Design principles for electronic work integrated learning (eWIL)

Highlights

• Four design principles for eWIL are provided through a co-design approach.

• New insight around the importance of co-presence for relationship building in eWIL.

• Authenticity in eWIL is extended to incorporate technology platforms used.

• Expert and student perspectives generally align.

Abstract

Technology extends the accessibility of work integrated learning (WIL) experiences in higher education – a key strategic priority for many universities. Despite growth in the implementation of electronic WIL (eWIL) initiatives, to date no studies provide design principles to guide development of these initiatives as called for by the literature. To address this gap, this research uses a co-design approach with sixteen interviews with undergraduate and postgraduate students who had participated in eWIL. Four design principles for eWIL are proposed, including (1) authenticity, (2) integration of technology, (3) effective support processes, and (4) fostering of co-presence and relationship building. The study found student and expert academic insights from extant literature on design principles generally aligned, however, the importance of fostering co-presence and relationship building emerged from the interview data along with an expanded understanding of authenticity within the eWIL context.

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.