The working world is forever changing. Traditional educational methods no longer apply to many real-world working scenarios. As educators, how can we effectively go about preparing students for the workplace?

The answer is experiential learning—an innovative, 21st-century educational approach that focuses on learning through experience. In this article, you’ll find everything you need to know about experiential learning, including a brief history, a summary of its benefits, and how higher education institutions are successfully integrating this exciting learning methodology within their classrooms.

What is experiential learning?

The experiential learning process has existed since the early days of education, it became increasingly popular in the 20th century as a non-traditional, hands-on approach to learning. This approach came as a welcome alternative to the traditional lecture-based teaching methods of the past.

John Dewey, an American educational reformer, psychologist, and philosopher, first popularised experiential education, arguing that knowledge comes to us through engaging with natural objects. Educational theorist David Kolb built upon Dewey’s experiential education theory in the 21st century, developing the experiential learning pedagogy—a learner-centred approach focusing on learning by doing. This approach encourages students to think critically, problem-solve, evaluate, and take risks with their education. Essentially, the experiential learning approach encourages students to explore their interests through hands-on projects and activities. A popular experiential learning process, known as work-integrated learning, involves students participating in placements, internships, or simulations related to their chosen career path. As an example—if a work placement or internship at a law firm isn’t possible—students studying law could benefit from a mock court scenario, where each student takes on different courtroom roles and ‘acts out’ a pre-planned case. Similarly, project-based learning involves hands-on projects. Popular projects include researching a current topic, building a student farm, or creating a business plan.

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Learn about the benefits of Experiential Learning and how it can be used to develop learning agility in students.

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Why do students need experiential learning?

In today’s world—and especially in tertiary education—we continue to see a shift from traditional to experiential learning. Universities are increasingly delivering these programs to offer students a competitive edge as they set off on their career paths.

Through work-integrated learning, for example, university students can enjoy experiences they wouldn’t have access to in a traditional classroom environment, helping them gain practical skills and academic knowledge. Some benefits include:

• Building problem-solving skills,
• Cultivating creativity and innovation,
• Learning industry-specific skills,
• Developing leadership and teamwork skills.

Not only will students learn skills relevant to their industry of choice—but they’ll also discover more about themselves. For university students especially, experiential learning provides learners with an opportunity to explore different options before committing to a particular career path. As such, students will learn more about their preferred field of study or career path, while also developing everyday life skills such as confidence, initiative, and interpersonal skills.

How can experiential learning prepare students for the working world?

Students thrive in experiential learning environments because it offers them real-life experience in an industry of their choice. Retention rates soar, skills grow—and the practical knowledge students develop through this method becomes even more valuable as they enter the working world.

The knowledge and skills that experiential based learning provides through technical education are essential for 21st-century success in the workforce—both in general and within specific industries. Here are just a few examples:

• Collaborative and interpersonal skills
• Practical skills and knowledge
• Creativity and critical thinking
• Effective conflict resolution
• Problem-solving
• Initiative and self-management
• Organisation
• Technological skills
• Foreign language skills
• Learning agility
• Emotional intelligence
• Entrepreneurial skills and an entrepreneurial mindset

The shift from traditional education to experiential learning has helped teachers effectively prepare the next generation of students as they enter the workplace. According to a McKinsey report, the experiential learning cycle is the most effective way for learners to achieve career readiness. According to an investigation conducted by The Conversation in 2016, students who participate in internships have lower rates of unemployment following graduation—and that engaging students in several short internships lead to better employment outcomes. These results reflect the idea that companies prefer job applications with relevant skills and experience—something that an experiential learner can easily provide. For example, a student hoping to find a job as an accountant will benefit enormously from having hands-on experience with software like QuickBooks, Xero, and MYOB. Further still, meeting with industry experts can give budding accountants an invaluable leg-up in the industry, helping them walk into their first position confident and ready to take on the world. To summarise, in today’s challenging job market, it’s more important than ever for students to leave university with a broad range of highly applicable, job-ready skills. And experiential based learning is the best way to guarantee that outcome. Today’s educators have a responsibility to offer professional development for graduate students, preparing them to join tomorrow’s workforce and instilling them with job-specific skills.

How university students benefit from experiential learning Cycle

Experiential learning practices play an essential role in professional development for undergraduate students. Let’s dive deeper into some of the key benefits involved.

Offers students real-world experience

Experiential learning offers young people real-world experience, opening doors to different industries and helping them discover pathways to future careers. Learners also have the opportunity to develop soft skills, like teamwork and time management, enhancing their chance of success in the future workforce.

Allows students to apply their knowledge practically

Through experiential learning, students enjoy the opportunity to express their skills and knowledge in a practical way. For example, a student who has worked hard on their programming skills can put them to the test by designing, building, and trialling a real program or app.

Helps students realise their career path

Experiential based learning also helps students discover their interests, which can lead them towards their ideal career path. In the same way, learners can discover whether a particular path is right for them and enjoy effective career preparation.

Opens doors to finding professional contacts

Students undertaking internships (whether in-person or virtual), work placements, or simply meeting with industry leaders have the chance to develop lasting working connections. These professional contacts can propel them towards future career opportunities and help better prepare students for their chosen industry.

How learning institutions benefit from experiential learning

It’s not only students who benefit from experiential learning—teachers, local employers, and learning institutions do, too!

Attracts and retains student attention

The idea behind experiential learning is that it can provide students with the context and knowledge that they need to understand what they’re studying. This type of education also allows them to relate their own experiences and thoughts to what they learn, which makes it easier for them to absorb concepts and retain information.

Enhances student employability

The benefits of experiential learning are many, not only for students but also for their employers. Many companies are looking for candidates who have practical, work-related knowledge to help their business run smoothly—and experiential learning provides invaluable professional development for students.

Grows industry engagement

Through existing experiential learning platforms, students engaged with authentic industry projects, experiences, and internships. In this way, learners can help industries provide meaningful services, build stronger teams, and even create new products. Experiential learning students essentially act as accelerators within their chosen industries, validating concepts and developing fresh ideas to help organisations thrive.

Reduces delivery costs and boosts scaling

Through experiential learning platforms like Practera, educational institutions can scale their delivery costs, enabling them to effectively deliver an expert-led learning experience. In this way, institutions can deliver educational experiences at a significantly lower cost per learner than traditional classrooms.

