Work-integrated learning: a good practice guide

Work-integrated learning:a good practice guide

Penelope Engel-Hills (Dept of Nursing &Radiography, Cape Peninsula University of Technology)James Garraway (Fundani CHED, Cape Peninsula University of Technology)Cecilia Jacobs (Centre for Teaching & Learning, Stellenbosch University)Chris Winberg (Fundani CHED, Cape Peninsula University of Technology)

Overview of workshop

1. Introduction to the WIL: a good practice guide2. Professional knowledge, curriculum, and WIL3. Case studies of WILo Case study 1: radiographyo Case study 2: chemistry4. Sharing ideas5. Panel discussiono ICTs and social media in WILo Integrated assessment taskso Assessment panels in the health scienceso Researching WIL

1. Introduction to WIL: a good practice guideo Definitionso The changing

Higher Education context

o Implications for work-integrated learning

Definitions

action-learning, apprenticeships, capstone programme, cooperative education, experiential learning, inquiry learning, inter-professional learning, practicum placements, problem based learning, project-based learning, sandwich course, scenario learning, ‐service-learning, simulated learning, team-based learning, virtual learning, work-based learning, work experience, work placements, workplace learning, etc.

Work-integrated learning is an umbrella term that describes curricular, pedagogic and assessment approaches and practices, across a range of academic disciplines that integrate formal learning and workplace concerns.

Definitions/cont

Professional education/professionally-oriented education includes traditional professional programmes (e.g., architecture, law and medicine), new or emerging professions (e.g., mechatronics, software engineering, reconfigurable computing, robotics, and cellular technology) as well as career-focused programmes such as tourism, business informatics, and media studies. In the interests of brevity (and because many of these programmes have common features) we to all advanced technical, advanced vocational, new and traditional professional programmes as ‘professional education’.

The changing HE context

Green paper for post school education and trainingJan 2012

HigherCertificate

(120)

AdvancedCertificate

(120)Diploma

(360)Min 120@6

Bachelor’sDegree(360)

Min 120@7

AdvancedDiploma

(120)‘

Bachelor’s Degree(480)

Min 120@8

Postgraduate Diploma

(120)

Masters Degree (General and professional)

(180)Min 120@9

BachelorHonoursDegree(120)

Doctoral Degree(General & Professional)

(360)Min 360@10

5

6

7

8

9

10

Postgraduate

Undergraduate

HEQF: November 2011

Diploma(240)

Min 120@6

Workplace learning (120)

HEQF Level descriptors (examples)Levels Conceptual

challengeProblem solving

Academic literacy

Inde-pendence

Level 8

(Hons)

Professional: depth & specialisation

Theorise & research

Multiple texts (e.g., lit review)

Independent work/near professional

Level 7

(3rd year)

Advanced: breadth & depth

Unfamiliar, abstract problems

Academic discourse

Less support

Level 6

(2ndyear)

Breadth & some depth

Well defined, but unfamiliar problems

Critically analyse, logical organisation

Moderate support

Level 5

(1st year)

Basic concepts; introductory

Apply standard procedures

Report clearly Support

Implications for WIL….

o Conceptual frameworko Theoretical (or

disciplinary) knowledge and practice-based (or situated) knowledge

o Professional knowledgeo Professional knowledge

in the curriculum

2. Professional knowledge, curriculum, and WIL

Practice (aka situated knowledge)

Theory (aka disciplinary knowledge)

?

The world of higher education: academic study, disciplines, subjects, assessments, qualifications…

The world of professional practice: work, payment, employment clients, patients, colleagues, partners…

Knowledge bases: professional practice

Procedural situated knowledge

Principled situated knowledge

Applied disciplinary knowledge

Pure disciplinary knowledge

WIL can bring the two worlds closer…

THE WORLD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

A range of curricular,

pedagogic (teaching and learning) and

assessment practices can bring the world of higher education and the

world of work/professional

practice closer together.

THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Academic study, disciplines, subjects, assessments, qualification…

Work, payment, employment clients, patients, colleagues, partners…

Some arrangements for WILTYPES Theoretical Problem-based Project-based Practical

KEY TERMS Lecture, tutorial,Lab/demo

Real world,Integrated, Discovery learning,Self-directed learning

Job- shadowing,‘Capstone’ projects

‘In-service’ Work placements,Internship, “sandwich”.

ACTIVITIES Guest lecturers (e.g., from industry),

Work simulated problems, tasks & texts,Case studies

Site visits,Fieldwork, Interviews,Service Learning, projects.

