Yes. The Teaching Development (TeachDev) program at ACAP is designed to facilitate the development of skilled staff within the College. The program's goal is to support and promote the fulfilment of ACAP's strategic plan on quality teaching principles through a comprehensive program that promotes sharing of best practices amongst academic teaching staff. The intended audience of TeachDev is all ACAP staff who are involved in the delivery of the ACAP programs whether on campus, blended delivery or online. Newly hired full time, fixed-term and sessional staff are expected to complete the Orientation and the workshops on teaching skills. Those who have been with ACAP for at least (an accumulation of) four years have the option to participate in TeachDev activities relevant to their needs. Other examples include paid time allowances to undertake professional practice of a scholarly or research nature, attendance at conferences and other formally recognised professional development activities, innovative projects, upgrading of formal qualifications. ACAP maintains a budget line item dedicated to all forms of professional development. This budget line item is under the delegation of the Dean to ensure alignment to strategic initiatives.
Student Transitions and Employability team members are encouraged to attend CDAA workshops, the NAGCAS conference and AAGE bi-monthly meetings and national conference.
ECU WIL Learning Community meets monthly, with academic and professional staff attending. Topics covered include legal issues, TEQSA guidance notes and risk, as well as sharing examples of good practice around the university in WIL teaching and learning (including international WIL, service learning, and innovative types of WIL practice). Staff members are kept informed of events and professional learning opportunities that take place nationally and internationally.
The ACEN professional association is a valuable resource for staff professional development. http://acen.edu.au/
ECUlture Conferences are a significant professional development opportunity for staff to engage with current research and benchmarking practices.
With regards to professional development opportunities for staff in the area of employability-related activities, the Griffith Graduate Employability Review found that this area could be improved and recommended that the University foster staff capacity building by supporting staff secondments into industry, and promote other ways of supporting staff professional learning for employability e.g., collaboration for co-design of curriculum, learning and teaching grants. At present, Griffith hosts a number of developmental networks and communities of practice for staff who are engaged in employability teaching or teaching support, such as GWIL (the Griffith WIL Network), which provides informal and formal professional learning opportunities for all Griffith staff who work in WIL, and the Alumni staff network, which performs the same function for staff who are responsible for working with Alumni in different capacities. There is also an Innovation and Entrepreneurship community of practice for staff who teach or facilitate
Providing students with professional development opportunities are an important part of many of Griffith's employability initiatives. For example, Griffith Graduates of Influence (GGoI) is an institution-wide employability achievement record (also known as an Employability Award). Within the University currently, there are a large number of examples of effective practice in employability-based assessment, curriculum design, WIL and student support. GGoI is intended to draw these together through the record and recognise achievement of employability learning. The specific aims of the employability achievement record are:
1. To ensure students are able to clearly articulate their understanding and acquisition of the Griffith Graduate Attributes.
2. To support students to reflect upon their development of transferable skills and the activities required for continuing professional development.
3. To encourage students to reflect upon their professional identity and how co-curricular and extra-curricular experiences may support their professional aspirations.
4. To provide opportunities for students to connect with industry and develop professional networks.
GGoI is intended to be consistent in its underlying framework and flexible enough to facilitate each Group to reward relevant, discipline-specific opportunities for students. This work aligns closely with the goal of the Academic Plan 2017-2020 - To prepare career-ready graduates with the capacity to play an influential role in the world. The plan states that: [Griffith will] allow students to maintain a personal record of achievement of graduate attributes, including through extracurricular activities such as part-time employment, volunteering and sport participation. Griffith will develop a credentialing framework to formally recognise students' acquisition of its Graduate Attributes through the ePortfolio (p10).
BusinessPLUS offered by Griffith Business School has been developed to provide students with a range of co-curricular, professional development activities including career management workshops, industry mentoring programs, opportunities for work experience and community volunteering, and leadership opportunities both within and outside of the School. It has been designed to increase student exposure to industry expertise by: (i) leveraging our new executive-in-residence and social entrepreneurs-in-residence programs, and our industry Adjuncts to enrich the learning experience and graduate outcomes; (ii) increasing industry participation in our eCareerCoach program to provide range and diversity in coach profile to accommodate the breadth of disciplines reflected in our degrees; (iii) monitoring and ensuring the participation of industry in the classroom through activities such as but not limited to guest lectures and increased participation in the BusinessPLUS student professional development program.
Yes - the Institute's Scholarship and Research Policy provides avenues for all faculty to engage in scholarship and research activities (as well as traditional professional development) to improve capacity of staff to prepare for and engage in employability related activities. Examples of this may include paid time allowances to undertake professional practice of a scholarly or research nature involving students, attendance at conferences, innovative projects, upgrading of formal qualifications. SAE maintains a budget line item dedicated to all forms of professional development. This budget line item is under the delegation of the Dean to ensure alignment to strategic initiatives.
