Work integrated learning initiatives: live case studies as a mainstream WIL assessment

Industry demands highly skilled, work ready and adaptable graduates who can solve complex problems. Work integrated learning (WIL) offers educators an authentic assessment that approximates future performance requirements. Often this would include workplace placements or internships for a selected number of students. In this paper, we evaluate the ‘live case study’ assessment as an example of an alternative embedded approach to WIL. We address a lack of simple and specific criteria for assessing WIL and assess the live case approach against these criteria. We find that the live case approach is an effective form of WIL, offering large numbers of students an authentic learning experience. We recommend this approach to universities seeking to offer large cohorts of students a workplace learning experience that is less time and resource dependent than internships, and effective for international and distance students.