What to consider when developing quality WIL curriculum

A good practice guide for developing optimal WIL learning experiences

With such a broad choice of WIL approaches, how do you decide what to offer your students? What might help you make this decision is to consider the elements that are necessary for designing a high-quality WIL activity and assessment. The table below outlines key factors to be taken into consideration when designing and developing WIL curriculum.

Table 1. Key considerations for WIL program design and implementation


Whole-of-program approach	WIL is mapped across various courses in a cohesive, integrated way to ensure ongoing development of knowledge, skills, practice and confidence.
Scaffolding WIL throughout a program	Enables progression from simple to increasingly complex and challenging experiences.
Diverse WIL approaches	Exposes students to a range of industry and community partners and contexts.
Explicit alignment of WIL activities with learning outcomes and assessment	Ensures stakeholders are focused and expectations are clear.
WIL preparation and induction activities	Integrating within the curriculum prepares students professionally and academically.
Equity and accessibility for all students	Accounts for physical, social, cultural, economic and mental barriers (Orrell, 2011).
Integration of learning support	Counselling, induction at workplace, access to learning resources and ongoing supervisor access from both the host organisation and the institution is vital to quality WIL experiences.
Clearly articulated development of graduate attributes	The application of discipline-specific skills and knowledge.
Encouraging critical reflection, debriefing and evaluation	Ensures feedback from students and host organisations is considered and actioned where appropriate.

Table source: Campbell, M., Russell, L., & Higgs, J. (2014). Models of WIL. In Ferns. S (Ed.), Work integrated learning in the Curriculum (p. 21). Milperra, NSW: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia (HERDSA Inc). (published with permission by HERDSA and the authors of this chapter)