Professional development opportunities offered include reference to employability such as Sessional Staff Days (e.g. Future capable: Learning and teaching for life and work in the 21st century) and Support For Learning presentations, grants and fellowships (See 3.3b).
As the University supports a collaborative approach to the development of curriculum collaboration and consultation with internal and external stakeholders is a key process to ensure the quality of the curriculum. There is a current initiative to ensure all curriculum design is underpinned by the four curriculum principles by 2021. One-on-one program and course design and renewal support is provided by Academic Developers to ensure that all programs demonstrate and provide evidence as to how they meet the Career and Future Focused principle in the Coursework Curriculum Design Policy.
Evidence:
3.5a Video from Sessional Staff Day Presentation 2017
3.5b Support For Learning Presentation
3.5c Short overview of curriculum design at USC
3.5d Curriculum resource: Evidence examples career and future focused
As noted under Item 2.5, staff choosing to up-skill their qualification through the enrolment in a PhD course are provided with the additional Graduate Certificate of Research and Innovation Management. There is ongoing professional development for specific areas such as:-
UQ has been running the ‘Embedding Employability in the Curriculum staff development course twice yearly since 2016. The Managing WIL staff development course had a brief hiatus in 2018 but will return in 2019 to build staff capacity in setting up and managing work integrated learning courses.
The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) EMPLOY101x - Unlocking your employability, was developed by the Student Employability Centre in 2015, and launched in January 2016. This seven module self-paced course is based on the UQ Employability Framework and is accessible to both UQ staff and students as well as the general population. It has now had over 46,000 enrolled learners from 192 counties. Many UQ staff utilise elements of the course and its accompanying internal resources to teach employability in their courses. EMPLOY101x is also a required activity of several courses.
Students who engage in any activities facilitated by the Student Employability Centre have access to activity specific Employability Workshops to unpack and reflect on their experiences, understand the skills and attributes that they have developed through these experiences, and learn how to effectively communicate their employability to an employer. These workshops are also available on request to any other area of the university, and are regularly provided to mentoring program participants, honours and higher degree by research cohorts.
The Director, Student Employability, has also provided presentations on employability at a number of conferences and networking events for industry organisation including:
1. Digital Literacy in a Time of Digital Disruption, UQ Learning and Teaching Week, Brisbane
2. What's Learning Got to do with it? Tertiary Education Management Conference, Perth
3. LGBTI+ Perspectives on Employability PwC Diversity and Inclusion Breakfast, Brisbane
4. Designing and Implementing an Employability Framework to Enhance Student Outcomes Student Retention and Success Summit, Melbourne
5. What's Learning Got to do with it? Disconnecting Employability from Careers National Association of Prospective Student Advisors (NAPSA), Fremantle
Professional development opportunities offered include reference to employability such as Sessional Staff Days (e.g. Future capable: Learning and teaching for life and work in the 21st century) and Support For Learning presentations, grants and fellowships (See 3.3b).
As the University supports a collaborative approach to the development of curriculum collaboration and consultation with internal and external stakeholders is a key process to ensure the quality of the curriculum. There is a current initiative to ensure all curriculum design is underpinned by the four curriculum principles by 2021. One-on-one program and course design and renewal support is provided by Academic Developers to ensure that all programs demonstrate and provide evidence as to how they meet the Career and Future Focused principle in the Coursework Curriculum Design Policy.
Evidence:
3.5a Video from Sessional Staff Day Presentation 2017
3.5b Support For Learning Presentation
3.5c Short overview of curriculum design at USC
3.5d Curriculum resource: Evidence examples career and future focussed
Learning Advisors (Careers) - have all been trained in the use of relevant career technologies such as CareerHub, AbIntegro, InterviewStream. Staff also participate in PD activities organized by professional bodies such as NAGCAS, AAGE, VicWise.
Student Mentors - that are employed by VU are offered a range of induction and continuing training throughout their tenure. At the beginning of each semester, they are trained on topics such as role expectations, boundaries, communication skills, and administrative process. During the semesters, Student Mentors are asked to complete online VU Develop modules (Child Safety; Health, Safety and Wellbeing Awareness; Eliminate Workplace Discrimination and Harassment; Bullying Prevention; and Disability Awareness) as well as to attend face-to-face workshops (Communication Skills: Active Listening and Questioning; Motivations; Dealing with Stressed Students: Empathy and a non-judgemental attitude; Communication Skills: Working with international students; Dealing with Stressed Students: Role Boundaries).
We have moved to align Careers Education Consultants with schools/disciplines to co-design of discipline specific employability plans. Training has also been developed/is in development for staff wanting to manage our central online careers education suite. Learning Transformations has been offering some great employability PD through the 21C Future of Work series.
Yes, but with more to do (particularly for staff).
