Learning in vivo

Enhancing graduate employability through work-integrated learning could be a risky business

Extensive research has been done about how work-integrated learning (WIL) could enhance graduate employability, indicate de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 497). However, despite the apparent benefits it can be “… a risky business for universities’ due to the strategic, financial, legal and reputational risks it presents, particularly in being able to guarantee a sufficient supply of high quality work placements” say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 502). Including prerequisite WIL may “result in a significant increase in administrative responsibilities for higher education institutions” they caution. Furthermore, “because students on work placement are not employees and therefore are not subject to many of the statutory protections employers are obliged to provide to employees”.

“Successful work placements depend on a strong tripartite relationship between the student, the WIL workplace, and the university”, which “needs to be based on a common understanding of the learning goals of the placement” and requires “careful management of both student and employer expectations of placements”, remark de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 502). Furthermore, “close communication between the university and host organization, including an honest appraisal of the placement student’s needs, abilities, and weaknesses, so that the placement program can be built around addressing or managing the impact of these” is needed. “Host employers [further] need to understand universities’ resource limitations … and must be prepared to provide appropriate on-the-job training and supervision if a student is to benefit from the work placement”. For WIL to succeed, “universities must be prepared to take a proactive role in negotiating with employers on their responsibilities as WIL workplaces”, as well as “to review partnerships with employers who have had repeated complaints raised against them”. The aforementioned “can only be achieved via a high level of institutional oversight, particularly in screening the suitability of potential WIL workplaces”. It is also necessary, say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 502) to educate “students about their workplace rights and responsibilities prior to placement”, as well as “providing appropriate complaints mechanisms for students to voice concerns regarding their placements without fear of reprisal”.

Different forms of WIL are distinguished. “A useful typology for distinguishing between types of work experience conceptualized along two key dimensions: the degree of participatory discretion and the purpose of the experience” is, for example, reflected in Table 2 (from de Zwaan & Grant-Smith, 2022: 498). Completion of a work placement (also labelled an internship) as part of a degree programme normally counts as credits towards the qualification. Supervised work placements involve application of learned theories at a host workplace, and the development of skills. The duration varies depending on the discipline, and the registration or accreditation requirements of the profession, ranging from a few notional hours up to extended periods. There is furthermore significant diversity regarding how work placements are organized and monitored. In fields such as education, nursing, or health sciences with long traditions of clinical training (or ‘WIL’) and relatively large numbers of students; high levels of institutional oversight (including identification, accreditation of suitability of sites, and entering into agreements) and the matching of students with suitable opportunities, take place. However, many do require that students actively engage (like recruitment practices) in the process of securing a placement where the institution would advertise available placement opportunities and students apply, involving somewhat of a competitive application process. Some institutions, however, require that students take direct responsibility for securing and negotiating their own placements.

Although “unpaid work placements are increasingly being positioned as an employability panacea … recent research has shown that students participating in work placements can experience significant levels of psychological stress, social isolation, study/life imbalance and be exposed to exploitative or unlawful work practices”, state de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 500). ‘Panacea’, the ancient Greek goddess of healing, originates from panákeia equivalent to panake-, stem of panakḗs ‘all-healing’ (pan- ‘all’ + akḗs ‘a cure’). Unpaid internships, however, do not necessary take into consideration the “potential negative impacts on participants’ social, psychological, and economic wellbeing” say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 500). “Financial stress and hardship can also impact students’ emotional and physical health and general wellbeing as students who are struggling financially experience more stress, anxiety, and depression”, they add. Work placements furthermore require significant time commitments from students, as well as significant risks of conflict with regard to the various roles of students.

Diversity in student populations may present several challenges regarding equity in high-quality work placements, “particularly for women, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and [also] international students” say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 501). Often women are “disadvantaged due to their caring responsibilities”, and “placements during normal working hours can increase childcare costs or require alternative care arrangements to be made”. “When placements are located far from home the transport burden can be greater for women based on their mobilities of care”, as well as possibly safety concerns. “Students who are financially independent of their parents” or relatives; or “relying on paid employment to survive” or taking care of siblings; may incur considerable financial stress. These inequalities “means that students who possess significant financial capital or parental support may be more likely to be able to afford to undertake extended placements or engage in placements away from their local area”, which in turn may further impact post-graduation employment opportunities”. “Cultural differences, language skills and racism” may adversely impact international placements.