Engaging students: how to apply the experiential learning methodology

Here are some examples of how educators can apply experiential learning methodology, preparing students for the future workforce:

• Field trips and excursion
• Online meetings and discussions
• Hands-on learning
• Presentations
• Internships and work placements
• Work simulations

Developing an effective experiential learning activity or project starts with understanding your students’ needs and interests as individuals. Ideally, learners will choose a topic and guide the research, development, and reflection process. You can also take an overarching classroom topic and build experiences around it. For example, if your class is currently learning about rock formations, why not plan a field trip to a local conservation park or geology trail?

Using Practera’s experiential learning platform

Practera’s powerful experiential learning platform allows educational institutions to attract and retain more students, boost their employability, grow industry engagement, and reduce delivery costs.

Through this innovative platform, educators can deliver engaging and varied experiential activities and programs to students, including team projects, internships, and work simulations. Practera’s platform also facilitates global mobility, allowing learners to connect with industry leaders across the globe. We also offer project-based learning managed services to help connect students with industry leaders and support them throughout our programs. With a dedicated program manager, you can make the most out of your students experiential learning experiences with Practera.  

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So, how does the platform work?

Practera’s platform allows teachers to seamlessly design, deliver, and manage experiential learning programs—all through one simple platform. Create a streamlined brand journey with the platform’s white labelling tools or use the in-built templates to craft your first experiential learning project.

To get started with Practera’s experiential learning platform, contact our friendly team. You can also download our latest white paper to find out more about how the platform could benefit you.

As forces like globalisation, rapid technological development and changing business strategies continue to impact the workforce, it is more important than ever for students to develop the new skills to continue learning throughout their careers.

While imparting academic knowledge, educators can also help students to establish learning agility – known in other words as ‘figuring out what to do when you don’t know what to do’.

What Is Learning Agility?

Learning agility is different to learning ability or cognitive ability. According to researchers from Columbia University, it is “a mindset and corresponding collection of practices that allow leaders to continually develop, grow, and utilize new strategies that will equip them for the increasingly complex problems they face in their organizations.”

For students, learning agility encompasses the ability to quickly study a new problem and use their learning processes to produce new ideas and make decisions.

Agile learners need an open and receptive mindset. Students with high levels of learning agility typically excel at evaluating and comprehending new concepts. They continuously learn, acquire new skills, and seek new strategies for solving increasingly complex problems.

They are curious, learn from mistakes, and can apply this learning in unfamiliar contexts. This enables them to embrace new challenges and perform well under changing circumstances.

Essential components of learning agility

To create a model for understanding learning agility, DeRue et al conducted research that showed it has two main drivers:

Flexibility

This refers to the ability to abandon past solutions that no longer work in favour of new solutions that better suit future needs. Flexibility helps agile individuals understand how things are connected and change their thinking frameworks as needed.

Speed 

This refers to the capacity for rapidly making sense of new situations and adapting behaviors to make a plan of action. A learning agile person can quickly digest large quantities of information and decide what is most important.

Learning Agility Is a Mindset That Can Be Instilled

DeRue also notes there are two dimensions of learning agility – cognitive and behavioural. While the cognitive aspect is hard-wired and therefore difficult to change, the behavioural component can be learned. Like exercising a muscle, practising the behaviours of an agile learner strengthens and reinforces them.

Agility to learn effectively can be developed at any life stage. It starts with a mindset that chooses to question the status quo, embrace new concepts, and risk making mistakes for the sake of learning.

Why Students Need To Develop Their Learning Agility

Students are future leaders, professionals, executives and more, so it’s vital for them to develop learning agility.

Employers Place Value On Learning Agility

High levels of learning agility are crucial to effective performance in 21st century workplaces. In rapidly evolving business models, organisations need high potential talent candidates with skills for success in volatile times.

Employees risk becoming incompetent in their jobs without the ability to adapt to changing processes and technologies.

Furthermore, learning agile people are likely to have more successful careers. Korn Ferry conducted research which showed people high in learning agility received twice as many promotions over 10 years than those low in learning agility. They also found learning agility accounted for 18 per cent of the reason for more frequent promotions.

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Learn about the benefits of Experiential Learning and how it can be used to develop learning agility in students.

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Builds On Skills Learned at University

High agility to learn allows students to make the most of their learning experiences. Developing the capacity to figure things out quickly better enables students to find innovative solutions to difficult problems and deal with challenging situations – ensuring they become high potential employees.

It also complements the employability skills, such as emotional intelligence and leadership potential, university students can develop alongside their academic knowledge.

How to Improve Students’ Learning Agility 

To ensure students are equipped for long term success, learning agility training should commence at university. Here are several ways educators can develop it in their students.

Learning agility assessments

The essential components of learning agility can be best taught when you know which ones are lacking. Assessments exist for this purpose. Examples include:

• The Mettl Learning Agility Assessment
• Colombia University’s Learning Agility Assessment Inventory
• IBM’s Learning Agility Assessment Test
• Harver’s Learning Agility assessment

If you choose to assess learning agility in your students, ensure you use scientifically validated tests and that students understand assessment is about helping them become more agile learners.

Encourage the seeking out of learning opportunities

Educators can foster learning agility by encouraging students to:

• participate in information gathering and brainstorming to generate innovative solutions for complex problems
• be comfortable with interpersonal risk taking when their opinions differ to those of others
• ask questions, make suggestions, and voice their opinions
• risk being wrong and making mistakes they can learn from
• seek out new and different experiences that broaden their perspective
• reflect, both alone and with others, on their learning experiences.

Equip students with the skills to deal with uncertainty

Learning agile individuals are comfortable with unfamiliar situations. Educators can foster this in students by encouraging them to:

• participate in a range of different learning experiences such as online courses
• collaborate with a diverse range of peers, mentors and academic staff
• complete work-integrated learning projects that solve authentic industry problems
• take part in virtual internships where they will experience industry challenges
• remain open to criticism and resist the urge to make excuses or defend their actions
• take on challenges outside their comfort zone
• engage in feedback seeking to improve learning.

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Experiential Learning and the 5 Elements of Learning Agility

Aside from the two essential components discussed above, Korn Ferry have identified five dimensions of learning agility.

