Design principles for electronic work integrated learning (eWIL)
Introduction
The introduction of technology into work integrated learning (WIL) experiences has the potential to be one of the most important modern advancements in higher education. WIL incorporates a range of approaches that integrate theory with workplace practice (Patrick et al., 2008; Smith, 2012). Electronic WIL (eWIL) is defined as the ‘use of technology to support the administrative processes or students of WIL and/or deliver entirely online or blended WIL experiences’ (Schuster & Glavas, 2017, p. 65). Using technology to deliver WIL experiences can remove geographical barriers (Holmes, Kinslow, & Pope, 2012) and reduce its associated time and financial costs for universities and students (Peach, Gomez, & Ruinard, 2013) while maintaining positive learning outcomes (Fong & Sims, 2010). These benefits may increase the accessibility of WIL and its transferability to larger cohorts (Landorf, Brewer, Maund, & Ward, 2015; Peach et al., 2013). This is significant, as research shows that WIL significantly enhances graduate employment and, as such, many universities have enthusiastically embraced it (Silva et al., 2018).
A recent systematic literature review highlights that extant research, while relatively nascent, generally provides support for the use of eWIL but highlights that further investigation of eWIL design is necessary (Schuster & Glavas, 2017). Existing studies, for example, diligently describe the approach taken to eWIL and subsequently report on the outcomes of that approach (e.g. Fong & Sims, 2010; Holmes et al., 2012). However, to date no research integrates the findings of previous research to propose design principles that can be used to guide development of eWIL experiences. This is important given design principles, or fundamental guidelines for design, have been shown to improve service design (Russell-Bennett, Glavas, Previte, Härtel, & Smith, 2017). A further consideration is that existing recommendations are largely derived from educators rather than students. This could lead to eWIL that is expert-driven in design. Research in service design criticises such a top-down approach on the basis that it may not adequately consider service users' – in this case students' – specific needs and requirements (e.g. Wetter-Edman et al., 2014). Given learning experiences are co-created between educators and students (Cook-Sather, 2014), limited involvement of students in eWIL design is likely to have a negative impact on eWIL outcomes given the integral role of students in co-creating the experience. On this basis, the research aims to address the following two research questions: (1) What do students consider to be key for the design of eWIL?, and (2) How aligned are student views with the expert views identified in the literature on the design of eWIL?
One way in which to ensure that student voices are adequately represented is to involve students in the design of eWIL experiences. One such approach is to ‘co-design’, which combines the knowledge of service users into their needs with professional or expert knowledge (Trischler, Pervan, Kelly, & Scott, 2018). Through co-design, students can provide insights into their needs and contribute to ideas for eWIL beyond those which would be achieved through expert-design alone. Co-design has been shown to result in improved service outcomes relative to services designed by experts alone (Trischler et al., 2018). As such, this research aims to develop design principles for eWIL using a co-design process, combining insights from students who have participated in an eWIL program with insights from extant research in this domain. This is a unique approach to furthering understanding of eWIL design, as called for by the literature (Schuster & Glavas, 2017). In addition, this research contributes to the contemporary topic of examining co-design as an approach to enhance ‘mindful service experiences that are beneficial to the recipients’ (Ranaweera & Sigala, 2015, p. 6). It will provide actionable design principles that can be used by educators to design eWIL experiences. This is achieved using interviews with students who completed an eWIL unit at either undergraduate or postgraduate level within the business faculty of an Australian university. The paper reviews recent literature on pedagogical practices in eWIL, outlines the adopted methodology, presents the results, and discusses the findings.
Section snippets
Definition of eWIL
WIL is described as a partnership among students, educational institutions, and industry (Raelin, 1997). Patrick et al. (2008, p. 3) define WIL as ‘an umbrella term for a range of approaches and strategies that integrate theory with the practice of work within a purposefully designed curriculum’. WIL can vary considerably, including clinical or other professional placements, internships, workplace projects and practicums (Patrick et al., 2008). Technology, such as the Internet, has the
Research design
This research employed a qualitative co-design approach using semi-structured in-depth interviews to develop design principles for eWIL. We combine insights from students who have participated in eWIL with insights from existing literature identified in the resourcing stage of the co-design framework employed by this research. During the recruitment stage, it was necessary to identify and contact the academic coordinators of eWIL units to gain their agreement to participate in the project. We
Findings and discussion
The purpose of this study was to develop principles for designing eWIL by integrating student perspectives gained from interviews with expert insight from the eWIL literature. Four design principles were identified for eWIL. The data supporting these design principles are now outlined and discussed.
Theoretical and practical implications
In answering research question one, the research identified four principles for designing eWIL experiences in higher education from students' perspective: (1) authenticity, (2) integration of technology, (3) effective support processes, and (4) fostering of co-presence and relationship building. The primary theoretical contribution is that it addresses a call for further research on the design of eWIL (Schuster & Glavas, 2017). Specifically, the research contributes theoretically by collating
Limitations and future research
The findings of this research should be considered in light of specific limitations. First, although this study synthesizes research on eWIL across a variety of disciplines, the primary research within this study was conducted within a business school setting. As such, future research is needed to validate the fourth design principle, which was derived from the primary research, across different student populations and higher education settings. Further participants were selected based on their
Funding details
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Declaration of competing interest
None.
Charmaine Glavas is a Senior Lecturer at the QUT Business School. Actively researching within the marketing, international business and higher education fields of research, Dr. Glavas has published her research in high quality international journals, including: Educational Research Review, Journal of Marketing Management, International Business Review, Journal of International Entrepreneurship, International Journal of Tourism Research and Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development.
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Charmaine Glavas is a Senior Lecturer at the QUT Business School. Actively researching within the marketing, international business and higher education fields of research, Dr. Glavas has published her research in high quality international journals, including: Educational Research Review, Journal of Marketing Management, International Business Review, Journal of International Entrepreneurship, International Journal of Tourism Research and Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. She is also an Editorial Advisory Board Member for the Review of International Business and Strategy. Her most recent work in the higher education field examines the influence of technology on work integrated learning, and student motivation.
Lisa Schuster is a Senior Lecturer at the QUT Business School. Dr. Schuster focuses on advancing understanding of behavior at the intersection of technology, the individual, and society, with a particular interest in how technology can improve well-being. She has published her work in high quality peer-reviewed journals, including European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing and Journal of Marketing Management. Recently, she has conducted studies that explore the use of ‘co-design’ as a method to design credence services that use technology, including education, and has also reviewed existing evidence of the efficacy of electronic work integrated learning strategies, which has been published in Educational Research Review.