Abstract:

This research paper analyses lecturers’ assessment practices during students’ work-integrated learning period. Through conducting this analysis it is possible to better understand what knowledge and practice are seen as important by lecturers, as well as the extent to which work and university knowledge and practices are integrated. Examining how learning is assessed thus provides information about how the curriculum could be transformed to enhance student learning.

There is generally an increasing interest in the vocational aspects of higher education, including work integrated learning. Yet there is often an assumption that students will make connections between these two sites, but this is often not the case; connecting university knowledge and practices to that of working life thus remains a vexing problem. In this research we examine this connectivity with a focus on WIL (Work Integrated Learning) assessment as this may highlight what lecturers’ judge as important knowledge. The lens for examining assessment is that of the Legitimation Code Theory concept of Autonomy codes. Whereas we find that work and university practices and knowledge may be quite well connected, our theoretical lens reveals an unexpected outlying field that may be less well connected to disciplinary knowledge, that of writing and presentation practices judged as valuable by the lecturers. The paper suggests how these two fields, general writing and presentation and disciplinary knowledge and practices, may be better integrated in order to transform the curriculum for the purpose of improving student learning.

Keywords:

WIL, assessment, Legitimation Code Theory, Autonomy.