Mental agility

This is about embracing complexity and exploring problems in unique and different ways. Mentally agile people accept they don’t have all the answers, enjoy learning new things, and get excited by opportunities to discover novel and creative solutions.

People agility

This involves being open-minded with others and enjoying interactions with new and diverse groups of people. Individuals with people agility are good listeners, skilled communicators, and tend to bring out the best in others.

 

Change agility

Change agile learners know solutions that work today may not do so in future. They are comfortable with change, enjoy experimentation, and are always seeking new and better ways to do things.

Results agility

People with high levels of results agility respond well to challenges and enjoy delivering results in new and complex situations. They also enjoy inspiring others to achieve more than they thought was possible.

Self-awareness

Self-aware learners understand their own strengths and weaknesses. They are reflective and seek feedback to better understand and improve upon their learning.

Experiential learning is an ideal way to help your students develop all five dimensions of learning agility. Participating in workplace projects with an industry, community or government partner gives students the opportunity to collaborate with peers and professionals, solve real-world problems, report their results, and receive feedback about their performance.

How Practera Can Help

Practera works with higher education providers to offer premium quality experiential learning programs, at scale and with reduced delivery costs. Based on the theory developed by David Kolb, which highlights the importance of experiences in the human learning process, Practera’s platform and programs have been developed to support every stage of the experiential learning cycle.

Our fully supported and quality assured programs and project-based learning manager services support the development of learning agility by connecting students with authentic workplace experiences across numerous categories, including team projects, internships, boot camps, work simulations and more. These are curated from thousands of employers globally, including government bodies, corporations, and community organisations. By connecting with our team, we can help connect students with these global organisations and offer continuous support with their programs.

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Importantly, Practera’s user-friendly, innovative platform has been developed to maximise learning quality and the student experience for both onsite and online learning, including synchronous and asynchronous virtual delivery.

For educators, our evidence-based assessment, performance tracking and feedback devices support top-quality remote program delivery, facilitating continued provision of experiential learning regardless of lockdowns or restrictions. Inbuilt intelligence, for example, discerns optimal moments for reflection and encourages students to think deeply, encouraging retention and enhanced performance.

Embedded assessment tools provide multiple options for educators to assess student work, while ELSA – our world-first AI-assistant – conducts 24/7 monitoring to provide real-time recommendations based on learning science, saving you time and helping you deliver the best possible learning outcomes.

Practera’s experiential learning programs can also be scaffolded to facilitate student competency prior to a full placement or internship. Education institutions using this approach support more students to experience long term success.

AU$1M Experiential Learning Innovation Grants Program to help >100,000 young people build employability skills

Round 4 Expression of Interest Due Thu Oct 21. Click here for UK applications and here for AU applications

Australian edtech startup Practera has distributed more than AU$785,000  in in-kind grants to 21 Australian Universities to accelerate online experiential learning programs through Covid.

Across 3 rounds, Practera has already deployed  ~30 in-kind grants to Universities with the potential to benefit more than 100,000 learners through its platform technology.

The program aims to help University educators continue to innovate valuable experiential learning programs in the face of post-pandemic resource constraints and challenges. Practera will commit AU$1M in support through this program, With the recent launch of our UK office, round 4 will now be open to both Australian and UK educators. Applications for round 4 are open until 21st October 2021.  Click here for UK applications and here for AU applications  

Angie Knaggs, Senior Educational Designer in the UQ Faculty of Business, Economics and Law received a round 1 grant to work with Practera to develop a Faculty Capstone program – Learning by Doing in a Disruptive World. She said “We had already determined that Practera was the right platform for this flagship program, which is a highly applied, interdisciplinary and team-based unit with strong industry engagement, feedback loops and project-based collaboration. It was obviously however a challenging time to request funds for new technology, so from our perspective, the grant came at just the right time to enable us to move forward. The design & configuration project is underway and the Practera team are great to work with – we appreciate their investment in our program!”

If you want to learn more about our products, please get in touch. We are looking forward to having a chat!

Contact

Beau Leese

Co-Founder & co-CEO, Practera

beau@practera.com

Mob. +61433 262 855

What Are Employability Skills?

The term ‘employability skills’ describes a group of core transferable skills and personal characteristics employers look for in potential job candidates. Applicants with these skills are attractive to future employers because they are more likely to perform effectively and become valuable team members.

If you are teaching university students, you can help them develop important skills that will foster their ability to work with teammates, solve workplace problems, meet project timelines, and stay up to date with industry changes. Employability skills are sometimes also known as soft skills, foundational skills, basic skills, or job-readiness skills. 

Are Employability Skills Different to Job Skills Specific for a Role?

Yes. Unlike the professional or technical job specific skills required for particular careers, employability skills are generic and necessary for almost every job. For example, communication and teamwork skills are vital in every industry, whether it’s in construction, healthcare, engineering, information technology, or the arts.

10 Job Skills Students Need to Develop

For university students, there’s more to tertiary education than gaining good marks and an academic qualification. While teaching classes, you can also be facilitating the development of key employability skills that will boost your students’ chances of finding a great job. Here are 10 examples of employability skills you can foster in your students.

Communication

Good communication skills are vital in every job. Communication involves the ability to express yourself clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing, and strong listening skills. Communication skills also encompass the ability to use and interpret non-verbal language, such as gestures.

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You can support the development of communication skills in your students by encouraging them to:

• blog and/or use social media to express their thoughts and ideas
• give oral presentations as part of their studies
• join a community group or club, or do paid work

• practise active and empathetic listening 
• join a public speaking, peer support or networking group.

Teamwork

Teamwork is essential for workplaces to operate efficiently. It involves the ability to work cooperatively to pursue shared goals. You could help students achieve better teamwork skills by recommending they:

• participate in group assignments and projects throughout their course
• join a sports team, study skills group or community organisation
• establish relationships with people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds 
• recognise their own strengths and limitations and those of their team mates
• coach or mentor others.

Problem solving

In an increasingly complex world, students need the skills to understand, work through and solve problems. Challenges and setbacks are a normal part of working life, so they need processes for dealing with them. 

You can establish problem solving skills in your students by suggesting they:

• look for things that need fixing at home and research how to do it
• participate in project-based learning, which requires finding solutions to real-world work challenges
• volunteer at a group that seeks to solve community, environmental or social issues
• look for problem solving and decision making opportunities in their current workplaces

• seek opportunities to creatively solve their challenges, such as balancing study with work, family and social activities.

