Implementing a Non-placement Work-Integrated-Learning Experience in a Micro-credentialed Curriculum

COVID has continued to adversely impact the raison d’etre of a University’s value proposition - to prepare, develop and equip students with transferable critical thinking skills, improved collaboration opportunities, and useful contact capital, to enhance employment opportunities. As part of a collaborative strategy to address the multiple issues related to “universal career shock”, the implementation of an andragogical response is required to assist students with limited or no employment experience. A non-placement initiative is currently being piloted to assist student completion of internship-like projects. Created as a direct response to the Federal Workforce Development Strategy announced in November 2020, this Pilot Course was designed to include and assess the success factors of adding a non-placement Work-Integrated-Learning (WIL) opportunity within a particular curriculum employing a Differentiated Instruction design andragogy. This Pilot Course leveraged the efficacies of experiential learning, within a constructivist paradigm, promoting micro‑credentialing and persistent progressive profiling. Over a two-semester trial, student acquisition of credential and student placement results were impressive: of a 24-person total cohort: 100% received an OSHA 10 certificate (minimum infrastructure site employment requirement); 22 earned an industry-sponsored, continuing education accredited Introduction to IT & Cyber Security certificate; all students earned their FEMA Work Safety certificate; 14 students were offered external internship opportunities, while all 4 students jointly enrolled in the Practicum class earned an in-class internship experience with our corporate collaborators.