Supporting students’ professional identity construction during work integrated learning: a practice-based exploration of boundary crossing
Creators: name: ELSUM, Kerin
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 390101
subject: Creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy

description: This research started from a problem in work integrated learning (WIL) practice for media and communication students who, despite engaging in several WIL experiences, felt they needed more confidence before joining the workforce. Many scholars have defined this educational problem as a skills gap and offered suggestions for how to ameliorate it. This thesis argues that supporting students to construct their professional identity offers a more effective solution. Higher education WIL can support students to purposefully construct their professional identities as they learn through boundary challenges during their professional experiences.

Although interest in professional identity within education is increasing, the body of knowledge is complex, fragmented and theory based. Scholars recognise the importance and benefits of integrating purposeful professional identity construction (PPIC) into WIL pedagogy, but educators are challenged to know precisely how to achieve this in practice. This uncertainty may be due to the complex and multifaceted nature of PPIC, making it difficult to apply within existing university structures and pedagogic mindsets.

Boundary crossing theory describes how students learn during WIL and how this learning can be supported and guided towards PPIC. Students learn during WIL as they cross boundaries and experience people, practices and perspectives in the workplace that are different from what they are used to at university. While the literature describes how learning is activated through different mechanisms and levels, it does not focus on the learning required for PPIC or describe how to support this learning through an intentional WIL design. This research aimed to fill this gap by exploring how WIL might be designed to support students to learn to purposefully construct their professional identities as they cross boundaries. To guide this aim, three questions were posed:

Research question 1: What type of boundaries do students experience? What is the nature of their boundary crossing experience?
Research question 2: How is learning activated during boundary crossing, and how does this support the learning required for PPIC?
Research question 3: What roles do boundary objects and brokers play in supporting this learning?

A qualitative, educational design research (EDR) approach with three WIL courses as embedded case studies was the research context. Each case study had a different WIL context (postgraduate, interdisciplinary and a global study tour) which broadened the exploration across different boundaries, students and designs. A four-phased process involved defining the problem in practice, exploring solutions, redesigning each WIL course and evaluating how this supported students’ PPIC. Data was drawn from the students’ discussions and reflective stories and analysed using a thematic and narrative approach. The findings were visualised using boundary learning journey maps and described using composite narratives. Each case study includes three composite narratives in the form of an interview with a fictitious student character. Each character describes their WIL boundary experience and learning journey that led to PPIC. Composite narratives were congruent with professional identity as a storytelling process. By merging several stories into one, the rich and complex nature of the students’ WIL learning journey was told, and each student’s anonymity was maintained.

The findings revealed that boundaries are experienced holistically and linked with the past, present and future, as well as with students’ thoughts, feelings and actions. Students experience boundaries as micro crises, which can result in identity defence leading to fault lines in the learning journey towards PPIC. Students continually reposition themselves to face boundaries that align with their intrinsic motivations. How this eventuates cannot be anticipated; only when a student confronts and explores their boundary can the full learning potential for PPIC be realised.

The findings demonstrate that boundary learning for PPIC is cyclic and integrated across four learning mechanisms (identification, coordination, reflection and transformation) and two levels (intra-personal and inter-personal). Learning can be recognised and supported by analysing student stories for thinking, feeling and acting descriptions. When viewed as a boundary journey towards PPIC, learning tended to follow a similar flow that varied at different transitional points. It started with coordination and identification learning on both levels. Reflection learning was evidenced throughout the learning journey and mediated the other learning mechanism and levels. Intra-personal learning was less evident than inter-personal learning but is imperative for the meaning-making required for PPIC. Students only activated transformation learning once they had resolved and integrated their boundary crises with reflection learning. Transformation and reflection learning on an intra-personal level led to PPIC. The students’ highly personal, emotional and profound descriptions of their changed professional perspectives were how PPIC was recognised.

Students used boundary objects to make sense of their boundary learning for PPIC. These were organic, dialogical and metaphoric, and included templates, and cultural and physical space. Boundary brokers were industry mentors, WIL educators and student peers. Student peers were the most important for their learning through shared experiences, and industry mentors modelled the behaviours and skills they needed. The WIL educator played a brokering role of a PPIC journey designer, boundary coach and learning guide.

This thesis contributes a model of designing WIL for PPIC with design considerations. The model is supplemented with a learning journey map and service blueprint template to demonstrate how the model can be used to analyse and redesign an existing WIL course. The model and associated artefacts (narratives, diagrams, design considerations, templates) synthesise existing theories and extend boundary crossing learning theory to fill a knowledge gap and contribute to WIL pedagogic practice. This contribution has implications for students, universities and WIL practitioners. The model and artefacts can support WIL educators to unravel the complexities of professional identity construction and boundary learning and explore new innovative designs to support students’ PPIC in their WIL practice. Educational designers, developers and career advisors can use the artefacts as objects of discussion during learning and teaching professional development. A student who has purposefully constructed their professional identity during their time at university is more likely to feel confident and ready to join the workplace and has the skills to continue to adapt their identity to suit their context throughout their professional life.