Work-related teaching and learning methods to foster generic skills in Higher Education. An Italian experience

Abstract

Within the framework of modernisation of higher education systems in Europe, universities are invited to go beyond a knowledge-based perspective focused on disciplinary approaches and to be more concentrated on encouraging generic skills to deal with today's complex and unpredictable career paths. The literature about Work-Related Learning and Work-Integrated Learning offers evidence to research regarding contributions of work-related experiences to the development of generic skills. The first part of the article presents a literature review carried out following the matching among three main keywords: work-related learning, generic skills, and higher education. Resources focused on the integration/ teaching of generic skills in formal curriculum or in co-curriculum work-related activities and they were collected in order to explore the link between work-related learning in higher education and the development of generic skills. The focus is to identify valuable considerations to improve teaching strategies and methods. The second part presents an Italian work-related experience developed within the course of "Organizational Intervention Research Methods," which involved 22 master's degree students. The work-related assignment will be described in addition to the content analysis process of the 22 collected texts and the findings about the development of generic skills.

Fostering critical reflection in the frame of transformative learning in adult education: Italian and Nigerian comparative case studies

“…Other important outside activities are field visits; they are proof that the two institutions try to connect formal and informal learning, and to raise awareness of the societal changes and needs as well. For instance, at the University of Padova, many teachers developed the Work-Related Learning (WRL) programme, which emphasises cooperation with employers to integrate generic skills development into the curriculum (Frison et al, 2016). In Nigeria, Students Industrial Work Experience (SIWES) for engineering students, residency and internship programmes for medical and nursing/pharmacy students, and Teaching Practice Exercise for education students exist as part of the approved minimum academic standards in the various degree programmes for all the Nigeria universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics.…”

Enhancing Active Learning and Fostering Employability: The Experience of a Two‐Stage Capstone Project at the University of Padova

“…In this manner, the final‐year students are exposed to two subsequent but distinct and separately graded segments of activity, one preparatory and to the other immersive. The first part centers on group work in the classroom performed as a learning‐for‐work activity in terms of increasing the chances for employability (Frison, Fedeli, & Taylor, ) in order to develop technical skills and above all to develop or reinforce soft skills during the internship (Frison, Tino, Tyner, & Fedeli, ). The second part is a learning‐through‐work activity (Billet & Choy, ; Subramaniam & Freudenberg, ) through an intensive internship hosted at a partner organization, aimed at aiding students to reflect on course content in relationship to problems that emerge in the professional work setting.…”

“Being a Careful Observer”: The Design of Work‐Related Assignments in Higher Education

“…In cooperation with the company representatives, we arranged a field visit to allow students to move within the company, observing architecture and interiors, by means of an observation grid (adapted from Munari, ) provided to carry out a structured observation of the physical setting (Frison, Tino, Tyner, & Fedeli, ). At the end of the field visit, the pairs of student‐consultants were asked to write a final report describing the observed organizational culture, addressed to both the instructor—for a final assessment—and the company representatives.…”

“…Despite the international literature about the learning effects of WR activities (Coll et al., 2008), so far, no data are available about the extent of their use in Italian institutions, and few empirical studies are available about their impact on the learning process in higher education (Fedeli & Frison, ; Frison et al., ; Vardanega & Fedeli, ). It could be argued that WRL methods remain a teacher's choice, related to personal assumptions and beliefs about how learning happens, where it occurs, and the role of the context in shaping learning (Lave, ).…”