Service learning is proposed by de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 503-4) as a practical alternative to work placements. By providing services to disadvantaged individuals and non-profit organisations while supervised offer important learning opportunities and client interaction. “Service learning is distinguishable from volunteering or pro bono work in that its primary focus is on reciprocity and learning while meeting the needs of a community”.

de Zwaan, L. and Grant-Smith, D. (2022) More than mandatory work placements: The role of work-integrated learning in preparing financial planning graduates for the professional year. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 495-508. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_495_508.pdf.

Dictionary.com https://www.dictionary.com/browse/panacea

‘Career education is considered one of many quality indicators of WIL’

“Career education is considered one of many quality indicators of WIL … providing both occupational and work-readiness preparation”, say Young, Hermon, Cardilini and Binek (2022: 445). “It is part of an important strategy to embed work-integrated learning (WIL) into undergraduate degree programs within Australian universities to enhance employability outcomes”, they say and remark that “there is clear evidence that employability enhancements are most effective if course-wide employability-related learning outcomes are valued, planned for, and delivered”.

Young et al. (2022: 445) report in a third of three articles about “investigating the renewal of a foundational work-integrated learning (WIL) subject”. They report on their action-research project approach, “how shifts in thinking and practice arose”. In the case study they describe how “the methodological approach to the project was fundamental to the curriculum review and renewal for a single subject (one of the intended outcomes of the project) and unexpectedly, a formal re-thinking of embedded WIL approaches to undergraduate programs”. They demonstrate changes associated with three inquiry domains, namely (p. 446):

• Domain 1, the ‘what domain’, explored what needed to be re-designed, in particular, the pedagogical rationale and approach for revising an existing WIL unit to focus on career education curriculum preparation
• Domain 2, the ‘experience domain’ examined student self-perceptions of shifting employability understandings, and then how the notion of ‘learning gains’ led to a strategic push relating to the scaffolding of career education curricula across the Faculty
• Domain 3, the ‘how domain’, is investigated here for the way in which changes relate not only to subject matter enhancement, but also to professional capacity building, and surfacing of wider-reaching programmatic considerations to WIL

Important to note that they found that “WIL affects whole-of-program and even Faculty-wide culture shifts to scaffolded WIL approaches” — “a vertical and horizontal scaffolding of Faculty-wide WIL curriculum enhancement began” and “the project outcomes demonstrate how a vision for a core STEM-centric foundation career education subject led to broader educational reform relating to student employability”.

Young, K., Hermon, K., Cardilini, A. & Binek, C. (2022). Action-research approach: Building capacity and enhancing work-integrated learning curricula. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 445-461. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_445_461.pdf

A taxonomy of undergraduate work-integrated learning practices

The constructed taxonomy (Figure 1 below) is derived from examples and suggestions obtained from four stakeholder groups, say Neall, Cooney and Oppert (2022: 518). The taxonomy maps a range of practices in accordance two axes (or principles for effectiveness); namely vertically ‘task authenticity’ (how closely a task resembles professional level challenges) and horizontally ‘proximity to industry’ (how closely the context resembles a professional environment). The mapped practices may “be conducted virtually, practically and on an individual or group level depending on the resources available”. The four main stakeholder groups include (a) psychology graduates, (b) industry leaders, (c) higher education work-integrated learning staff, and (d) psychology accreditation council staff. The aim of the research had been to better support undergraduate psychology students to successfully enter into meaningful employment.

A cohort of Australian psychology graduates were struggling to make successful transitions to field-specific employment. Although there exists a growing demand for mental health/psychological support, there is also a deficit of appropriately trained professionals. These psychology graduates are a unique allied health cohort in that the undergraduate programme includes understanding of human physical and emotional behaviour and cognition. Graduates may enter a wide range of industry sectors, such as promotion of health, marketing, human resources, coaching, policy making, and community services. However, graduates often struggle to gain meaningful employment. Neall, Cooney and Oppert (2022: 509) believe that a “systematic integration of authentic WIL [work-integrated learning] into undergraduate psychology degrees may offset this lack of industry exposure”. They indicate that WIL has proven to develop of a range of professional and personal outcomes, including increased employability and work readiness through theory-to-practice application and professional skill development, among others.

