When lockdowns unlock flexible WIL: the case study of Univative’s digital transformation

Ms Serene Lin-Stephens1, Ms Lena  Corzo Neisser1, Ms Justine McKenna1

1Macquarie University, North Ryde, Australia

As COVID variants evolve, the agility of WIL delivery becomes paramount. At a time when lockdowns and border restrictions disrupt WIL arrangements, flexible WIL activities ensure the continuity of learning to fulfil curriculum requirements and employability development.
Here we present the case study of Univative, an inter-university industry project competition, supported by a consortium of universities to upscale, rather than downsize, its delivery since the pandemic. Univative provides a common ground for international students to network with local peers and industry partners. As lockdowns continue, Univative’s new delivery model unlock the possibilities of cross border collaboration. The digital experience has also enabled the visibility of learning outcomes and reusability of formative and summative learning artifacts.
Participants of this session will be taken on a journey of Univative’s 2020 digital transformation which reduced geo-spatial barriers and increased the intensity of collaboration between students and project partners across Australia and stranded overseas. Participants will experience the student journey of onboarding, trainings, meetings, communication, work submissions, judging, Q&As, award ceremony and debriefing.
Brief examples of the quality of student work and learning journey will be showcased. Participants will also be presented with qualitative and quantitative data of student skills improvement and industry partners’ evaluation.
International education practitioners wanting to explore flexible, inclusive, collaborative and technologically enhanced WIL are encouraged to attend this session.


Biography:

Serene Lin-Stephens is an educator and researcher in vocational counselling and career/work-integrated learning. She is passionate about inter-discipline and inter-cultural WIL activities that meet diverse student and industry needs.

Since setting up Univative at Sydney in 2011, Serene has collaborated with colleagues from ten universities, StudyNSW, NAGCAS, and industry partners to provide international students with a meaningful way to work with their domestic peers. With colleagues’ support, Serene led a timely digital transformation of Univative in 2020 for 312 students to participate, at a time when other programs were cancelled or postponed. This digital transformation sustained Univative again in 2021 for 388 students when further lockdowns became widespread with new COVID variants.

Date

Dec 01 2021
Expired!

Time

4:20 pm - 4:40 pm
Category