Skip to main content
View expanded cover

Practice-based Learning in Higher Education pp 15–30Cite as

The Practices of Using and Integrating Practice-Based Learning in Higher Education

Part of the Professional and Practice-based Learning book series (PPBL,volume 10)

Abstract

This chapter commences the discussion that then continues across the contributions of this monograph regarding how practice-based learning experiences (i.e. those in the circumstances of practice and usually outside of university settings) can be utilised and integrated within higher education courses in effective and sustainable ways. This discussion acknowledges that students’ learning through engagement in practice-based experiences is now and increasingly seen as being an essential component of higher education programs that are preparing graduates for entry into targeted occupations. The need for informed bases of teaching and learning to meet this demand grows as many of the existing concepts and practices within educational science cannot adequately inform the effective utilisation of students’ learning experiences outside of educational programs and institutions, nor their integration. Hence, teachers in universities have to develop and reflexively advance the capacities (i.e. understandings, procedures and dispositions) required for effectively utilising and integrating such experiences. Through doing so, these teachers and their practices can inform others and, in turn, educational science. This proposition, its premises and case is advanced here through a discussion about the nature and contributions of learning through practice, how they might best be aligned with higher education provisions and in ways that are sustainable and effective. It does this by drawing upon the processes and findings of a recent national teaching fellowship that comprised 20 projects that focused on the integration of practice experiences within higher education programmes across a range of disciplines within six Australian universities.

Keywords

  • Affordances
  • Agentic learners
  • Cognition
  • Curriculum practices
  • Employability
  • Graduate employability
  • Guidance
  • Integration of experiences
  • Job ready graduates
  • Learner intentionality
  • Limits of educational science
  • Occupational knowledge
  • Occupational specific education
  • Pedagogies practices
  • Practice-based education
  • Practice-based experiences
  • Practicum
  • Student engagement
  • Time jealous students
  • Work integrated learning
  • Workplace experiences

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9502-9_2
  • Chapter length: 16 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-94-017-9502-9
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barsalou, L. W. (2009). Simulation, situated conceptualisation, and prediction. Philosophical Transcactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 1281–1289.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (1994). Situated learning—a workplace experience. Australian Journal of Adult and Community Education, 34(2), 112–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2001). Knowing in practice: Re-conceptualising vocational expertise. Learning and Instruction, 11(6), 431–452.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2006). Constituting the workplace curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(1), 31–48.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2009). Developing agentic professionals through practice-based pedagogies. Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2011a). Curriculum and pedagogic bases for effectively integrating practice-based experiences. Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2011b). Vocational education: Purposes, traditions and prospects. Dordrecht: Springer.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals. New York: Longmans.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–34.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, M. L. (1971). Higher education in the ancient world. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corradi, G., Gherardi, S., & Verzelloni, L. (2010). Through the practice lens: Where is the bandwagon of practice-based studies heading? Management Learning, 41(3), 265–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Education Science and Training. (2002). Employability skills for the future. Canberra: Department of Education Science and Training, Commonwealth of Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Innovation Universities and Skills. (2008). Higher Education at Work: High Skills: High Value.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. R. (1998). Craft guilds, apprenticeship, and technological change in preindustrial Europe. The Journal of Economic History, 58(3), 684–713.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gonon, P. (2009). The quest for modern vocational education: Georg Kerschensteiner between Dewey, Weber and Simmel (Vol. 9). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greinhart, W.-D. (2002). European and vocational training systems: the theoretical context of historical development. Paper presented at the Towards a history of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe in a comparative perspective, Florence.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grubb, W. N., & Badway, N. (1998). Linking school-based and work-based learning: the implications of laguardia’s co-op seminars for school-to-work programs. Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Lodge, R. C. (1947). Plato’s theory of education. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, L. M. W., & Scribner, S. (1991). Laboratory for cognitive studies of work: A case study of the intellectual implications of a new technology. Teachers College Record, 92(4), 582–602.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2010). Learning for jobs. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raizen, S. A. (1991). Learning and work: The research base. Vocational education and training for youth: Towards coherent policy and practice. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scribner, S. (1985). Knowledge at work. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 16, 199–206.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Universities Australia. (2008). A national internship scheme: Enhancing the skills and work-readiness of Australian university graduates. Canberra: Universities Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuboff, S. (1988). In the age of the smart machine: The future of work and power. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

    Stephen Billett

Authors
  1. Stephen Billett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen Billett .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Canberra, Bruce, Aust Capital Terr, Australia

    Monica Kennedy

  2. Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia

    Stephen Billett

  3. University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Silvia Gherardi

  4. Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Laurie Grealish

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Netherlands

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Billett, S. (2015). The Practices of Using and Integrating Practice-Based Learning in Higher Education. In: Kennedy, M., Billett, S., Gherardi, S., Grealish, L. (eds) Practice-based Learning in Higher Education. Professional and Practice-based Learning, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9502-9_2

Download citation