Accelerating WIL Together

The LearningCITY Collective is proud to be a founding partner in establishing the Alberta Work-Integrated Learning Research Network (AWIL). AWIL aims to accelerate work-integrated learning (WIL) expansion in Alberta by facilitating collaborative, high-impact, open, and accessible research.

What is Work-Integrated Learning?

WIL bridges a learner’s educational experiences with practice, supports employment readiness, and improves learner engagement. WIL may occur at a course or program level, directly linked to the defined learning outcomes. Today, WIL encompasses many of the expected components of a robust undergraduate program, including:

• Community and Industry Research & Projects

• Apprenticeship

• Co-operative Education

• Entrepreneurship

• Field Placements

• Internships

• Mandatory Professional Practicum/Clinical Placement

• Service Learning

• Co-curricular Experiences (e.g. volunteering, athletics, networking, other employment).

Supporting the Goals of Alberta 2030

The Government of Alberta, as part of their Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs strategy, became the first province in Canada to commit to offering every undergraduate learner access to a WIL opportunity. Current estimates are that 50% of undergraduate learners have access to WIL. However, the introduction of universal WIL faces numerous barriers, including organizational (e.g., culture), financial (e.g., administration, resources), employer (e.g., capacity, perceived value) and learner (e.g., financial, time management, delay in graduation). This is because today’s WIL model remains primarily anchored in the core characteristics of a closed system - hierarchy and control.

Expanding WIL requires adopting open learning structures that facilitate flexible collaboration between learners, educators, community partners, and accreditation bodies as co-creators designing and delivering WIL experiences. TalentED yyc, a LearningCITY partner, is an example of innovative collaboration as it leads a three-year $5.2M pilot project exploring pathways to expanding WIL engagement in Calgary.

AWIL projects currently underway include:

• Trusted Skills: The LearningCITY Collective led a decoupled skills certification project in partnership with the Calgary Marketing Association. This study is at the final report and manuscript stage.

• Place-based Experiential Learning: This three-year, three-phased study explores the impact of embedding undergraduate classes in professional environments. It is currently completing its third phase.