Abstract:

Engineering internships or work placements are widely viewed as the best way to develop employability. In response to industry feedback, many higher education institutions have embedded learning for employability or work integrated learning (WIL) in the curriculum. A growing body of work has contributed to our understanding of the field by defining employability, categorising skills required by employers, and developing employability frameworks and models. However, while efforts to embed more WIL have been widespread, progress has been patchy. Employers consistently report a gap between their expectations and new graduate capability. Although internships are common in undergraduate engineering programs, work placements do not always deliver the desired transformation. Several studies have reported that quality of work placements is highly variable, leading to variable learning outcomes for the interns.

Factors that enhance learning outcomes during the internship include systematic discussion with others (Eyler 2001), application of academic learning in the workplace (Eyler 2002) and high quality of supervision (Smith et al. 2014). One concerning finding of this last study was that learning outcomes from low quality placements were similar to undertaking no placement at all.

In that context, a new learning model has been trialled to support engineering students. The Digital Affordance Developmental Learning Model was developed by a trans-disciplinary project team at three Australian universities (RMIT University, Queensland University of Technology and University of Technology Sydney) with industry and academic stakeholders (Peterson, 2018). The model synthesises two theories – developmental learning (Biggs & Collis, 1982) and technology affordances (Best, 2009). This model has then been overlaid with a critical reflection framework (Eyler, 2001, 2002), creating a hybrid approach to address the dual issues of skills gaps and potentially poor quality of placements or internships.

This paper introduces the hybrid model and describes a case study at RMIT University where the new model was applied to enhance engineering interns’ learning during placement. High quality structured academic learning activities were developed for systematic use during the placement, with quasi- synchronous feedback from an academic supervisor. As work placements are remote from the University, all teaching was fully on-line. The foci of the work experience activities reflect the gaps in critical skills identified by industry: reflective practice; communication; and career development management. One activity design is described in detail, to illustrate application of the hybrid model and opportunities to enhance the quality of the interns’ experience including systematic reflection. The designed assessment approaches are also explained.

A longitudinal evaluation is on-going to assess whether this online teaching initiative has been successful, and to conclude if the Digital Affordance Developmental Learning Model has merit in the context of student work placements and associated capability development.

Keywords:

Placement, reflection, affordance model, communication, networking.