Work-integrated learning (WIL) encapsulates a wide range of practice-based and experiential learning models and modes, such as work-based learning, project-based work, service learning, volunteering, internships, clinical placements, simulations, fieldwork, and practicums. The quality of WIL is dependent on robust industry partnerships, adequate preparation, active and authentic engagement, sound supervision, feedback, debriefing of students in order to improve work readiness in students.

Neall, A.M., Cooney, O. & Oppert, M.L. (2022). Enhancing employment outcomes for psychology graduates: Developing a taxonomy of work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 509-525. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_509_525.pdf

Work-based working in tandem with long-arm or off-site supervisors

A tandem is generally known as a bicycle for two riders, with two sets of pedals and two saddles, one arranged behind the other. The word originates from Latin, meaning at length or finally.

For quality assurance purposes, it is a requirement of practice learning in Social Work, “that students must be taught and assessed by a qualified social worker” (Henderson, 210: 491). However, “many agencies are unable to comply with these requirements and so withdraw from the pool of available placements, thus reducing the quantity” of opportunities. To overcome the challenge, the off-site model of practice learning has been developed. “This model traditionally involves both a work-based supervisor, who may not be a social worker and is not qualified in practice teaching, and an ‘off-site’ practice teacher, who is a qualified social worker” says Henderson (210: 491, emphasis added). Willing agencies, especially small voluntary agencies with human resource or infrastructure constraints; and those with multi-disciplinary teams; which do not have a pool of available on-site social workers, or practice teachers, utilise the ‘off-site’ model. A tandem bicycle may serve a metaphor for the model.

Varied nomenclature (or terminology) leads to confusion. New or different terminology is often as result of changes in roles and practices; but also as result of new concepts introduced, or new perspectives. In the literature on practice teaching and learning in Social Work, a range of terminology exists, indicate Henderson (210: 490). Examples of terminologies used for work-based supervisors include on-site supervisor, link supervisor, work-based assessor, practice teacher, and practice assessor. Furthermore, “different terms [are] used for practice teachers who are not situated in the placement [but] are ‘long-arm’ and ‘off-site’”, such as off-site practice teacher. Henderson (210: 491) conveys that the Kingston “university practice learning handbook defines the role of the work-based supervisor as ‘the student’s main support within the placement—who should be responsible for the day to day supervision and accountable for the student’s practice’. The role of the off-site practice teacher is to ‘plan practice learning with the student to meet the learning outcomes, provide teaching and take overall responsibility for the assessment’. There is an expectation that both parties will liaise regularly and hold three-way meetings at the beginning, middle and end of the placement.” (emphasis added).

Henderson (210: 493) remarks that some literature evidence suggests that work-based supervisors are perceived as the neglected or ‘unsung’ partners in practice learning. “Some supervisors have commented on having less status, recognition, financial reward and power than off-site practice teachers” she says. Some supervisors observe that the power imbalance is perpetuated through communication essentially with the off-site practice teacher, which result in some work-based supervisors disengaging. The Kingston university handbook does provide guidelines about the roles and responsibilities, and specify that the work-based supervisor should be contributing to the final assessment report and give feedback on the student’s performance. However, roles are not entire clear about the writing of the final report of students.

Henderson, K.J. (2010). Work-based Supervisors: The Neglected Partners in Practice Learning. Social Work Education, 29(5), 490-502. Electronically accessible from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02615470903156352

The long-arm approach to supervision of workplace-based learning

A long-arm (plural long-arms) is a pole-like tool used for handling things too far away to reach. Also a long pole fitted with any of various devices, such as a hook or clamp, for performing tasks otherwise out of reach. Idiomatically it means to influence from a distance; to have far-reaching power; or ‘you can't escape the long arm of the law’, meaning the police will catch you if you have done something illegal. Also referring to a gun with a long barrel, such as rifle or shotgun. Furthermore, in the practice of law long-arm litigation is enabled through long-arm provisions, through long-arm statutes.

The Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, at Canterbury Christ Church University, is one example of many institutions experiencing challenges with regard to practice (or workplace-based learning) placements of students. Demands are continuously increasing, and students are requiring access a widening range and variety of practice areas, whereas opportunities diminish, and workplaces may not necessarily employ registered practitioners. As result, students might not receive appropriate supervision in relation to workplace-based learning (WPBL), which is in conflict to professional statutory body requirements. Similarly, the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of Chester found that “private, independent and voluntary organisations (PIVOs) are a valuable source of these types of practice placements”, but do not necessarily meet the regulatory requirements say Knight, et al. (2022). The solution both institutions introduced is an innovative long-arm practice supervision (LAPS) model. LAPS refers to the process where a suitably qualified supervisor is located at a distance to the practice learning area of the student. The LAPS takes responsibility for supervising and supporting the student, as well as assessing and confirming/verifying the student’s achievement of outcomes. The “model expands and broadens in scope the University’s placement capacity and structures engagement with its PIVOs” say Knight, et al. (2022). The Canterbury Christ Church University ‘Guidelines for Long Arm Practice Supervision’ specify a minimum of at least three (3) face-to-face meetings with the student, of which the specifics are outlined below:

Canterbury Christ Church University. (2018). FPLC 7: Guidelines for Long Arm Practice Supervision. Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Practice Learning Unit, Information for Students, Resources. Electronically accessible from https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/medicine-health-and-social-care/practice-learning-unit/docs/FPLC-7-Guidelines-for-Long-Arm-Practice-Supervision.pdf

Cambridge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/long-arm-of-the-law

Dictionary.com https://www.dictionary.com/browse/long-arm

Knight, K.H.; Whaley, V.; Bailey-McHale, B.; Simpson, A. & Hay, J. (2022). The long-arm approach to placement supervision and assessment. British Journal of Nursing, 31(4), 247. Electronically accessible from https://www.britishjournalofnursing.com/content/comment/the-long-arm-approach-to-placement-supervision-and-assessment

Wiktionary.org https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/long_arm#:~:text=long%20arm%20(plural%20long%20arms,as%20a%20rifle%20or%20shotgun

Preference of students for case studies as experiential learning-based assessments

Melo, Monteza, Colson and Zhang (2022: 15) found that “students have a clear preference for supporting experiential learning-based assessments, such as lab activities and simulations or analysis of case studies, and a strong dislike for assessments that involve supervised and time-constrained assessments (e.g., proctored exams)”. Furthermore, students also value professional presentations and final projects, they indicate. They further say that “most students would prefer assessments that are driving (develop different skills such as creative thinking) and realistic (develop skills transferable to the real world)” (p. 1). They state that “How students perceive assessment methods is critical because it can affect their learning experience and academic achievements”.

Melo, et al. (2022: 12) provide, in Fig 3 below, an intuitive interpretation of their research results. The “results reveal that participating in lab practices and simulations (presented to participants as practical activities that support technical skills rehearsal) and analyzing and discussing case studies (subjects were told that knowledge of the subject, good writing, and coherence are evaluated) were the most and second most desirable options that contribute to student learning”. Professional presentations, involving the use of audio-visual materials to assess knowledge of a topic, shown as the third most important form of assessment. A final project, although it demands more time and effort from students, is considered the fourth-most important form of assessment. The fifth most important is continuous quizzes of open-ended questions.

Melo, et al. (2022: 1) observe that “previous literature has not analyzed, from the student perspective, what methods are preferred for evaluating performance in experiential learning”. They made use of the best-worst scaling approach in two online surveys, involving 218 undergraduate students that were enrolled in experiential learning-based programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. They presented students with a description of several assessment formats and is confident that students understood the options. Table 1 below lists the assessment formats and table 2 the attributes that were identified for the research.

In contrast to rating scales, such as Likert scales, or approve/disapprove questions, Melo, et al. (2022) used the best-worst scaling (BWS) approach to adequately research preferences for various assessments. Unlike conventional approaches, where respondents are required to rank from “most important” to “least important”, BWS requires respondents to make trade-offs among alternatives. BWS further prevents a bias effect, and rankings among best-worst (BW) choices is deemed of lower cognitive difficulty for participants, relative to discrete choice experiments.

