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Introduction
This case study concerns a final-year professional writing capstone at Curtin University, Perth. The capstone combines a work placement with in-class discussions, an online blog, a basic ePortfolio, and career-focused seminars.

Professional writing graduates enter a range of associated professions. They now face a work environment where in-house digital publishing is more prevalent than traditional print publishing, contract work outweighs traditional full-time roles, and new roles regularly emerge as a result of changing technologies and changing work processes.

In order to prepare students for this environment, and in line with other Australian undergraduate programs, the Professional Writing Placement capstone integrates creative practice and academic inquiry with training and experience in professional competencies. The final-year capstone unit is a placement experience, structured to further develop students’ career literacy and thinking and to support their transition from study to work. Students refine the skills and capabilities required to excel in careers within the professional writing sphere, and develop evidence of their educational achievements that can later be presented to potential employers.

Delivery format
In this single-unit capstone students undertake fieldwork and practice their writing skills in an approved public, private or community sector workplace. Students spent two days per week over seven weeks in the workplace, or one day per week over fourteen weeks, undertaking a range of professional writing and related tasks. Students are given support to identify and arrange their own work placement. Placements must meet specified criteria, which include alignment of work activities with the study area and student’s skill level. The placements may be dedicated to a specific project or series of projects. The student and academic supervisor are briefed by the employer on the nature of the work, and a letter of agreement specifying roles, responsibilities, timelines and other relevant information between the employer, academic supervisor and student is signed by all three parties prior to the placement commencing. Academic supervisors provide approval for the work placement on the provision that it capacitates the learning outcomes of the unit.

Supporting this work placement are individual and group supervision meetings, two career-related workshops at the beginning and end of semester, as well as an introductory ePortfolio (eP) session so that students can begin evidencing their learning. Students are also required to participate each week in an online blog that connects peers and lecturers. Finally, students submit two career development tools such as a CV and a capacity statement, and they create an eP home page.

The workshops
These optional career workshops enable learning through discourse in which contrary perspectives are explored in mutually sustaining and constructive settings. This process encourages students to divulge their individual thinking around a task, to mediate the different experiences through logical reasoning, and to resolve contradictory statements. Approximately two-thirds of students attend.

The e-Portfolio (eP)
The ePortfolio process prompts students to identify their professional persona and amass the evidence to support it. This has a considerable impact on students’ self-efficacy and professional identity. In this sense the eP serves as a repository for both experience and learning.

The online blog
The online blog is a reflective and social resource throughout the professional placement. Students use the resource to discuss workplace challenges, learning and new knowledge gained within their placements. Each student is asked to contribute a minimum of six blog posts of 200-250 words as well as at least six responses to other students’ posts (ie they must post weekly for the semester). They also discuss the process and content of career development tools being built within the eP. Students give feedback and constructive criticism, and they benefit from multiple sources of feedback in addition to the shared experiences of peers in a diverse range of workplace settings.

Assessment
The assessment for the unit is comprised of an employer’s report (weighted at 50%), a reflective online blog (30%) and a final report (20%).

Employers report
The employer’s report is submitted to the academic supervisor and provides a breakdown of the student’s tasks and performance during their work placement, including their strengths, areas for improvement and future recommendations.

Reflection: Online blog reports and discussions
Students are required to reflect on the ongoing progress of their placement and report to the academic supervisor via the online blog and discussions. These blog entries, discussion and comments on other students’ blogs constitute the reflection.

Final Report
The final report for this unit is not a traditional report, but rather a task that helps students turn their placement and blog experiences into material that is useful for a future career. The report utilises the TILE approach (see reference below). It consists of a strengths/weakness matrix, completion of a ‘who am I?’ questionnaire, a concise summary of the work placement tasks, challenges and achievements in 500 words, a 200 word capacity statement and the front page of their eP. It is also encouraged that students attach a CV to their eP.

Resourcing
There are differences in the manner of delivery from standard units, with much of the time spent supporting students to find their placement, managing that process and ensuring all is running smoothly, moderating online discussions and assessing those. However, the placement is treated in the same way as other units for resourcing purposes and allocated the same workload time as for a regular 2 hour weekly seminar class.

Outcomes
Students learn to apply professional writing and editing in the workplace context, work independently and collaboratively to develop ideas, policies and manage workplace issues, and to critically reflect on and evaluate professional writing and associated workplace tasks. More broadly, students learn to research and convey information for a range of potential audiences using different genres and forms including features, speeches, reports, discussion papers, creative non-fiction and promotional writing. Students are also exposed to print and electronic publishing, concept development, scheduling, copy and structural editing. The broad nature of the training means that students develop a wide range of evidence to show to potential employers and clients. The alignment of professional placement, eP and regular physical and online interactions, prompts students to explore views of self and career from multiple perspectives. We believe that the combination of approaches works so well because they are all positioned as relevant, practical and timely career development tools.

Tools and resources for the capstone unit
Unit Guide (Professional Writing Placement 323)
Learning guides and resources in the capstone (looking back on a future career, defining the writer; writing seminar discussion prompts ‘three little words’) and ePortfolfio summary slides
TILE learning objects (elevator speech; plotting your preferences and creating a high achieving group)
Research report (Employer expectations of professional writing graduates)

For more information and tools for the TILE approach, see: http://thetileapproach.ning.com/

Acknowledgements
Support for the TILE project was provided by the Australian Government’s Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT). We would like to acknowledge the project team, led by Dr Jennifer Rowley, and the students who shared their experiences with us. Findings will be published as journal articles, which we are happy to share!
Image by Charles Atkeison (2012). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

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Key characteristics
Supported placement with project/s, one semester, 1/8 full time load
Assessment – Individual; negotiated outcomes; ePortfolios and blogs
Student numbers – 20-24 students per semester

Contacts
Dawn Bennett (Professor and Director of the Creative Workforce initiative) [email_link email=”dawn.bennett@curtin.edu.au”]Email Dawn[/email_link]

Rachel Robertson (Lecturer) [email_link email=”Rachel Robertson”]Email Rachel[/email_link]
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