Learning contracts,Log books, Learning logs,Journals,Mentoring,

SITES Classroom, Laboratory, Studio, Website

Classroom, lab, etc – group work

Classroom & workplace

Workplace

3. Case studies of WIL

o Learning from a radiography programme

o Learning from a chemistry programme

Project-based learning in Finnish U of T. (Case 16, p. 36)

• Students scanned a truck cab company for work processes. In consultation potential blockages were identified. Students in discussion with their peers and lecturers back at the university devised ways to remediate. Ideas presented to work for comment.

Assessing work-place projects: Connecting work practice and theory knowledge via portfolio (case 29,

p.53)• Students report on the

identified work problem, steps to solve it, results and concluding comments;

• Knowledge gaps between work investigation and university identified;

• New learning and learning sources identified;

• Contribution to the workplace acknowledged.

Learning from a radiography programme

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• Historic perspective of radiography • Current preparation of radiography

graduates in/for South Africa

History of Radiography in South Africa

• X-rays (1896)• Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)• …became competent as

radiographers by experimenting with x-ray apparatus…’ (JC de Villiers Healers Helpers and Hospitals, 2008)

Summary on Learning

• Knowledge from existing learning (engineers & photographers) applied to new workplace;

• Skills passed on through ‘Apprenticeship model’(artisan/trade training) with diluted theory.

History of Radiography: Continued

• 1940s– Radiography Courses

• Entry criteria• Work as a radiographer (salary)• On site theory (< 10%)• Non-formal Work Assessment

History of Radiography: Continued

• 1960s– Hospital-based ‘schools’ emerged (tutors)– Work and salary

• On site theory (25%)• Formal Theory Assessment

History of Radiography: Continued

• 1970s– Radiography Courses

• Work as a radiographer (salary)• On site theory (< 33%)• Theory Assessed• Work Assessed (no credit)

History of Radiography: Continued

• 1980s & 1990s– Shift from Hospital-based to HEIs– EDUCATION & TRAINING – Sent ‘out’ for work experience (hours & service)– Theory (knowing) & Practice (doing) assessed – 1992: Clinical subject formalized workplace learning

History of Radiography: Continued

• 2000s– INTEGRATION & LEARNING– Work integrated into classroom– Theory integrated into practice– No salary for students – Shift to degrees for entry level professionals

-shaped practitioner

‘Industry seeks “T-shaped people”, inwhich the down-stroke represents depth andspecialist knowledge in a discipline and thecross-stroke represents breadth andflexibility’.

Report of a meeting sponsored by ESF with Science Magazine (Next Wave) and the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm in 2002

With acknowledgement to Prof. A Rip, University of Twente.

Profession Practice

Experience-based knowledge

Traditional disciplines

4. Small group discussion

1) How might the WIL: a guide to good practice

Feedback Group 1

1.

5. Panel discussiono ICTs and social media in WILo Integrated assessment taskso Invited assessment panelso Researching WIL

ICTs and social media

o Digital portfolios (for placement);

o Facebook groups;o Blogs (Case study 20, pp

39-40);o Skype (supporting

students in workplace learning);

o Video diaries (for assessment) (Case study 22, pp 43-44).

Integrated assessment tasks

o Case study 26 (p. 48);o Alignment with

teaching and learning practice;

o Alignment with workplace practice (e.g., project brief, clients, teams, industry assessment panels)

Assessment panels: WIL approaches making a difference to student learning

• Why a panel for integrated assessment in health sciences?

• Who?• How?

New directions in researching WIL

Quite a lot of research into general relationships but less on knowledge and contexts from student’s perspectives.

Work-integrated learning: bringing the two worlds closer…

THE WORLD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

A range of curricular,

pedagogic (teaching and learning) and

assessment practices can bring the world of higher education and the

world of work/professional

practice closer together.

THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Academic study, disciplines, subjects, assessments, qualification…

Work, payment, employment clients, patients, colleagues, partners…

Researching at the boundaries of theory and practice

• Researching WIL always means working at the boundaries between the university curriculum and work practices. So boundary crossing and/or transfer perspectives are often used.

Research into knowledge transfer &differences in moving from

university to work• Michael Eraut (2004). Transfer of

knowledge between education and workplace settings. In H. Rainbird et al (Eds) Workplace Learning in Context. London: Routledge. (201-221).

• Le Maistre, C &Pare, A. (2004). Learning in two communities: The challenge for universities and workplaces. Journal of Workplace Learning, 16 ( 1/2): 44-52.

• Tuomi-Grohn, T. & Engestrom, Y (2003). Between School to Work. New Perspectives on Transfer and Boundary Crossing. Emerald Publishing.

