The Work-Integrated Opportunity and Development Tool: A Practical Approach to Maximizing the Value of Work-Integrated Learning

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a core feature of Business degrees and is increasingly common across other disciplines. Although the benefits of WIL are often promoted, students can struggle to connect learning from their WIL experiences to their progress and development, making it difficult for them to identify targeted learning opportunities, and communicate their WIL progress and achievements to prospective employers. Recognizing these challenges, this article offers an approach for those engaged in WIL that helps them benchmark and measure progress at different points in the process, thereby helping students and their Higher Education Institutions (HEI) to identify development needs and opportunities both before, during, and after the WIL experience. This article presents a tool kit for those engaged in WIL that enables measurement of students’ goals, motives, values, expectations, and competencies, at different points in the WIL activity (pre, mid, and end), alongside staged reflective exercises. Using internships as an illustrative case, this article considers the value that the approach affords for both individual students and HEIs, and will be of interest to university educators, careers services, and other professionals responsible for creating value through WIL initiatives.