Developing an integrated internship application for vocational schools: aligning user-centered design with technological innovation to enhance internship experiences

This research intends to present an integrated vocational school internship application that will improve vocational school internships through a user-cantered design approach and the use of technology. The application is also expected to help meet the demands of vocational students and industry market demands where students are expected to have practical experience in alignment with their academic and career interests. The research design of the study involves both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques such as interviews with key informants of the industry and self-developed questionnaires administered to students and educators. This approach helps the application provide information regarding the functionality to cater to the needs of all users; this includes information regarding the matching of job vacancies, feedback, and the progress made in the process. The study also focuses on the possibilities of utilizing recent technologies like artificial intelligence and data analysis to improve the strategies of internship delivery so that it becomes more responsive to individual student needs. Consequently, the study demonstrates that applying the user-centred design strategy with technology improvement increases students’ and employers’ satisfaction with the application besides improving the usability of the application. The application ensures better matching of the skills imparted in vocational schools with the workforce needs hence improving the competitiveness of the graduates.