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Employability and work-integrated learning research
Developing and championing work-integrated learning approaches
The Work-Integrated Learning Hub conducts research to elevate the University of Sydney Business School to a world-class institution for work-integrated learning.
About us
The award-winning Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Hub evaluates and designs work-based learning and teaching for the future of work.
We engage in employability research with a focus on higher education teaching and learning that closely aligns with labour market forecasts for the future of jobs. This includes the development of graduate qualities, employability skills and professional skills, vital assets for ensuring students have the right skills to enter the job market.
Our research focus areas are:
- Higher education teaching and learning
- Edutech and badging
- Blended learning
- Short-term mobility
- Employability
The WIL Hub partners with industry across the globe. Our research influences the design and delivery of work-integrated learning programs within the University and beyond.
Currently we are undertaking a large international research project that focuses on employability development for business students in China, Australia and the Philippines.
Our award-winning team
- Associate Professor Rachael Hains-Wesson
- Dr Kaiying Ji
- Professor Eliza Wu
In 2022 the WIL Hub team's teaching efforts were recognised with a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in the 2021 Australian Awards for University Teaching by Universities Australia.
The WIL Hub was also nominated for the 2022 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Educational Engagement and Innovation at the University of Sydney.
Our research projects
- 2023-2024 HERDSA grant to undertake an evaluative educational investigation into the benefits of a “fun” framework as a key ingredient to online team-based, collaborative international research endeavors in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
- Members: Associate Professor Rachael Hains-Wesson, Director Work-Integrated Learning University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney, Anne-Marie Fannon, Director Work-Learning Institute, University of Waterloo and Borghild Brekke Hauglid, Lecturer in Organisation and Leadership, School of Communication, Leadership and Marketing, Kristiania University College, Oslo, Norway will co-lead the investigation.
- 2022-2024 Research Seminar on Work-Integrated Learning at Elon University's Center for Engaged Learning.
- Associate Professor Rachael Hains-Wesson's participation and research will focus on the barriers, opportunities, and employability skill development stories about domestic and international students’ work-integrated learning experiences in placement/internship outcomes and at a global scale.
- Hains-Wesson, R., Ji, K., and Wu Berberich, B. (2021). A White Paper for Australian and Chinese Employability Professionals: Employability and Career Development.
- China Studies Centre, Research on the Global Issues in China, (2019). Bing Wu Berberich and Rachael Hains-Wesson, Employability of Chinese and Australian Business Students, p. 23, Sydney, NSW Australia.
- Hains-Wesson, R., and Ji, K. (2018). Business students' perceptions of completing teamwork as part of post-practicum learning experiences, in Augmenting students' learning through post-practicum educational processes. Office of Learning and Teaching Development Grant, Canberra, Australia.
Our publications
Hains-Wesson, R., Le Roux, S., & Tognolini, J. (2023). An authentic assessment rubric tool: A teacher-support artefact to improve assessment design using a robust design methodology, Western Australia Institute for Educational Research Annual Conference Proceedings, Perth, Western Australia, [Accepted Conference Paper, https://waier.org.au/archives/forums/2023/abstracts-2023.html].
Hains-Wesson, R., Fannon, A. M., & Brekke Hauglid, B. (2023). Having Fun: Successfully Navigating an International Research Seminar in Work-integrated Learning. In K. E. Zegwaard, J. Fleming, & M. Eady (Eds.), Refereed Proceedings of the 23rd WACE World Conference on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, 2023, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (pp. 1-6). WACE Inc. [Accepted Conference Paper, https://waceinc.org/Past-Conferences].
Grant, G., Dowson, M., & Hains-Wesson, R. (2023). Developing innovative problem-solving skills through applying an ambidexterity framework to work-based scenarios. In K. E. Zegwaard, J. Fleming, & M. Eady (Eds.), Refereed Proceedings of the 23rd WACE World Conference on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, 2023, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (pp. 1-6). WACE Inc. [Accepted Conference Paper, https://waceinc.org/Past-Conferences].
Le Roux, S., Hains-Wesson, R., & Tognolini, J. (2023). An authentic assessment rubric tool: A teacher-support artefact to improve assessment design using a robust design methodology: A roundtable discussion workshop, Sydney Educational Measurement and Assessment Symposium, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia [Accepted Conference Paper, Sydney Educational Measurement and Assessment Symposium 2023 - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences].
Grant, G., Dowson, M. (2022). Developing ambidexterity to enhance employability. The 12th International Researching Work & Learning Conference, Canada: RWIL. RWL12 Collection of Papers (revised)(Vol_2).pdf - Google Drive
Hains-Wesson, R. (2022). A philosophy of practice to inform team-teaching: A blended auto-ethnographical account, Issues in Educational Research, 32(4), 1403-1420.
