Professional Prep Academy offers virtual internships during and after the pandemic
In a time when in-person internships aren’t possible, virtual internships provide valuable, real-world experience from the safety of home.
The Professional Prep Academy (PPA), developed by Socratic Arts, offers a wide range of virtual internships to help students discover a career passion and learn life skills. Work-based learning forms the cornerstone of a quality career and technical education (CTE) program. And it’s too valuable to lose in the wake of COVID-19.
Virtual internships present realistic, mentored, learn-by-doing experiences that can be delivered 100% online or on a hybrid basis. And they are turnkey, meaning they require minimal school effort during the pandemic crisis. Virtual internships eliminate:
- Recruiting and training employers for internships
- Finding student transportation to and from work sites
- Students potentially putting themselves at risk in face-to-face work situations
- Students missing out due to socioeconomic hardships
Our story-centered approach makes the difference.
PPA virtual internships use a story-centered approach to learning that immerses students in real-life situations. They complete real work, on real deliverables, that have real impact. Students get to work alongside real professionals and get a taste of what their job actually entails.
Students play a central role working individually, or on a team, to achieve meaningful objectives over a series of tasks. Learners are expected to produce the same work product that professionals produce. Students are trained and assessed in vital 21st century employability skills:
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Critical thinking
- Creative problem-solving
- Scientific reasoning
- Self-directed learning
- Research
- Common workplace behaviors and values
PPA’s story-centered approach has been used successfully for more than 20 years, with more than 100,000 students at world-class universities, the U.S. government, and Fortune 100 companies around the world. Discover what a PPA virtual internship looks like.
What sets our internships apart?
- Developed with extensive input from industry subject-matter experts
- A rich and engaging story that mirrors real-world, work situations
- Detailed employer information such as company policies and unspoken cultural factors important for students learning
- A wide range of in-depth learning resources.
- Expert mentors available to help, advise, and give feedback
- Competency-based approach where mentors coach students until they master the knowledge and skills required by the current task before proceeding to the next
Skills training for in-demand careers
PPA offers virtual internships in five high-paying, high-demand career areas. By completing multiple programs in a related field, students can amass an impressive portfolio of work to showcase during job interviews.
Virtual internships include:
Cybersecurity
- Insider Threat
- Exploit a Website
- Malicious Network Traffic
- Remote Intrusion Attempt
Data Analytics
- Intro to Data Analytics: Machine Learning & Sentiment Analysis
- Machine Learning with Python
Entrepreneurship
- Business Idea Workshop
- Product/Service Definition
- Think Like an Investor
- Business Essentials
- Write a Business Plan
Health Sciences
- Internal Medicine
- Forensic Detective
- Mystery Diagnosis Case
Software Development
- Intro to Website Development
- Intro to JavaScript
- Mobile Web App Development
- Java 1
- Java 2
PPA program requirements
PPA virtual internships involve solving complex problems, and it is for this reason that block schedules with class sessions of 80–90 minutes are required to allow for meaningful learning.
Students must have:
- A total of 15 hours available per week, in and out of school
- A minimum of 2.5 megabytes per second internet bandwidth — downloading and uploading — at school and home to support online video learning resources and Zoom meetings
About Socratic Arts
Socratic Arts has been a pioneer in learning since 1989. Led by artificial intelligence expert and visionary Dr. Roger Schank, Socratic Arts’ team of experienced instructional design and facilitation experts develop and deliver performance-improvement solutions to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and post-secondary schools. Learn more.
