translating theory to practice and student involvement in defining the assignment were some of the aspects that stood out from the course design.
- Dealing with external stakeholders in a new learning environment can be challenging for students. Both students and stakeholders mentioned the involvement of the stakeholder as a point of improvement. Specifically, stakeholders could be more involved with students in the research process.
- Impact learning processes presuppose challenges to balance out the course subject as perceived by students. It appears from one of the students’ views that the course missed the connection with the content. As a result, this observation could have made it difficult to connect the learnings from this course with the students’ perceptions of professional identity.
What are next steps to increase the impact capacity of students in similar learning environments?
- Consider a student-teacher ratio that allows for regular reflection moments. Also, find room to invite stakeholders to participate in these feedback sessions with the students.
- Work on themes that encourage students to work with wicked problems.
- Pay attention to the students’ assignments and the role of the stakeholder. Be aware that it is challenging for students to involve stakeholders in a new learning environment.
- Facilitate discussions on professional identity and the role of impact-driven education skills.
Want to know more? Contact the team
Research and Evaluation
Eldris Con Aguilar
Manon Koopman
Learning Innovators Impact at the Core
Linda Litjens
Lisette Ligtendag
Contributions Impact at the Core
The Impact at the Core learning innovators provided advice on the internship design aiming to align course content, teaching and learning activities to impact-driven education standards. The goal is to allow participants to work with wicked problems and understand how they can advance societal Impact. For example, Impact at the Core contributed to co-designing the impact projects and reflection assignments. Additionally, Impact at the Core supported the evaluation of the Philosophy Internship.