Category: Educational approaches

Work context is a key issue for learning leadership

This may seem like a logical no-brainer, but is it really? There are certain traditional leadership theories and models often used when teaching leadership. Similar leadership skills are needed, thus, it is clear that context matters when looking deeper into teaching leadership. A recent study at University West explored innovative pedagogical approaches in two programs, […]

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The story of going from policy text of WIL to practicing policy of WIE

This can be told as a story and therefore has the beginning of a traditional story. Once upon a time there was a university that got a national mission to promote work-integrated learning (WIL). This happened as early as in 2002. The mission ignited a series of processes to support a fellow teaching practice of […]

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Building bridges between theory and practice at the NEON conference, Part 1.

The Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) community represents a growing field within social science, characterized by diverse and intersecting research interests. This year’s NEON conference (https://www.neondagene.no/), held in Tromsø, Norway, features a theme highly applicable to WIL: “Bridging Theory and Practice: Possible, Desirable, and Useful?” The primary objective of the NEON conference is to serve as a […]

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“The ultimate way to build knowledge!” – industrial PhD Education Bridges Academia and Industry

PhD education is undergoing a significant transformation to meet the needs of society, particularly in industry. There is a growing demand for researchers who can apply their expertise within and beyond academia. Industrial PhD education is emerging as a key solution to this demand with PhD students employed by a company while completing their PhD […]

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WIL as a tool for work-life relevance in Norway

How Work-integrated learning (WIL) is understood and used in higher education varies. This variation is often context-dependent, and therefore the development of WIL is interesting to follow in different contexts. A recent opinion piece from Norway discusses the well-known (in Norway) importance of work-life relevance in higher education and how higher education institutions fail to […]

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Towards a quality framework and a vocabulary for WIL 

Have you ever watched any of the popular TV-shows about food and how to prepare for a dinner? Like Hell´s Kitchen, Next Level Chef, Kitchen nightmares or Master Chef? As wannabe chefs we tend to follow this type of series for both inspiration and learning some new tricks of the master chef trade. As the […]

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Alternatives to supervised placements: Work integrated education in action

When work integrated education (WIE) is discussed, the archetypal examples of supervised placements for medical, nursing, physiotherapy, and teacher education students are usually referenced. They comprise students engaging in authentic work activities and interactions, closely supervised by qualified and more experienced practitioners. Ideally, those supervisors identify and select students’ work activities and support and guide […]

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おはようGood morning!

It is 3 am and I am sitting in my living room, listening to the session “Experiences from CEWIL Canada, WIL and ACEN” at the WACE (World Association of Co-operative Education) conference. The three acronyms hold three giant networks focusing on work integrated learning around the globe. The conference should have been held in Kanazawa, […]

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WIL Reflections…it’s alive! 

Welcome to University West’s research blog about Work integrated Learning (WIL). Through the blog, we want to actively stimulate a theoretically grounded and critical discussion about how WIL can be understood as a multifaceted phenomenon, concept, or research area. We envision that such a discussion will illustrate and develop the core and the elasticity of […]

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