Initiative

Initiative is a valuable workplace skill because it involves seeking out work that needs to be done, rather than waiting to be told what to do. It also covers looking for better ways to do current work tasks.  

Some ways to increase your students’ initiative skills include advising them to:

• take the lead on group projects or assignments
• practice writing a cover letter and job applications
• approach potential employers about internships or work placements
• look for ways to increase efficiencies or take on new responsibilities in their current workplaces
• organise a family or community event.

Planning and organising

This requires considering what needs to be done, how, when, where, and by whom. These skills are vital for completing work to a satisfactory standard and meeting deadlines. You can support development of your students’ planning and organisational skills by recommending they:

• establish and stick to a study schedule
• plan research assignments to ensure they can meet deadlines
• organise a group project, family or community event
• arrange a travel/holiday itinerary.

Self-management

Self-management is the ability to control your time and physical and mental energy to accomplish what you need to. It’s important in the workplace, where employers want staff to be able to do their jobs and meet deadlines without needing too much supervision.

Examples of ways to boost your student’s self-management skills include encouraging them to:

• complete an internship or project-based work placement 
• establish a plan to manage their project timelines and different responsibilities
• participate in a community or volunteer organisation
• keep their room and study space tidy and organised
• take responsibility for their actions and the consequences.

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Learning

In a rapidly changing globalised world, the ability to learn new information and practical skills is vital. A lifelong love of learning will support students throughout their careers. Some ways to improve your students’ learning skills include recommending they:

• participate in an experiential learning program or study skills course
• take up a new sport or new hobby, such as learning to play a musical instrument
• research how to perform new skills, such as changing a tyre or baking a souffle
• take advantage of different learning opportunities, such as peer mentoring or study groups
• remain open to new information, new ideas and different practices.

Technology

Technology skills probably sound like a given these days, but employers rate them highly. In addition to being able to compose a social post or email, valuable skills include the ability to use software programs and hardware such as an EFTPOS machine or video camera.

Your students could improve their technology skills by:

• completing an online course in a technology they’re not familiar with
• undertaking a work placement or internship that involves learning to use field-specific tech applications
• researching innovative solutions that involved designing creative technology
• asking their workplace or community group to train them to use their technologies
• researching what technology is used in their field and what training is involved.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence (also sometimes known as emotional quotient or EQ) involves the ability to identify, understand and use emotions in healthy ways, in order to remain calm under pressure, communicate effectively, and develop good relationships. 

Ways to help students develop better emotional intelligence skills include encouraging them to:

• notice their feelings in different circumstances and how they influence actions
• practise emotional control strategies, such as deep breathing 
• build relationships with others who think differently to them
• look for non-verbal cues in others, such as body language and voice tone.

Conflict resolution

In a workplace where people have a range of different backgrounds, ideas and ways of working, some form of conflict is inevitable. Employers value team members who can resolve disagreements in a positive way – whether their own or between other people.

Your students could develop conflict resolution skills by:

• accepting conflict is part of life and being prepared to manage it
• actively listening to the other person and trying to understand their viewpoint
• separating the person from the problem they’re dealing with
• maintaining a professional attitude.

Supporting University Students to Develop Employability Skills

As evident, there are numerous ways educators can cultivate employability skills in their students. This typically does not involve more hours of academic learning. Rather, employability skills are developed through tasks that put academic knowledge into practice. For example, students can build employability skills by participating in authentic work projects at a business, government, or community organisation. 

Developing Employability Skills with Experiential Learning 

Increasingly, students need to complete university as work-ready graduates. Educators must therefore equip students with not only job specific technical or professional knowledge, but the employability skills they need to get and maintain work.

Experiential learning projects facilitate this outcome and have many benefits for everyone involved. For universities and other educational institutions, the ability to offer high-quality experiential learning projects is a powerful point of difference that can help you attract and retain students and establish mutually beneficial partnerships with industry, government and community partners.

For your students, evidence supports utilising experiential learning (also known as work-integrated learning) to bolster employability skills. 

How Practera Can Help Your University Foster Employability Skills in Students

Practera works with educational institutions to provide high-quality experiential learning programs, at scale and with reduced delivery costs.

Our fully supported and quality assured programs and project-based learning managed services easily connect university students with genuine workplace experiences across a range of categories, such as internships (including virtual internships), team projects, work simulations and more. These are gathered from thousands of employers globally, including corporations, community organisations and government departments.

Crucially, Practera can deliver all our experiential learning programs virtually. Our pioneering and user-friendly platform has been developed to maximise learning quality and the student experience for both onsite and online delivery.

For educators, Practera’s research-backed feedback, assessment and performance tracking devices support top-quality remote program delivery, facilitating continued provision of experiential learning irrespective of COVID-19 restrictions. 

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Inbuilt tools to support a seamless experience and enhanced learning outcomes include:

Provision of timely, quality feedback

As one of Practera’s top strengths, our platform facilitates provision of individualised feedback from industry and educators. This is delivered consistently and at key times to drive reflection, deep learning, and enhanced student performance. Our Team360 assessments also enable educators to embed a peer feedback loop into learning activities.

Intrinsic assessment tools

Practera offers multiple options for assessing and progressing student learning. You can easily set
up various assessment types, including those which allow for a feedback loop and straightforward question-and-answer options. Grading student work is simplified with our user-friendly rubrics. 

Innovative technology

Practera’s real-time analytics and data dashboards enable you to rapidly identify any issues before they escalate, conduct detailed performance analyses, and capture end of program reports. Our world-first AI-assistant, known as ELSA, provides 24/7 monitoring to provide real-time recommendations based on research-backed learning science, saving you time and helping you deliver optimum learning outcomes.

Students who have participated in Practera’s programs frequently report the experience they gained was invaluable, helping them develop the necessary skills to secure employment. 

Practera is one of 8 teams from 4 countries who have advanced to the semifinalist round of the $5M XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling Competition, a three-year competition reimagining the future of work and transforming how we train and educate workers.

As a semifinalist, Practera will now enter the large-scale field testing stage of the competition, in which each team will need to demonstrate their proposed solutions, will rapidly place trained workers in 60 days or less, and then support the workers to ensure job retention of at least 60 days. 