McKenzie, S., Hains-Wesson R., Bangay, S., & Bowtell, G. (2022). A Team-Teaching Approach for Blended Learning: An Experiment, Studies in Higher Education, 47(4), 860-874, doi: 10.1080/03075079.2020.1817887.
Hains-Wesson, R. (2021). Something went terribly wrong: Failing successfully, Higher Education Research & Development.
Hains-Wesson, R., Cejnarb, L., Ji, K., Shahbazid, M., and Luksich, M. (2021). Work-Integrated Education: Improving placement pedagogy and practice, in Handbook of Teaching and Learning at Business Schools: A Practice-Based Approach, (eds.,), Thomsen, T. U., Lindgreen, A., Kjærgaard, A., Rosier, E., & Tuncdogan, A. Edward Elgar, UK.
Hains-Wesson, R., & Ji K. (2021). An interdisciplinary, short-term mobility, work-integrated learning experiment: Education for change, Issues in Educational Research, Volume 31 Issue 3, 800-815.
McKenzie, S., Hains-Wesson R., Bangay, S., & Bowtell, G. (2020). A Team-Teaching Approach for Blended Learning: An Experiment, Studies in Higher Education.
Hains-Wesson, R., & Ji K. (2020). Students’ perceptions of an interdisciplinary global study tour: Uncovering inexplicit employability skills, Higher Education Research & Development, Volume 39 Issue 4, 657-671.
Hains-Wesson R., & Ji K. (2020). Developing Self-Confidence: Students’ Perceptions of Post-practicum Project Teamwork. In: Billett S., Orrell J., Jackson D., Valencia-Forrester F. (eds) Enriching Higher Education Students' Learning through Post-work Placement Interventions. Professional and Practice-based Learning, vol 28. Springer, Cham.
Hains-Wesson, R., Pollard, V., Kaider, F., & Young, K. (2019). STEM academic teachers’ experiences of undertaking authentic assessment-led reform: A mixed method approach, Studies in Higher Education, 45(9), 1797-1808.
Wakeling, L., Aldred, P., & Hains-Wesson, R. (2018). ePortfolios and Reflective Practice For Food Science Students, Journal of Food Science Education, 17(2), 52-59.
Pollard, V., Hains-Wesson, R., & Young, R. (2017): Creative teaching in STEM, Teaching in Higher Education.
Hains-Wesson, R. & Appleby, M. (2017). A perspective on third-party providers and study tour programs: A mixed method study, Issues in Educational Research, 27(3), 435-452.
Kaider, F., Hains-Wesson, R., & Young, K. (2017). Practical typology of authentic WIL learning activities and assessments, Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, Special Issue, 18(2), 153-165.
Hains-Wesson, R. (2017). Why aren’t we talking? Third-party providers and mobility programs, Higher Education Research and Development, 36(4), 866-869.
Hains-Wesson, R., Pollard, V. & Campbell, A. (2017). A three-stage process of improvisation for teamwork: Action research, Issues in Educational Research, 27(1): 69-85.
Hains-Wesson, R., & Young, K. (2017). A collaborative autoethnography study to inform the teaching of reflective practice in STEM, Higher Education Research & Development, 36(2), 297-310.
Workshops and events
The University of Sydney Business School Learning and Teaching Forum 2023
When: 31 May 2023
Where: Abercrombie Building, University of Sydney
Title: Making space to share the joy of learning and teaching
Presenters: Vallis, C., Hains-Wesson, R., & Petersen, S
2023 WACE World Conference
When: 28-30 June 2023
Where: World Association of Cooperative Education (WACE) World Conference, University of Waterloo, Canada, in-person presentation
Title: Having Fun: Navigating an International Research Seminar in Work-integrated Learning
Presenters: Rachael Hains-Wesson, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Anne-Marie Fannon, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada and Borghild Brekke Hauglid, Kristiania University College, Oslo, Norway
Sydney Educational Measurement and Assessment Symposium 2023
When: 1 June 2023
Where: Sydney Educational Measurement and Assessment Symposium, University of Sydney, in-person roundtable discussion
Title: An authentic assessment rubric tool: A teacher-support artefact to improve assessment design using a robust design methodology
Facilitators: Sanri Le Roux and Rachael Hains-Wesson, WIL Hub, University of Sydney Business School, Professor Jim Tognolini, Director of CEMA
38th WAIER Research Forum 2023
When: 5 August 2023
Where: Perth, Western Australia
Title: An authentic assessment rubric tool: A teacher-support artefact to improve assessment design using a robust design methodology
Facilitators: Hains-Wesson, R., Le Roux, S., & Tognolini, J.
Schedule and abstracts: Forum 2023 Program, Forum 2023 Abstracts
Resources
Videos
CSC Bookworm Series: A White Paper for Australian and Chinese Employability Professionals
Associate Professor Rachael Hains-Wesson talks about work-integrated learning at the Business School on CNBC TV18.
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