Module 4- (250 words)
Work Integrated Learning or what is known as WIL refers to newer and better learning strategies that are being advocated by education experts to better equip learners with the necessary skills that might help them be more relevant in the job market. WIL equip graduates with skills that not only make them employable when they get out on the job market, but also in helping them build a professional identity that is easily acceptable by any employer (Jackson, 2015). Thus, this program empowers students to be more knowledgeable and conversant about their preferred fields of studies. As a result, they are more adequately prepared to go into their professions conscious of their own values and to be able to navigate both the cultural and social barriers in the workplace and to end up being more competent individuals in whatever they are called upon to do (Jackson, 2015). These experiences gained through learning like actual professionals through the WIL curriculum provides these students with transformative learning that shape their professional identities, giving them a sense of professionalism.
Work-based learning and WIL are slowly becoming a mandatory curriculum for students who want to excel in the workplaces they find themselves in. Most tertiary institutions are highly recommending the curriculum to their students to pursue if they want to get better work experiences ones, they get employment. WIL as a curriculum is seen by many educational and management experts as one that plays an important role of preparing students well to practicing professionally and culturally helping them to anticipate the challenges that come with being employed.
The benefits of WIL are numerous not only to the students, but also to the world career prospect at large. This is because a lot is learnt by students through cognitive processes in the lecture halls and by an extension, through the exploration of such things like intellectual reflections, critical thinking, and cultural competence that equip students with the actual environments of our globalized world. The other benefit of WIL is that it ensures students become more productive and proactive in doing real work that translate into economic and social values (Jackson, 2015). Most importantly, WIL ensures that through learning, students add value. This ends up building their character, turning them into fit individuals or graduates ready for the job market. Most importantly, students who have gone through the WIL curriculum at college level tend to be very competent in various skills like interpersonal relations, teamwork, writing, putting theory into practice, and possess leadership qualities among other attributes that attracts employers making them ripe for the job market (Jackson, 2015).
Whelan (2017) state that, students can develop their professional distinctiveness, advance their theoretical understanding and transferable skills, communicate effectively to people in diverse characters, engage in teamwork, problem posing and solving, and self-management. In conclusion, WIL rewards students with skills essential to overcome modern challenges found in the workplace. Today, WIL is seen as a tool for fixing the modern crop of graduates who are sometimes viewed as being insensitive and not flexible to the numerous challenges that arise at the workplace. The increased work experience achieved by WIL motivates and influences students and graduates to prosper in their future career.
References
Jackson, D. (2015). Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and best practice. Studies in Higher Education, 40(2), 350-367.
Whelan, M. B. (2017). Academic work-integrated learning (WIL): Reengaging teaching-focused academics with industry. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, 8(1), 544-559.