At Practera, we are inspired by XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling’s vision of a future where all workers have access to gainful and meaningful employment. A concept that so closely aligns with our mission, values and work to date.

Huge congratulations to our U.S. team, Prue Clifford, Wes Sonnenreich, Maxwell Chappuis and to all the other semifinalist teams on their achievement of making it to the next round. We’re proud to be working alongside some fantastic innovators as part of the XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling competition, reimagining the future of work and transforming how we train and educate workers. 

We’re super excited and are looking forward to the semifinal competition!

Find out more about our experiential learning technology platform and programs here.

 

Work Integrated Learning provides opportunities for students to complete real-world work experiences that support both academic outcomes and boost their employment prospects. Participation in Work Integrated Learning benefits students, educators and employers by building networks and enhancing outcomes for all those involved.

What Is Work Integrated Learning and Why Is It Becoming So Popular?

Work Integrated Learning (often known simply as WIL) powers learning by doing. It grants students an opportunity to participate in a real-world experience within their chosen field which can directly contribute to their degree or course of study. WIL activities integrate academic learning with practical workplace application, giving students the chance to both apply their discipline-specific knowledge and solve real issues they will encounter in their field.

Work Integrated Learning creates opportunities for impactful and effective education by extending learning beyond the walls of a lecture theatre or seminar room. WIL can take several forms, including work-based projects, internships, clinical placements, work simulations and mentoring programs.

WIL is becoming increasingly popular as evidence for its benefits continues to grow. Subsequently, universities and educational providers are becoming increasingly required to ensure that students are workforce ready upon graduation.

Companies today are seeking graduates who not only have the knowledge needed to do their jobs, but key 21st-century skills such as problem-solving, creativity, and the ability to collaborate, manage diversity and ambiguity. These are not skills that can be easily taught in a classroom, they can only be acquired through authentic learning experiences.

Practera’s experiential learning platform effortlessly links students with real-world work experiences, at scale. We deliver work-integrated learning across a wide range of categories, including internships, team projects, mentoring, work simulations and more. Our award-winning, impactful and engaging programs are intentionally designed for successful online delivery. Our programs use integrated assessment, feedback, and performance tracking which are backed by research and intended to facilitate top-quality online program delivery. This enables the ongoing delivery of industry-leading experiential learning programs, regardless of restrictions related to COVID-19.

Whether you’re providing programs on-site or online, our user-friendly, innovative platform fosters quality learning and helps students gain real-world employability skills that prepare them for their careers and future work.

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Learn more about the benefits of WIL and experiential learning in our ‘Effective Experiential Learning’ whitepaper

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How Does WIL Benefit Students?

For many students, higher education involves gaining the necessary skills to be ready for future work placements. However, the jobs available today require more than just theoretical or discipline-specific knowledge. Graduates need a diverse skill set, ready to apply their knowledge to any new context. This type of experiential program provides effective learning opportunities in which students are able to apply their theoretical knowledge in a real,  professional work situation and also develop vital skills like leadership and collaboration. By participating in WIL programs, students can boost their employment prospects, be introduced to a network of peers and helpful industry contacts, and better support their transition from study to career.

Research has indicated that well-planned and managed WIL experiences help students to:

• Enhance their academic knowledge and develop transferable skills,
• Participate in teamwork, problem-solving, and self-management,
• Learn to communicate effectively with colleagues across diverse roles,
• Develop an understanding of ethical practice,
• Build a professional identity, and
• Increase their digital literacy skills.

Further benefits include supporting students to develop an awareness of workplace culture, enhancing their understanding of the global environment and industry issues, and developing a greater awareness of the job market. By participating in WIL experiences,  students also begin to define their thinking about future career choices and aspirations.

What Students Say About Their Learning Experiences Through Practera 

Students who participated in Practera’s WIL programs often said that the experience they gained through the program is valuable and helps develop in-demand skills they need to secure a job in the workforce, especially in unprecedented environments and challenges.

One student in the UNSW Business Accelerator program 2020 said “that the program is a good first step into consulting. Post-pandemic virtual work and study would be a reality and this experience will be a great experience for coordination and collaboration.”

Practera’s WIL program allows students from different cultural backgrounds and disciplines to come together and produce a top-notch report.

A student from UTS Business Accelerator program in 2020 said “The program allows me to collaborate with students from different faculties. It is a rare and precious experience being able to connect with people studying in completely different aspects. Also, this experience provides a good insight  into working in a business consulting team”

What Are the Benefits of WIL to Educators?

The benefits of Work Integrated Learning also extend to educators. Research has shown that when universities take a highly intentional approach to WIL, including quality educational programs and the formation of strong reciprocal industry partnerships, it can be a powerful tool for realising university goals and enhancing professional education.

For higher education providers, being able to offer high quality WIL programs can differentiate your institution from your competitors and help you attract and retain students. It aids graduate employability, helps to deliver a positive return on investment and cements an institution’s reputation as a desirable education provider. WIL has the additional ability to boost your professional networks and reputation through the building of relationships with government, community and industry partners.

For educators, incorporating WIL into your suite of pedagogical strategies can lead to enhanced student engagement and boost your job satisfaction.

At Practera, we partner with higher education providers throughout Australia, Asia, North America, and Europe. We can assist your university to provide exceptional WIL experiences aligned to your curriculum that concurrently increase scale and reduce delivery costs.

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What Educators Say About Enhancing Their Curriculum with Practera’s Digital Industry Placements? 

Brigette McKenna, UNSW Program Manager Career Accelerator, (AGSM & UNSW Business School) and her team are long standing partners of Practera. However, when the pandemic proves to be a challenge in delivering a quality authentic industry experience at a large scale, Practera has been a key tool in UNSW’s armoury in these unprecedented times.

“COVID-19 has obviously been an enormous challenge to navigate for everyone, in all walks of life. While we did a fantastic job adapting our programs in a short time span, we know the impacts and budget cuts.”

“The Practera nano projects have proven to be a key tool in our armoury. They have held up very well under new variables of stress and transnational delivery.

“COVID-19 has highlighted the need for strong digital literacy and communication skills in everyone and it reinforced our theory that undertaking projects truly prepares our students for the workforce in the future.”

