Course Title: Work Integrated Learning Interdisciplinary Projects (Vietnam)

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Work Integrated Learning Interdisciplinary Projects (Vietnam)

Credit Points: 12


Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

SOCU2248

City Campus

Undergraduate

365H Global Studies, Soc Sci & Plng

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2009

Course Coordinator: Dr Peter Phipps

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 2039

Course Coordinator Email:peter.phipps@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 37 Level 5, Melbourne City Campus

Course Coordinator Availability: by appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Undergraduate Students: You will have successfully completed a minimum of one year full-time study or equivalent of approved program.
Postgraduate Students: You will have successfully completed a minimum of one year full-time study or equivalent of your approved postgraduate program or you will be able to demonstrated significant work experience relevant to this field of study.
Students from both RMIT Melbourne and RMIT Vietnam are eligible to participate. If you are a student from a university other than RMIT, you are able to participate in this course with prior special approval by the course coordinator. You will need to submit a written application and attend an interview process prior to being selected to participate in the course. Note that a quota applies.


Course Description

The integration of work based learning and academic learning, commonly referred to as Work Integrated learning (WIL), will allow you to solve authentic industry problems or address real issues faced in organisations.
As a member of a project team you will be responsible for a specific stage of a larger project cycle. If you are undertaking this course as a postgraduate student you will likely be involved in the project as a project leader and will be responsible for the overall management, planning and completion of that project.
Your project may, for instance, assess the feasibility of a future project; develop monitoring or procedural protocols; or conduct a review of past projects and the impact of those projects. On occasion, your client may be RMIT itself, but on most iterations you will be working to assist a Vietnam-based organisation.
Before the 2-week intensive work in Vietnam, you will undertake preparatory work in your country of study (Australia or Vietnam). You will work in a team situation with students from other discipline areas to find efficient, productive and attainable solutions to the project’s objectives.
This is real-life project work, and provides you with a rich, rewarding and challenging opportunity to work as a multi-disciplinary team with the support and guidance of academic leaders and industry experts. Because we are working with real-life organisations in a developing country, the actual requirements of the project at the implementation phase may vary from those presented to you when you originally applied for entry into the course. Therefore, you need to be of an adaptable and flexible temperament, accepting that in real-life situations projects can change.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

On successful completion of this course you will be able to:

  • Apply your discipline-specific skills and knowledge in an authentic work situation
  • Formulate strategies to work effectively within an interdisciplinary team
  • Produce practical outputs within the constraints of time and resources
  • Synthesise a range of different views and information into a coherent set of recommendations in response to an authentic work project
  • Refine your sensitivity and awareness of the complexities and challenges of working in an international context
  • Critique and evaluate your leadership skills and capacity to work productively as part of a team



Overview of Learning Activities

You will be working in small project teams with students from a range of discipline areas to complete an industry project. Working collectively, you will identify, articulate and communicate possible solutions to a range of issues confronting a Vietnam-based organisation.

Note: To complete this course you will be required to travel to Vietnam for a specified period.
The learning activities will include:

  • Theoretical input: You will participate in lectures/ seminars/ and workshops and be provided with a list of prescribed readings.
  • Practical input: You will have the opportunity to engage with experts and professionals in the field, as well as from the participating organisation. This course will provide you and your class with the opportunity to receive industry feedback on your learning activities or assessment tasks.
  • Application: You will work in project teams to research the issues identified by the organisation and present recommendations for realistic solutions to address these issues.


Overview of Learning Resources

You will use the blackboard course shell (in MyRMIT) set up with a number of communication strategies, to communicate across Melbourne and Vietnam. Utilisation of wikis and blogs, within MyRMIT, will be essential to prepare and research in preparation to the project implementation within Vietnam. This tool will also assist with the writing of the final report. Required and suggested reading lists will be available at the beginning of the course. (These texts are readily available within RMIT Library resources or online).


Overview of Assessment

This course requires evaluation of your performance in team-based professional activities at both an individual and group level. If undertaking this course at postgraduate level, you will be required to demonstrate higher levels of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation through the course assessment tasks.
Individual assessment tasks may include:

  • An individual report on goals and aspirations for participation in this course
  • An individual self-evaluation


Group assessment tasks may include:

  • Compilation of a project plan
  • Compilation and presentation of preliminary recommendations to Industry panel
  • Compilation of a professional standard final report for the Project Partner
  • You should refer to Part B of the course guide for further information on assessment.