Effectiveness of placement and non-placement work integrated learning in developing students' perceived sense of employability

Engineering employers continue to report dissatisfaction with the skills of new graduates at the same time as employment outcomes continue to fall. Work experience is generally considered the best way to develop employability, but there are too few work placements to meet demand. Non-placement authentic work integrated learning (WIL) is an alternative but there is very little research to show if learning outcomes are equivalent. This paper compares student outcomes from placement and non-placement authentic WIL. The non-placement WIL module used a real project from a local engineering company, jointly scoped, developed, supervised and assessed by engineers from the company and the author. Students also participated in a series of skill based workshops developed and facilitated by the author. At the start of semester non-placement students rated themselves significantly lower than their peers who had completed a 12 weeks of engineering work experience on a number of employability skills. The students also struggled to engage with the WIL project initially. However attendance, participation, and individual assignment submission rates improved with consistent implementation of classroom conditions that simulated the workplace. After completing the WIL module, the gap between non-placement and placement students had all but disappeared. This paper shows that working closely with an industry partner to jointly design, supervise and assess students undertaking an authentic project is effective in increasing students' confidence in their work readiness, to a level similar to students who had work experience. The survey used to assess student perceptions of work readiness and graduate employability is a useful tool for curriculum development

Achieving target skills in increments using PBL courses in chemical engineering program at RMIT University

Graduating Chemical Engineering students are expected to have acquired a number of technical and generic skills that include design, project management, communication and team work. In the new Chemical Engineering program at RMIT University, students are offered opportunities to develop these skills in stages through project-based learning (PBL) courses. Each semester has a PBL course which integrates horizontally the scientific and engineering concepts taught in other courses in that semester. The PBL courses in senior years, however, aim to achieve not only the horizontal integration of concepts from that semester but also vertical integration of concepts taught in previous years. In all PBL courses (eight in total), the development of generic skills is given equal opportunity. However the development of design skills are achieved in stages and it occurs mainly in six of the PBL courses. This incremental progression of design skill development prepares the students to face the final year capstone design project with confidence and excitement. The high satisfaction level in the design project as indicated by a high good teaching score (GTS) of 82% in 2008 shows that the progressive development of technical and generic skills using PBL courses is an effective means of preparing work-ready graduates

Effect of mixing conditions on mechanical properties of polylactide/montmorillonite clay nanocomposites

Biopolymer nanocomposites are of great interest to the packaging industry as they can overcome the inferior properties of biopolymers compared with synthetic polymers. However, studies on property improvement have been inconclusive about optimum filler levels and mixing conditions. This article reports on a systematic study of effect on mechanical properties of varying melt mixing conditions and filler level in PLA organoclay composites. Samples were mixed in a batch mixer at various temperatures, times, and speeds, at three filler levels. Tensile properties were measured and morphology characterized using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS)

Life cycle assessment of a residential building: quantity take-off and data input techniques

LCA is a useful tool to assess the environmental impact of buildings. However, to do so accurately requires availability of regional life cycle inventory data, relevant scaling factors and reliable estimation of variables. This paper reports on how building plans, quantity take-off and scaling factors can be used to build an LCA model of a residential building. AccuRate and SimaPro were used to model the data. It was found that the environmental impact varies substantially with the phase of the building life cycle. Varying building life span affects the robustness of results

Natural capital accounting: revisiting the elephant in the boardroom

This is the final version. Available from CIMA via the link in this recordThis research is motivated by a growing belief that natural capital accounting (NCA) can assist organisations in increasing their stewardship over the ecological elements they effect and in some cases control. However, these beliefs are largely based on conceptual developments about the use of NCA. It has been argued that by monetising these effects and elements, there is increased likelihood that managers will integrate these representations into decision making processes. This perspective is not without its critique, with issues raised over potential unintended consequences. The research examines practices of one of the first major organisations to implement and utilise NCA. It aims to better understand how NCA assists with increasing stewardship, what other roles NCA assumes, the difficulties experienced in its use, and who constitute the wider influencers. Our findings suggest that, as with many new accounting frameworks, tools, and techniques, the implementation, calculation and use of NCA is far from straightforward.Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA

Learning beyond the curriculum: Academics' perspectives on ICT student employability skills