Noami Hewston, King’s Internship Adviser at King’s College London and her team wanted to look for an effective virtual work-integrated learning opportunity that would grow their students’ employability skills, provide workplace insights and engage students with the industry.

“So wonderful to see how the King’s Insights Programme and our partnership with Practera is helping to empower students with real work expertise and enabling industry clients to benefit from the brilliant minds of our students. Running the programme on Practera has been really easy and impactful for students & clients alike.”

How Does a Business Benefit From Participating in A WIL program?

Employers can also reap significant benefits from participating in a WILL program, as it gives them the opportunity to save money on strategic market research, while simultaneously mentoring students in preparing for the future of work.

For employers, other benefits for participating  in a WIL experiences include:

• Uncover the latest insights from student teams from diverse backgrounds and disciplines.
• Build mutually beneficial networks with industry, government, community partners and training organisations
• Give back to the student team by sharing professional  experience and advice

For employers, partnering with Practera can help to develop your team’s skill sets, capability and enhance workplace culture, while working with Practera gives you access to student project teams, provides opportunities to meet and attract key graduate talent and establishes helpful university and community networks.

What Employers Say About the Digital Industry Program and the related work integrated learning benefits

Doreen Brown, the CEO of Let’s Get Visible is in the business of creating custom SEO strategies. Majority of her time, she is looking after her clients and crafting their messaging. One of the pressing challenges for her business is setting aside time to promote her business as a whole.  “I am a consultant and a lot of my day is spent looking after the clients and their businesses. When it comes to my own business, it can be tough as I focus my time and efforts looking after other people and making sure they are carrying out my tasks for them.”

When she  participated  in the USYD Global Scope program, it  allowed her  student team to look at the business critically as a whole.

“It was a pretty good thing to have external eyes looking at your business and getting your external perspective – sometimes you are too close to the business that you don’t have a critical POV and you are thinking that everything is fine but from the outside looking in, it could give you that constructive feedback!”

 

Clipper Ship, City of Adelaide is a not for profit organisation that dedicates in the preservation of running Australia’s oldest Clipper ship as a tourist attraction. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Director, Peter Alexander faced a revenue, customer loss, which was definitely a challenge for his organisation. Not until he applied for where they put together a comprehensive report that gives him a fresh perspective.

“One recommendation was changing the demographic of our attraction from retirees/seniors and aim our attraction towards young people. An important insight that the student identified is tapping into university student volunteer databases and marketing the Clipper Ship attraction in student social meetings.”

“Practera programs are a great way to open our eyes to other options and opportunities. Working with students to  examine our operations in a different light, it allows us to pick up on issues that we didn’t pick up. I am always amazed about how students can produce some top quality.”

Want to Offer WIL? Speak To Practera

A Work Integrated Learning experience requires much more than simply providing students with a placement at a workplace. For WIL to be most effective for students, educators and employers, it needs to fulfil several criteria including flexibility, accessibility and intentional support. Research has indicated that a quality WIL experience should be flexible enough to meet the quickly changing needs of contemporary workplaces and schedules. They should ideally occur in both online and offline environments, allowing for both synchronous and asynchronous connection.

A WIL experience should be accessible to all students, not just to those students who are either academically gifted or socially advantaged. In addition, WIL should be tailored to students’ goals and theory requirements, providing a deeper, more meaningful experience

For education institutions such as universities, WIL needs to intentionally foster learning outcomes, enhance their educational mission and increase their overall capability and employability. It should develop and facilitate reciprocal partnerships with industry, for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Quality WIL is powered by real, quality relationships between educational providers and industry. In order to maintain these relationships, WIL needs to be well-organised, supervised and resourced.

Achieving impactful WIL programs might sound like a lot to achieve if you don’t have the right support in place. However, with Practera’s help, implementing a successful experiential learning program is much more simple to accomplish. Our world’s  leading experiential learning platform, managed services and talented team allow educators to easily partner with industry and government to offer students high-quality Work Integrated Learning programs. By connecting with our team, we can help find a program best suited to your needs and connect students with global organisations. Expect continuous support with a dedicated program manager and make the most out of Work Integrated Learning with our team and platform.

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Learn more about the benefits of WIL and experiential learning in our ‘Effective Experiential Learning’ whitepaper

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22 July 2021 — LSE Careers has partnered with experiential learning provider Practera to deliver digital industry project learning programmes for their students on the Practera platform. Teams of students are working on virtual consultancy projects for real industry clients ranging from charities and sustainability initiatives to creative industries and marketing. 

Director, LSE Careers, Lizzie Darlington said, “Work-based learning is a key area of our strategy at LSE Careers; it’s vital that students have real-world opportunities to develop meaningful professional skills during their time at LSE and beyond. These 3-week industry projects will give students a huge step forward in their careers as they engage with their industry clients and mentors on real business challenges, and enable students to experience a broader diversity of career options during their course of study. It’s fantastic to team up with Practera who have a global industry network and such high professional standards in delivering engaging work-based learning at scale.”

Jane Hallett, Practera’s UK lead, said, “We’re proud to be partnering with a globally recognised institution like LSE, and delighted to be supporting their vision to enhance work-based learning opportunities for students, graduates, staff and employers. We look forward to seeing the results and skill growth for students in the Virtual Summer Consultancy Projects and beyond.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

 

Experiential learning theory is about learning by doing. Developed by psychologist David Kolb, the theory describes the learning process whereby knowledge is created through experience. Kolb’s theory explains that concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation form a four-stage process (or cycle) transformed into effective learning. Applying Kolb’s learning theory has benefits for students, educators and employers. 

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Contents

1. Who is David Kolb
2. David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory
3. Benefits of Experiential Learning
4. Practera’s Experiential Leaning Platform

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Become Involved In Experiential Learning

Before starting an experiential learning program, it’s wise to figure out how much work is involved. For example, educational researchers Lee Andresen, David Boud, and Ruth Cohen have created a criteria that makes a project to be truly experiential. These include a personally meaningful goal to the student, personal student engagement, and involvement of the whole person in the learning experience (including their senses, emotions, and personality).

Moreover, projects need to recognise relevant prior learning and provide opportunities for students to reflect on their experiences throughout. They add that teachers must establish a sense of respect, trust, openness, and concern for student wellbeing.

Who Is David Kolb?