Melo, G., Monteza, D., Colson, G., Zhang, Y.Y. (2022). How to assess? Student preferences for methods to assess experiential learning: A best-worst scaling approach. PLoS ONE, 17(10). Electronically accessible from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276745.

The design and implementation of problem-based internships in business education

A framework, “inspired by pedagogical action research to connect [problem-based learning] PBL international internships with international business”, is proposed by Hermann; Amaral and Bossle (2021: 205). They state (p. 206) that the “supervision structure, derived by the hosting organization, the partner university, and the students’ home university, creating a three-party collaboration with the student at the center of the learning process” is an important, if not essential, component of an internship, as learning device. Furthermore, illuminating that internships are resource-intensive, requiring besides supervision backup from the business school concerned, which “must help the student find a placement, offer networking activities for information sharing, provide recognition in the form of study credits, and fund or promote the activities”.

Over the past three decades, since 1994, international internships have been gaining increasing interest among international business education academics, along with a paradigm shift “toward learner-centered education and the enrichment of educational programs by practical knowledge gained through students’ interaction with actors external to the university”, say Hermann; Amaral and Bossle (2021: 203). Factors that fuelled attention include (a) “internships enhance employment potential” and (b) providing “students with intercultural communication, teamwork skills, and increased experience, thereby enhancing the attractiveness of their CVs after graduation”

Hermann; Amaral and Bossle (2021: 203) report on three areas of research pertaining ‘international internships’, namely (a) the global mind-sets and competences acquired by students who participate in such internships, the preferences of employers for candidates with such experience and personal traits, and how business schools can cultivate such through co-curricular activities; (b) “the role of support structures in the development of international internships” that are critical when students work abroad as part of their internship; and (c) “the pedagogical elements of the internship in international business”, initially the focus had been on problem-solving skills, and later on assessment, as well as “the duration and organizational aspects of internships that suit experience-based study programs”. The current debate and “research is concerned with the effectiveness of internships in enhancing the employability of graduates and thus reducing unemployment” (p. 204), the curriculum, and “how to integrate the internships into existing business and management education”.

Within contemporary research are a number of gaps, say Hermann; Amaral and Bossle (2021: 204), among others the “absence of teaching frameworks that can indicate how to organize international internships through a student-centered perspective while also considering resources and the perspectives of both students and hosting organizations”. They posit that by “connecting problem-based learning (PBL) as a potential pedagogical device to international internship design [it] could address this gap while simultaneously tackling a less-studied area – the relationship between the three building blocks of managerial education”, namely ill-defined problems, real-world character, and reflection. PBL promotes both active learning and a student-centred approach they indicate. “Students are introduced to an ill-structured problem that they must solve in groups, relying on their existing knowledge. As the teams work independently, they engage in self-directed learning. During the final phase of group work, the students present their solutions to each other”.

Hermann; Amaral and Bossle (2021: 209) “adapted the Identify, Think, Do, Evaluate, Modify, Disseminate (ITDEM’D) pedagogical action research methodology” for the methodological framework of their research. The circle in the presentation portrays the conventional action research phases, expanded to their version of six steps. The start entails “the [1] identification of an issue or problem that requires attention” (p. 210, number and emphasis added). Once identified, planning (or [2] thinking how) follows, whereafter action is taken ([3] doing). Systematically and ethically observing with the aim of reflecting and making sense ([4] evaluating) and to improve ([5] modifying future practice), whereafter ultimately [6] dissemination of findings.

The findings of the research emphasised the value and frequency of supervision (and coaching) throughout an internship period, and the opportunity to present work in progress and receive feedback thereon. Furthermore, the differentiation of the roles of host organisation supervisors (mentors) versus academic supervisors is significant. The problem-oriented collaboration dynamics is, among others, another significant finding.

Hermann, R.R.; Amaral, M. & Bossle, M.B. (2021). Integrating Problem-based Learning with International Internships in Business Education. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 32(3-4), 202-2. Electronically accessible from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08975930.2022.2033667