Information for students

Option A: Regular registration for the internship

The following must be submitted before the start of the internship

• the internship certificate,
• a job description (without stamp and signature of the institution).

The following must be submittedafter the internship

• the original internship certificate including signature and stamp of the institution as proof that the internship has been completed to the extent of 200 hours.

Variant B: Recognition of a study and examination achievement (e.g. a relevant
relevant voluntary internship before the start of studies)

In this case, the following must be submitted

• the original signed application for recognition of a study or examination achievement,
• an internship contract with details of the scope of the internship and the signature of the institution and the intern,
• a job description.

The internship contract and the job description must be signed and stamped by the institution.
signed and stamped by the institution and submitted in the original.
The recognition of relevant professional activities or training as internships is also possible upon application. It does not matter whether the internship was completed part-time or full-time.
Please note that the recognition only relates to the internship; the examination
examination (= report) must still be completed.
You can find the application for recognition of an examination on the Examination Office website.

Institutions and fields of activity that are related to adult and continuing education, personnel and organizational development, education management or related areas are suitable. The internship should enable students to apply the knowledge they have acquired during their studies to complex practical requirements and gain insights into organizational, pedagogical or management-related processes.

Possible internship institutions are, for example:

• Companies and HR departments,
• Further education providers and educational institutions,
• Universities and research institutions,
• consulting and coaching companies,
• public institutions, associations or non-profit organizations,
• Institutions in the education and healthcare sectors,
• Organizations with a focus on digitalization, learning or change management.

Suitable fields of activity include:

• Personnel and organizational development,
• Adult and continuing education,
• education and project management,
• training and course management,
• quality management,
• digital learning environments and e-learning,
• Human Resources / People & Culture,
• Consulting and coaching,
• research and evaluation.

The decisive factor is less the type of organization than the opportunity to work independently on relevant specialist tasks and establish links to the course content.

Previous internships have been completed in companies, universities, further education institutions, consulting companies and research and educational institutions - including in the areas of personnel development, course management, education management, digital learning platforms, organizational development, human resources or training management.

Not sure? Contact the current internship officer in the degree program or the student advisory service.

The report has a length of 10 written pages in the usual formatting.
It is intended to show that students:

• Can not only describe practice, but analyze it
• apply relevant theoretical concepts appropriately
• reflect on the relationship between organization, professional action and their own role
• can structure experiences in an argumentative way and present them scientifically

However, it does not require an empirical study with research questions, data collection, etc., it is not an "objective" evaluation of the internship position, a comprehensive organizational diagnosis, but just as little pure self-experience prose.

Ideally, the report should combine three levels:

• Description: What is the organization/activity?
• Analysis: How can this be understood using concepts from further education/organizational development/etc.?
• Reflection: What tensions, learning processes and professional requirements have become visible?

What do you still need to consider?

1. no mere chronology

The report should not be a weekly or activity list.

Instead:

• Selection of central situations, projects or observations
• thematic bundling
• analytical condensation

For example:

• Dealing with resistance in change processes
• Role of informal communication
• Tensions between educational aspirations and efficiency pressure
• Professionalization of continuing education
• Control logics of an organization

2. reference to theory as an analytical tool

Students should not reproduce a "collection of theories", but use a few concepts in a targeted manner.

Examples

• Organizational culture
• Learning in organizations
• micropolitics
• change management
• professionalization
• governance
• Role and systems theory
• Reflection models of professional action

What is important:

• Theory explains or structures practical observations
• No mere illustration ("This is reminiscent of model X")
• No overloaded literature work

The report uses selected theoretical concepts to analyze concrete experiences and organizational contexts.

3. reflection instead of self-reflection

"Reflection" should not mean:

• "What did I like?"
• "What did I learn?"

But rather:

• What professional requirements became apparent?
• What role conflicts arose?
• What implicit assumptions about learning/organization became clear?
• Where did a tension between theory and practice become apparent?
• How did your own view of OD/continuing education change?

So:
Reflective professionalization, not experience essay.

4. clear scientific form

• Question or guiding perspective
• Theoretical reference
• analytical argumentation
• literature references
• Comprehensible structure

Not necessary:

• Research design
• Method chapter in the narrower sense
• Data analysis
• Hypothesis testing

Possible key questions could be:

• "How was change communication designed in the organization?"
• "What tensions emerge between pedagogical aspirations and organizational control?"
• "What role did informal learning play in everyday working life?"

Below you will find a possible structure for your report:

1. introduction (approx. 1 page)

• Internship field and context
• Focus/leading question
• Structure of the report

2. organization and field of activity (approx. 2 pages)

• Organization
• Field of activity
• Relevant framework conditions
• Own role

Not purely descriptive, but already analytically focused.

3. main analytical section (approx. 4-5 pages)

• Selected observations/situations
• Link with theory
• Analysis of organizational processes
• Discussion of tensions/contradictions

This is the core of the report.

4. reflection on professional learning (approx. 2 pages)

• own role
• competence development
• Limits of own perspective
• Relationship between study and practice

5. conclusion (approx. 1 page)

• Central findings
• Reference to key question
• Open questions, if applicable