Associate Professor Jill Franz

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A Pedagogical Model of Higher Education/Industry
Engagement for Enhancing Employability and
Professional Practice

Associate Professor Jill Franz
2
A Pedagogical Model of Higher Education/Industry
Engagement for Enhancing Employability and
Professional Practice

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Employability skills are the skills required not
only to gain employment, but also to progress
within an enterprise so as to achieve
ones potential and contribute successfully to
enterprise strategic directions

(Department of Education,
Employment and Workplace Relations, 2002)
Generic capabilities initiative/enterprise
communication teamwork technology problem
solving self-management planning and
organisation learning
Attitudes loyalty commitment honesty and
integrity enthusiasm reliability
personal presentation commonsense positive
self-esteem motivation sense of humour
balanced attitude to life and work ability to
deal with pressure adaptability
Employability skills
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Citing Harvey et al (1997), Orrell (2004)
describes how recent research ...illustrates
that students who had undertaken a
work-integrated learning experience or a
skill-development component during their course
of study were more likely than others to have
reflected positively on their university
experience and to have achieved employment within
their chosen field (p. 1).
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Does our current understanding adequately
represent the potential of the work place as a
learning environment, in other words, is there
more to know especially when business and work
environments are rapidly changing? If there is,
what can we do as educators and researchers to
develop a more comprehensive understanding and
remain up-to-date with the emerging demands and
possibilities of practice? Are our current
academic systems, approaches and
academic/practice relationships adequate in
realising the potential of work environments as
learning environments? If not, how can we
respond to this perceived need?
Questions about the work environment as a
learning environment
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Teaching is collaborative negotiated facilitative
democratic empowering transformative Learning
is meta-cognitively and experientially driven
Knowledge is homogeneous academic fixed hierarchi
cal predictable intentional replicable prolonged s
tudent-focused Learning is cognitively driven
learning for action
pedagogy
WIL partnership learning on action through
reflection learning on learning
Knowledge is heterogeneous transient socially
accountable reflexive localised unpredictable imm
ediate unique Learning is behaviourally driven
practice learning in action
Discovery Teaching Application Integration
With our industry partners we aim to better
exploit the nature of these three
environments/contexts - physically, culturally,
and experientially capitalising on their
potential to complement each other.
Conceptual model emphasising the unique as well
as integrative potential of WIL
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• An opportunity for academic and practice-based
• professional learning to occur together as part
• of the students formal course of study.
• A vehicle for building relationships with
  industry
• and the professions leading to more meaningful
• engagement and outcomes for all stakeholders.

academia
WIL
Activities undertaken in practice are the
impetus, focus and space for a process of
inquiry and discovery providing for generic,
attitudinal and discipline-specific learning.
practice
What is WIL in the Faculty of Built Environment
Engineering?
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Work Integrated Learning 1 (BEB701) Work
Integrated Learning 2 (BEB702) Work
Integrated Learning 3 BEB703) Work
Integrated Learning 4 (BEB704) Work
Integrated Learning 5 (BEB705) Work
Integrated Learning 6 (BEB706) Work Integrated
Learning 7 (BEB707) Work Integrated Learning
8 (BEB708)
context of work culture of practice integration
of academic and practice knowledge
WIL Minor 1
managing learning organisational
knowledge/ organisational learning research-based
practice practice-based research
WIL Minor 2
life-long learning
WIL units
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Engagement
Design
Jack Williamson Rafael Gomez
Curriculum
Urban Development
WIL Director
Eric Too
Jill Franz
Delivery
Engineering
WIL Officer
John Edwards Cliff Button (Civil)
Michael Plakalovic
WIL organisational structure
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After working a couple of days a week for about
seven weeks now I have found myself more
proficient in my job than I thought I would. I
also found myself being able to talk to rather
important clients quite easily, finding that most
of them are exactly the same as me. I have
learnt the need for professionalism in all my
work, from my speech to the accuracy of my work
and even the way I dress during work. I have
learnt more both in my field and myself than I
could have ever expected at the start of my
working experience. Spatial
Science student, BEB 701, 2007
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A Pedagogical Model of Higher Education/Industry
Engagement for Enhancing Employability and
Professional Practice Questions?

Associate Professor Jill Franz