Students:
From the application process, potential students are made aware of the Industry Training Program being a nine month, full-time placement 'block' that UG students undertake in the middle of their program before returning to campus to complete their program. Likewise, potential PG students are made aware that they undertake a 6 month placement in their final semester. The ICMS industry focus is also widely shared including our industry speakers, industry site visits, industry case studies and industry inspired lecturers that present across all course levels.
Upon entering, all UG students are introduced to the Industry Training Program/ Workplace Culture/ First impressions/Interview techniques via a compulsory non-award subject (ICMS 101). The term prior to the Industry Training Placement, all students undertake Placement preparation workshops (including mock interviews with WIL staff) via compulsory non-award subjects (i.e. IND200). As the Industry Training Placement period represents compulsory subjects in all UG and PG courses, all students have access to the subject outlines and the LMS which contains tools and resources students need to help them develop their knowledge before, during and after the Placement period. An Industry Training handbook is also available to all students. Industry Training progress visits by WIL staff (undertaken with employers at the half way point of a student placement) allows a further development opportunity for students. On-going contact with students is also maintained during the placement period via the LMS, phone and email which allows for support and continued guidance. Students are also presented with on-going employability activities at the subject level including industry site visits and in-class presentations by industry representatives.
Employers:
Employers interested in engaging a students on a WIL Placement are inducted via a quality assurance process which includes a site visit by WIL staff and related contact to communicate expectations. Industry Training progress visits by WIL staff (undertaken with employers at the half way point of a student placement) allows further information sharing with employers. On-going contact with employers is also maintained during the placement period via phone and email. Employers also have access to the Industry Training Handbook. Employers are also invited to numerous on-campus functions and networking activities and also are involved in course development activities and feedback.
Staff:
The WIL Office presents to staff each term on employability activities. The Industry Training Placements data (i.e. participating employers) is also shared with staff each term. Employer / industry feedback is directed to appropriate faculty members and internal governance structures for consideration i.e. to enhance student skill development as needed via subject learning outcomes. An Industry Training handbook is available to all staff. The recent appointment of a full-time Human Resource Manager at ICMS (for the first time) will see the development of a more structured onboarding process for new staff. The development of a new onboarding process, allows the WIL area to better inform and prepare staff to assist ICMS' employability focus.
Macquarie does provide some professional development opportunities to improve capacity of staff and students (see also, Alumni below), to prepare and engage in employability related activities.
PACE
As noted earlier, the University (via PACE) is a member of the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) and WACE. Membership of both professional associations enables PACE unit convenors and staff to participate in professional development opportunities to improve their capacity to prepare students and partners for employability related activities.
PACEWise (an online resource available through iLearn, the University’s LMS) includes essential information and resources to communicate with students about how PACE fits into their degree program, the operational requirements of their PACE unit, and how to get the most out their PACE experience and boost their employability.
Careers and Employment Service
The Careers and Employment Services team are members of NAGCAS (National Association of Career Advisory Services) and AAGE (Australian Association of Graduate Employers). Through these memberships the team engages in current discourse, best practices and service standards for Careers practitioners.
All students have access to the Careers and Employment Service and frequent the services with queries about employment opportunities, resume and interview preparation, and other related information. In addition to 1:1 sessions with students, the team provide a range of general and tailored professional development activities as part of Careers Fairs, Speaker series, support for engagement and participation in external Pitch and Entrepreneur-based initiatives. The benefit of this programming is usually shared by academic and professional staff engages in the exchanges.
Distributed capacity building
The distributed models of both PACE and Careers and Employment Services, with staff based in each Faculty, enables the sharing and support for embedding best practices, and student engagement in those activities. It should be noted that the operationalisation of these structures in each Faculty varies considerably. While PACE is mandatory and deeply embedded in practices, Careers activities are not, and the practitioners rely on early adopters of the employability agenda to get traction with collaborative programming.
The Learning Innovation Hub
The Learning Innovation Hub (LIH) also plays a major role in professional development opportunities to improve capacity of staff. Specifically, the LIH Strategy team are members of:
The Council of Australasian University Leaders in Learning and Teaching (CAULLT, formerly CADAD), the peak professional body for leaders in University learning and teaching whose responsibilities include academic development, and
The Australasian Council on Open, Distance and e-Learning (ACODE), the peak Australasian organisation for universities engaged or interested in technology enhanced learning and teaching.
In a similar way to the PACE and Careers and Employment Services teams, LIH team attendance at conferences and workshops provide current and cutting-edge information about best practices as well as networking opportunities to exchange ideas and partnerships. The intention is that University representatives then ‘bring this knowledge back’ to the campus and share learnings through newsletters, blogs, workshops, seminars and other events.
Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellowships
Between 2017 - 2018, 160 Macquarie staff have been formally recognised or are in the process of applying for recognition for their professional practice, through the HEA global fellowship program. Fellowships are awarded to academics, University teachers and higher education professionals who successfully apply to have their practice assessed against the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF), an international standards framework for higher education teaching and learning that acknowledges the variety and quality of teaching, learning and assessment practices that support and underpin student learning including employability.
Communities of Practice:
The Peer Review Community of Practice (PR CoP) at Macquarie meets to discuss various practices and methods that fit under the umbrella of peer review in relation to teaching and curriculum, including: observation of teaching, review of curriculum artefacts and learning design, moderation of assessment, among others. All of these can be (and are) used for both summative and formative purposes, although some lend themselves more effectively to one than the other. As such, they inform both quality assurance and quality enhancement at several levels – individual, unit, course and institution.
The PACE Community of Practice (CoP) has been running successfully since 2010. It's a group made up of practitioners, researchers, professional staff and HDR students who meet several times a year to discuss a variety of academic and operational issues related to PACE, WIL and employability more generally. CoPs have long been recognised as valuable form of collective learning; a way to share ideas and strategies, develop solutions to problems, and generate innovations. The PACE CoP is particularly useful to those convening PACE units for the first time but is open to anyone with an interest in WIL. Members value the group as a forum to promote discussion, share experiences, collaborate, explore ideas, test resources and solicit feedback.
Some academics are members of the Developing EmployABILITY CoP (Led by Dawn Bennett Curtin University) which provides current practice, research and access to resources, and also participate in other forums that speak more specifically to their disciplinary area (e.g. the Australian Council of Science Deans, which has a strong emphasis on WIL in STEM).
STARS Conferences
Several Macquarie staff attend the annual STARS conference spanning the Student and Registrar, Careers and Employment Services, PACE, Campus Engagement and other teams across campus. The STARS conference provides the opportunity to disseminate and discuss current research, good practice, emerging initiatives and leading-edge ideas that are aimed at enhancing students tertiary learning experiences. In 2018, Macquarie University won best poster based on the presentation of our Student Experience Map: designed to give students an overview of the services that are available to them with the intent to help them adjust and navigate the new environment.
Yes, there are some award winning practitioners in this area at Massey University sharing their knowledge and experience widely (see attached papers on Work Integrated Learning best practice) but this is not yet built into the general induction process.
Although this is not considered across all departments, the Industry Engagement Discipline staff all have training within the induction and professional development plans to improve staff capacity to engage in employability related activities
The careers service teaches a module on WIL, employability and career development learning in the postgraduate course: Student Learning in Higher Education. This is a postgraduate course which is a part of the Graduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching and Master of Education (Higher Education). A high percentage of students in this degree are UNSW academic staff.
In 2017 the University established a cross-institutional Work Integrated Learning Taskforce to assess the nature and extent of WIL across the University and to make recommendations for future development and improvement. The WIL Taskforce met between May 2017 and November 2017 and through their meetings, a planning day, and associated work, created a suite of preliminary documentation on WIL. The authors of this report have sought to distill these into key recommendations for consideration.
1. Develop definitional clarity in relation to WIL and related terms (e.g. experiential learning).
2. Ensure a consistent approach to WIL arrangements, including curriculum design, delivery and supervision.
3. Create a central position on employability assigned to support and quality assure employability initiatives across the University.
4. Update the UTAS WIL Policy and Procedure noting the documents were due for revision 2014 and conflict with the 2025 Curriculum White Paper.
No, but staff are able to participate in ACEN events and other external professional development, both suitable for academic and professional staff.
Curtin is fortunate that many staff across the university are nationally and internationally recognised as active researchers in WIL and employability and leaders in the field. These staff remain connected with global and national consortia and willingly share their time and expertise. Workshops, webinars and mentoring (formal and informal) are available to Curtin staff interested in building capacity to provide quality WIL and employability experiences for students through robust industry/community partnerships. These events are facilitated by a range of organisations including the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN), the Australian Technology Network, and other universities. In addition targeted professional development activities are offered internally at the Curtin University, generally funded through national research projects. Resources including the Fieldwork Manual http://ctl.curtin.edu.au/wil/local/docs/Fieldwork_Manual.pdf and contemporary research articles are available on the WIL website (http://ctl.curtin.edu.au/wil/ To date the institution has not funded induction or professional development opportunities to improve capacity of staff to engage in employability.
There are currently no explicit professional development opportunities for this purpose.
There is no institutional approach for induction or professional development to support staff to prepare for and engage in employability related activities
BUT
There are a range of professional development initiatives across the university to support staff in developing their, however, this is difficult to define/quantify
Faculty:
Careers & Employability
Research & Innovation - ReDTrain (Researcher Development and Training): RedTrain eBulletin highlighting training for staff and students : https://www.usq.edu.au/research/EVENTS
Research Events:
https://www.usq.edu.au/research/events/2018/09/eviss-inger-mewburn-sept-spr