The employability of Australian ICT graduates is declining, with a large number of employers claiming they were unable to find applicants with the right mix of technical and communication skills. Recently, the Australian Federal Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) set employability as a priority strategic area for Australian graduates and funded three projects around this theme. In one of these OLT projects, we set out to explain the gap between employer, graduate, academic and professional body in their expectations of employability skills in graduates. As part of this project, we developed and published an employability framework [Jollands 2015, Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007], which helped to identify and highlight some good practices. This paper presents the ICT academics expectations around the development of employability skills in their prospective graduates. This research entailed focus groups and interviews with academics who were asked how they were developing employability skills in their students, as well as what they were doing to maintain their own knowledge and skill currency. This can be compared with student perspectives, as well as with the attitudes of employers who were previously invited to explain what they look for when recruiting ICT graduates. We invited academics who deal with industry projects to a round table meeting and asked them about what do academics do to develop students' employability skills? In this paper we present the responses of academics to these questions and discuss them in relation to what students have already said, and employers are expecting. We present our recommendations on how to engage academics of ICT more with issues of student employability. We discuss implications and recommendations for redesigning curriculum with a student employability centred approach, in line with the best practice identified from the OLT project and the entrepreneurial approach of academics from another discipline

Morphological, mechanical, and thermal characterization of biopolymer composites based on polylactide and nanographite platelets

This work focuses on development and optimization of polylactide (PLA) and nanographite platelets (NGP) based composites to display possible superior mechanical and improved thermal stability. Melt blending and dry mixing methods of fabrication were employed at temperature of 180°C. Different Loading fractions of NGP were incorporated into polymer matrix. Morphological evaluation techniques such as XRD and TEM were applied to determine the degree of dispersion of NGPs into PLA matrix. Mechanical properties were evaluated and correlated to structural morphologies of PLA/NGP composites. Thermal properties of composites were studied to examine possible changes in Tg, Tc, Tm, and percentage crystallinity of these composites. The effect of mixing was also explored through double extrusion of some samples. It was concluded that composites containing 3 wt% NGP showed optimum mechanical performance without any significant changes in the thermal characteristics

Perspectives of stakeholders on engineering graduate employability

This paper reports on the outcomes of a large federally funded project on graduate employability. The project explored the perspective of stakeholders from multiple disciplines: this paper focuses on outcomes for engineering stakeholders. Engineering work experience is generally considered the best way to develop employability for engineering undergraduates, however there are now insufficient placements to the increasing number of students. Employers continue to report gaps in graduate skills and attitudes, while academics resist teaching generic skills. This paper reports on the perceptions of employability of engineering stakeholders and maps similarities and differences through the lens of the CareerEDGE employability framework. This framework was chosen because it is systematic, comprehensive, and adaptable. A qualitative research methodology was used, with data collected through a series of small focus group discussions and interviews. The study found that students' breadth of knowledge of concepts relevant to employability was similar to both graduates, academics and employers: they were clearly aware that employers expect far more than just discipline knowledge. Students and graduates reported that extra-curricular, volunteer, life and work experience contributed most to the development of their employability. Stakeholder perceptions varied significantly in complexity. Students had much simpler perceptions than employers, even though they had undertaken a projectbased learning program and many had work experience. Recommendations to enhance graduate employability include to design curriculum and assessments for employability, from the beginning to the end of programs. Team teaching and working closely with industry is also recommende

Melt rheological investigation of polylactide-nanographite platelets biopolymer composites

This study is an analytical investigation of processability of biopolymer-carbon based nanofiller composites primarily through rheological investigation of samples. The composites were fabricated via dry mixing and melt-blending of biodegradable polylactide (PLA) and nanographite platelets (NGP) in a Brabender twin screw extruder. A range of different nanofiller contents (1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 wt %) were studied for NGP containing composites. The morphology was studied with X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques and showed poor dispersion, with agglomerates, tactoids, and exfoliated layers present. Mechanical properties showed an optimum at 3 wt % filler. Results showed that the composites exhibited higher elastic and viscous moduli than neat PLA. The rheological percolation threshold predicted by changes in slope (a) as well as liquid-solid transition theory of samples was found around 3 wt % through the change from liquid-like behavior to pseudo-solid-like behavior at terminal region during dynamic oscillatory measurements. NGP nanofillers were found to enhance the viscoelastic and mechanical properties of PLA at low concentrations; however, an efficient dispersion of nanofillers within polymer by melt intercalation method of mixing was not achieved. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 00:000- 000, 2013

Project-based learning as a contributing factor to graduates' work readiness

This paper explores what work readiness means for two cohorts of graduate engineers, one from a traditional curriculum, the second from a largely project-based curriculum. Professional bodies and employers have defined a set of attributes for engineering graduates so that graduates will be 'work ready'. Problem-based learning (PBL) is claimed to be a suitable approach to develop such skills