What the project is?
Building on Dundee’s Institutional Employability Strategy the institution plans to use the opportunity provided by the Strategic Excellence Initiative to develop and pilot guidelines to identify and capture the learning gain of students who have been offered work-based learning opportunities. This protocol will take the form of:
- Stage 1 - the student conducts self-evaluation and objective setting prior to engagement with a placement/internship opportunity
- Stage 2 - the student records learning experiences during the placement/internship using a reflective tool (diary or blog)
- Stage 3 - capture of learning gain
The pilot will also allow them to develop and explore the conceptual ‘learning gain’ model along with exploring what student institutional and employer perspectives on what learning from work placements look like currently. This in turn will help the institution to advance models of what this will look like in the future.
What the project hopes to achieve?
Results from the project would ensure that the learning is captured shared and subsequently embedded within our curriculum in a way that would inform continuing developments in this area and enhance the student experience. We will take an inclusive approach that would enable all students at the University of Dundee to benefit regardless of their subject of study or ability to engage directly with placement opportunities.
Due to the nature of the work placement/ internship as a concept learning from the project would be generalisable and transferable across both the University and the wider sector. Specific learning could inform the work of:
- Careers Service colleagues
- Disciple-based programmes that offer work-placements/internships
- Institutional employability and enterprise strategies
Specific learning will contribute to a more in depth understanding of the value of learning gain through work based learning for current and prospective employers who offer work-placement and internship opportunities.