• Teaching in Higher Education (2011), 16 (5). Special edition on ‘Leaving the Academy’.

Research and projects Miettinen, R. & Peisa, S. (1999). Integrating

school-based learning with the study of change in working life: the alternative enterprise method. Journal of Education and work, 15 (3), 303-319.

• Konkola, R., T. Tuomi-Gröhn, P. Lambert, and S. Ludvigsend. 2007. Promoting learning and transfer between school and workplace. Journal of Education and Work 20, no. 3: 211–228Lori Breslow, James Garraway, Christine Winberg, Jennifer Wright, and Bridget Wyrley-Birch. (2005). Learning from Integrated Tasks in Mechanical Engineering. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Special Issue: 92-98.

• McMillan, J. (2011). What happens when The university meets the community? Service learning, boundary and brokering. Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 16, No. 5..

Researching work-integrated learning: bringing the two worlds closer…

THE WORLD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

A range of curricular,

pedagogic (teaching and learning) and

assessment practices can bring the world of higher education and the

world of work/professional

practice closer together.

THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Academic study, disciplines, subjects, assessments, qualification…

Work, payment, employment clients, patients, colleagues, partners…

Researching at the boundaries of theory and practice

Researching WIL always means working at the boundaries between the university curriculum and work practices. So boundary crossing and/or transfer perspectives are often used.

Kolb ‘constructivist’ experiential learning cycle (e.g on a simulation, service learning project)

o Often used in practice-based courses;

o Simulation as concrete experience;

o What did I observe? What does it mean?

o What principles operate here? What have I learned?

o How can I adapt the principles to new events?

Problems: context and motivation; reflection as ‘unproblematic’, is itself a learning style, does not necessarily link education/practice, knowledge poor.

‘Communities of practice’ research • Transitions from

university to work involve a trajectory from one set of social practices to another set with different boundaries, activities and traditions;

• Concerned with developing professional identity, social practices

• Useful for examining PBL, PjBL and EL.

Problems: ‘learning’ and knowledge not well explicated

Dahlgren, M. et al. (2006). From senior student to Novice worker. Studies in Higher Education, 31 (6): 569-586.

oExpands on ‘communities of practice’;oWork and curriculum are always contradictory and hence developmental;oZones of development in ‘spaces’;oPurpose-tool reversal.

Activity system in activity theory

Paré, A., and C. Le Maistre. (2006). Active learning in the workplace: transforming individuals and institutions. Journal of Education and Work 19, no. 4: 363-381.

References for WIL Kolb learning cycleLazarus, J. (2008). Service learning in the disciplines. Pretoria: CHE (July).Kolb, A and Kolb, D (2006). Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: A Review of the Multidisciplinary Application of Experiential Learning Theory in Higher Education. Sims, R., and Sims, S. (Eds).(2006). Learning styles and learning: A key to meeting the accountability demands in education. Nova Publishers ( available on google).Activity theoryMcMillan, J. (2011). What happens when the university meets the community? Service learning, boundary and brokering. Teaching in Higher Education: Special edition on ‘Leaving the Academy’, Vol. 16, No. 5.Paré, A., and C. Le Maistre. (2006). Active learning in the workplace: transforming individuals and institutions. Journal of Education and Work 19, no. 4: 363-381. Teaching in Higher Education (2011). Special edition on ‘Leaving the Academy’, Vol. 16, No. 5.Miettinen, R. & Peisa, S. (1999). Integrating school-based learning with the study of change in working

life: the alternative enterprise method. Journal of Education and work, 15 (3), 303-319.Communities of practice and professional identity Dahlgren, M. et al. (2006). From senior student to novice worker. Studies in Higher Education, 31 (6): 569-586.

A model of professional knowledgeDisciplinary Knowledge +

Disciplinary knowledge -

Situated knowledge -

Situated knowledge +

Pure disciplinary knowledgei.e., highly theoretical, low contextuality/applicability

Applied disciplinary knowledgei.e., highly theoretical, highly applicable.

Procedural situated knowledgei.e., low academic content; low contextual complexity

Principled situatedknowledgei.e., high contextual complexity

Example 1: BSc (Engineering) Electrical and Computer Engineering (576 credits)

Pure disciplinary knowledge (15%)

Applied disciplinary knowledge (48%)

Principled situated knowledge (37%)

Procedural situated knowledge (0%)

Curtain University of Technology, 2012

Example 2: BSc (Emergency Medical Care) (500 credits)

Applied disciplinary knowledge ( 60%)

Pure disciplinary knowledge (15%)

Principled situated knowledge (13%)

Procedural situated knowledge (12%)