Putting WIL on the (round) table: Developing policy and practice at UTAS

Teaching in universities can be a solitary pursuit, with academics designing and delivering learning and teaching experiences, and even units, in relative isolation. Even course design can involve only a small, discipline-specific team who draw on expertise that rarely extends to colleagues outside their specialisation. The challenges and possibilities provided by introduction of work integrated learning to universities offer an unprecedented opportunity to share knowledge and experience across disciplines to enhance student learning. At University of Tasmania (UTAS) a roundtable was convened to allow staff from across the institution to share successes, challenges and resources and then to make recommendations to address identified issues.

There are a number of different models of work integrated learning operating at UTAS. These include internships, work placements, contribution of industry or clinical professionals to coursework delivery and joint projects with industry partners and state government. Interestingly, despite the unique status of UTAS as the single University in the state of Tasmania, many of the identified issues mirrored those found elsewhere in Australia. Finding quality placements and being able to support students on placements, particularly when these were overseas emerged as key concerns. There was also much discussion around integrating learning for students and ensuring consistency of assessment of students on placements. The participants at the roundtable supported a collaborative institution-wide approach to these issues and have proposed a number of initiatives to promote this.