Work-Related Teaching and Learning Methods in Higher Education: a Survey Across Four Italian Universities

Within the process of modernization of Europe’s Higher Education system there has been a demand for the universities to focus on improving the quality of teaching and learning methods and on fostering University-Business Cooperation (Commission of the European Communities, 2009; European Commission, 2011, 2013). Universities are invited to involve teaching staff, students, graduated, labor market actors, and stakeholders, in order to deliver new educational courses and to develop more effective teaching and learning methods which could mind the gap between study and work (European Commission, 2013). Under this political and methodological framework, case-studies concerning European universities projects and practices have been identified to explore the centrality of cooperation experiences and work-related activities, such as problem-based and project-based learning experiences, or innovative didactics within interactive contexts (Technopolis, 2012). This scenario informed by the North American literature as Work-Related Learning (Dirkx, 2011) and by the Australian literature as Work-Integrated Learning (Cooper, Orrell, & Bowden, 2010; McLennan & Keating, 2008) refers to the integration between educational experience (such as formal course) and practical one (such as work or internship). A literature review starting from 40 European, US, and Australian articles guided the research group to clarify terms, theoretical orientations, and practical implications about work-related learning (WRL) (Frison, 2016; Frison, Fedeli, & Taylor, 2015) as umbrella term to describe the range of educational programs that integrate formal learning and workplace (Atchison et al., 1999). Within this wide range of strategies recognized as work-related, different pedagogical approaches and concepts concerning the relation between theory and practice allow to clarify WRL. Learning that occurs in WRL experiences is theoretically informed by experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984; Kolb, Boyatzis, & Mainemelis, 1999), situated learning theory (Lave, 1991; Lave & Wenger, 1990), and the construct of cognitive apprenticeship, a model which combines core elements of the formal context (Di Nubila, 2005; Merriam & Bierema, 2014). The analysis of the collected resources highlights the main goals of WRL experiences: the integration of knowledge and skills gained in the educational institution and in the workplace (Coll et al., 2008); the development of soft skills (Freudenberg, Brimble, & Cameron, 2011); the opportunities for the students to explore possible career options and job opportunities (Subramaniam & Freudenberg, 2007; Hughes & Moore, 1999; Day et al., 1982) and the establishment of connections between content and theories studied in class and what they experience outside, in a work environment (Freudenberg, Brimble, & Cameron, 2011). Furthermore, the literature review offers a map of work-related teaching and learning methods and resources such as tutorial activities, case-studies, assignments (Frison, 2016), and other resources which “enable academics to incorporate work-ready learning activities into existing subjects effectively and with reasonable ease” (Litchfield, Frawley, & Nettleton, 2010). Within the above described political and theoretical framework, a national research project - Emp&Co, Employability and Competences – was started in 2013 with the aim to explore the state of art of teaching and learning methods in the Italian Higher Education System (Fedeli, Frison, & Coryell, 2014). Under this wider project, a specific focus was dedicated to WRL to collect the students’ opinions about work-related teaching and learning methods proposed by their instructors.