The model was published in 1984 by David Kolb, an American psychologist, professor and education theorist. Kolb was born in 1939 and earned his undergraduate degree from Knox College in 1961. He then earned a PhD in social psychology from Harvard University.

Kolb’s experiential learning theory was influenced by the work of other education theorists, including Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Kurt Lewin. Kolb has written numerous books, book chapters, and journal articles. He has been bestowed four honorary degrees and won several awards.

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As the name says, experiential learning involves the transformation of experience into effective learning. Kolb’s experiential learning theory stresses how our experiences, including our thoughts, emotions and environment, impact the learning process.

Kolb’s theory defines experiential learning as a four-stage process: 

1. Concrete learning occurs when a learner has a new experience or interprets a previous experience in a new way. For example, a nursing student has to learn a new procedure as part of their clinical education.
2. Reflective observation – the learner reflects on the new experience to understand what it means. In our example, the nursing student might think about how they could have done the procedure better.
3. Abstract conceptualisation – the learner adapts their thinking or constructs new ideas based on experience and reflection. For example, the nursing student realises they need to have all their materials ready before starting the procedure.
4. Active experimentation – the learner applies their new ideas to real-world situations to test whether they work and see if any changes need to be made. This process can happen quickly or over an extended time. Our nursing student might note how smoothly things go consistently when they have everything ready for a procedure in advance.

The Importance of Preferences in David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle

The four stages of Kolb’s model are portrayed as an experiential learning cycle. Learners can enter the cycle at any time. For example, imagine a group of students are learning to use computer-aided design (CAD) software. One student might begin the learning process by observing others using it. Another learner might start by reading about the program. Still, another learner might immediately jump in and have a go at using it.

Kolb explains learners have natural preferences for how they enter the experiential learning cycle. “Because of our hereditary equipment, our particular past life experiences, and the demands of our environment, we develop a preferred way of choosing,” he wrote.

Kolb’s learning styles model

These preferences are the basis of Kolb’s learning styles model, which divides learners into four types based on their dominant learning style.

Kolb’s learning styles are:

• Diverging – In this learning style, learners focus on concrete experience and reflective observation. They prefer to watch and reflect on what they’ve observed before jumping in. 
• Assimilating – This learning style incorporates learners who favour abstract conceptualisation and reflective observation. They like using analytical models to explore and prefer concepts and abstract ideas.
• Converging – Learners using this learning style focus on abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation. They like to solve problems and enjoy applying learning to practical issues.
• Accommodating – Learners using this learning style favour concrete experience and active experimentation. They relish a challenge and using intuition to solve problems. 

How Can Experiential Learning Benefits Students?

Experiential learning has many benefits for students, including:

• The chance to immediately apply the learning process to real-world experiences, which supports knowledge retention
• Improved motivation, as students are more excited about learning in real-world situations
• Promotion of learning through reflection, which deepens and strengthens the learning  experience
• The chances to make good use of their preferred style of learning
• Enhanced teamwork because experiential learning often involves working as part of a team
• The opportunity to prepare for future work through genuine, meaningful real-world practice
• The chances to meet colleagues and potential employers.

How Can Experiential Learning Benefit Employers and Educators?

For educators, utilising experiential learning can:

• Allow you to develop highly engaging and appropriate learning opportunities for students, supporting your reputation as an educator of choice for preparing students for the real-world workforce
• Help you design learning and reflection activities that allow students to learn in ways that suit their preferred learning styles
• Ensure your students develop skills that enhance employability and optimise their chances of future success.

For employers, experiential learning gives you access to teams of highly motivated students who are equipped with the latest knowledge. It provides a chance to upskill your current workers, identify and attract leading graduate talent, and build relationships with key stakeholders in your industry.

How Practera can help

This might seem like a lot to organise, and it is if you’re doing it alone. But with support from Practera, starting an experiential learning program is probably much easier than you think. Our fully supported experiential learning programs help students develop practical employability skills by connecting them to real-world activities with industry partners.

Practera can offer programs across a huge range of experiential learning categories, including team projects, internships, boot camps, mentoring, work simulations and more. Importantly, our experiential learning programs can be scaffolded to foster student competency before undertaking a full placement or internship. Education institutions taking this approach enable more students to experience success in the long term.

Crucially, Practera’s highly engaging experiential learning programs have all been designed for online delivery. Whether you’re providing programs onsite or online, our user-friendly, innovative platform incorporates features that maximise the student experience and quality of learning. 

Practera’s integrated assessment, feedback, and performance tracking devices are all designed to foster premium-quality online experiential program delivery. For example, inbuilt intelligence discerns optimal moments for reflection and encourages students to pause and think deeply, encouraging learning and retention.

During COVID-19, Practera even committed $1 million in funding to support 26 experiential learning projects across 12 universities, which benefited more than 100,000 learners. This helped universities continue to provide quality learning experiences when education was being done completely online.

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Project-based learning (PBL) enables students to learn deeply and develop core employability skills through participating in real work projects and experiences. It has benefits for students, education institutions and industry. With Practera’s support, organising project-based learning is cost-effective and simple.

What is project-based learning?

Project-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method that drives student learning by engaging them in real-world, meaningful projects. It’s a style of inquiry-based and student-centred learning. In PBL, students work in groups over a set period on a project designed to solve a genuine problem or answer a challenging question. Students demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a product or presentation for a public audience.

Project based learning activities allow students to develop deep content knowledge. Importantly, PBL also supports development of 21 st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication. PBL education is used across various learning environments, including high schools and universities.

It’s important to distinguish a PBL project from a traditional school or college project. Educators sometimes use light projects to supplement other learning activities. This can be likened to icing on a cake. In contrast, PBL is like the cake itself – it forms the substance of unit learning and skill development.

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Want to reduce student costs by 90%? Download the ‘Quality in Online Project-Based Learning’ white paper to see how top institutions are doing it.

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Why use project based learning?

The simple answer is that contemporary work is often project-based work. Forces including globalisation, automation and growth of the gig economy mean predictable and repetitive jobs are increasingly uncommon.

Instead, many current students’ careers will involve working on a series of projects. It therefore makes sense for them to have experience with project-based work, along with the knowledge and skills required to be a successful project team member.

What are the benefits of project based learning?

Project based learning also has other advantages for students. These include:

• Deeper engagement and interaction with learning content
• Encouragement of higher order thinking and problem-solving skills
• Development of peer and professional networks
• Engagement with potential employers and career mentors
• Fostering of 21 st century skills like collaboration and communication
• Enhanced autonomy and agency in learning
• A sense of mastery and self-efficacy
• Gaining valuable career insights.

Benefits for universities and industry

Universities and other educational institutions can also benefit from offering project-based learning that connects students with real-world projects and clients. The capacity to offer students high- quality PBL projects creates a differentiation point that can help you attract and retain students, improve their employability and satisfaction, and foster important partnerships with community, government and industry partners.

For educators, the PBL model can expand their repertoire of pedagogical strategies and lead to greater job satisfaction.

For industry, a PBL approach gives you access to teams of talented students eager to learn and apply their up-to-date academic knowledge. It creates opportunities to upskill staff in coaching and mentoring, and to meet potential job candidates.

Establishing a program

If implementing a PBL program sounds like a great idea, it’s important to understand how to do it well before you get started. Research by the Buck Institute for Education has shown that a successful PBL unit must include some essential design elements for deeper learning, higher engagement and better-quality work to occur.
They are:

• A challenging problem or question – the project must involve a meaningful, real-world problem that needs solving or question that needs answering, at an appropriately challenging level.
• Sustained inquiry – PBL projects need to give students the chance to engage in an extended, thorough process of questioning, finding resources, and applying information.
• Realism – the project must involve a real-life situation or task, or be related to the students’ personal concerns, life issues and interests.
• Student voice and choice – students need to be included in making decisions about the project, such as what they will create and how, and be allowed to communicate their ideas in their own voices.
• A public product for a real audience – the project needs to result in a piece of work that is shared with or presented to an audience beyond the classroom, such as industry clients or the public.
• Reflection – educators and students reflect on their learning, the quality of work produced, any challenges that arose, and the success of strategies used to overcome them.
• Feedback and revision – through reflection and critique, students should give, receive, and apply feedback (including formative and summative assessment) to enhance their processes and products.

When effectively designed, implemented and scaffolded, PBL can have a huge impact on the quality and success of your teaching practices.

How Practera can help

This might all sound quite complex, and it is if you’re trying to set everything up yourself. But with Practera’s help and resources, implementing project-based learning is simple.

Our dedicated team can help with our project-based learning managed services which help find you the most suitable program for your students and connect them with industry leaders. By connecting with our team, we offer continuous support in our programs with a dedicated program manager to ensure your students get the most out of their learning experience.

Our fully supported and quality assured programs are designed to easily connect university students with genuine industry experiences, internships and projects.

These are curated from thousands of global employers, including government departments, corporates and community organisations. Our expansive library of cost-effective project types facilitates projects ranging from two-week micro-internships to custom PBL programs to suit your requirements—all digitally enabled and scalable to thousands of learners.

Importantly, Practera can deliver these PBL programs virtually. Our innovative and user-friendly platform is designed to optimise learning quality and the student experience, regardless of whether programs are used onsite or remotely.

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Monitoring progress and outcomes

Feedback about progress and outcomes is crucial for successful PBL, and you’ll want to ensure your PBL programs are achieving the desired results. Practera has you covered with our range of feedback, assessment and performance tracking tools.

Quality feedback to enhance learning outcomes

Quality feedback is one of Practera’s core strengths. Our platform allows students to receive individualised feedback from industry, peers and educators at exactly the right time to drive critical reflection, deep learning, and better performance. Integrated feedback support tools enhance the quality, consistency and timeliness of feedback—the key ingredient of successful learning! Our Team360 assessments also allow you to embed a peer feedback loop into your learning programs.

Easily assess educational outcomes

Practera gives you multiple options for assessing and progressing student learning. You can easily set up different types of assessments, commonly moderated assessments which allow for a feedback loop, along with question-and-answer options such as multiple choice and checkboxes.

For grading student work, Practera offers user-friendly rubrics that help you efficiently provide consistent and impartial grading. You can easily track participant engagement, progress and deliverables, pinpoint any issues with individual students or teams, and support them throughout their PBL experience.

Advanced technology enhances user experience

You can also monitor and quality assure your programs using Practera’s real-time analytics and data dashboards. At a glance, you can quickly identify any issues before they become bigger problems, or dig deeper for more detailed analysis. You can also capture end of program reports.

We even have a world-first AI-assistant, known as ELSA, designed specifically for experiential learning. ELSA provides 24/7 monitoring to provide real-time recommendations based on research- backed learning science, saving you time and helping deliver optimal student learning outcomes.

With COVID-19 meaning some PBL must take place virtually, Practera’s inbuilt feedback, assessment and performance tracking devices allow educational institutions to still deliver PBL activities without sacrificing learning quality.

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Webinar – Delivering Student Project-learning at Scale

Missed our live webinar? Click the link below and watch our webinar video. To equip students with the skills and capabilities they need for the future of work, educators seek to deliver a range of experiential learning programs in and around the curriculum. However, experiential learning with high proportions of in-person engagement can be complex and costly to deliver at scale.

Online models including team-based industry projects potentially offer substantial benefits including lower cost, broader geographic reach and enhanced scalability – but only if quality can be maintained.

The University of New South Wales Business School partnered with edtech startup Practera to design a new class of digital online ‘nano’ projects. These projects have subsequently scaled up and been deployed with students from >60 other institutions in Australia and around the world, including King’s College London.

In this webinar, presenters and panellists will:

• Share experience with designing & deploying digital industry projects & virtual internships to thousands of students
• Share Practera’s recently released research into Quality in Online Project Learning, analysing performance and critical success factors across a sample of 7905 participants from 22 universities, across 124 cohorts and 4 types of programs supported by the Practera platform
• Participate in the live panel discussion, facilitated by host Professor Laura-Anne Bull, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students, James Cook University, Director Student Experience Strathclyde

Presenters & panellists include:

• Brigitte McKenna, Manager Career Accelerator UNSW Business School, Sydney
• Naomi Hewston, Internships Adviser, King’s College London 
• Beau Leese, CEO & co-founder of Practera 
• Professor Laura-Anne Bull (Facilitator), former Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students, James Cook University, & Director Student Experience, Strathclyde.

Watch video click here