Capability building

Readiness, resilience, and relationships: A self-directed learning tool to build core workplace capabilities before placement

Dr Victoria Dessau (presenting author), Jody P Laughton and Allanah Bruno, Institute of Health & Management

Work-integrated learning is compulsory across many programs and is primarily geared to discipline-specific competencies and graduate attributes. At the same time, generic workplace capabilities, such as negotiation, conflict resolution, professional communication in diverse settings, time management, meeting facilitation, and navigating organisational norms, are often assumed to develop “on placement” rather than taught explicitly. This project addresses that gap by designing and trialling a self-directed pre-placement micromodule that helps students build resilience and enter placements with a consistent baseline of workplace skills. The module will comprise interactive micro-topics (30–45 minutes each): (1) communication and conflict resolution (including work in diverse contexts), (2) professional behaviour, boundaries, and help-seeking, (3) effective presentations and running meetings, (4) time management, planning, and reflective practice, and (5) orientation to the Australian workforce system and organisational contexts. The final topic set will be refined through a needs-analysis survey of students completing their placement, supplemented by feedback from students, academic staff, and field educators. Content will be built on interactive learning technologies and a Universal Design for Learning approach to ensure meaningful participation for all uses. Evaluation will draw on post-placement qualitative feedback on usability and perceived impact.  Although initially developed for social work students, the module will be designed as a rapid onboarding selfdirected learning tool applicable across different disciplines and diverse placement providers, supporting equitable preparation, stronger engagement, and a balanced approach to resilience-building in an interactive learning environment. Anticipated outcomes include improved confidence, earlier demonstration of core workplace behaviours, and fewer avoidable early-placement disruptions, enabling supervisors to focus on higher-order, discipline-specific learning.

Unlikely leaders: Low-barrier student roles build capability and culture

Megan Campbell, Aryendu Singh and Vi Nguyen, La Trobe University
Presenters: Dr Emma Wearing, Abbey Mason and Long Ho, La Trobe University

La Trobe strives to create inclusive, choice-based leadership opportunities for a range of students, even those who don’t see themselves as traditional leaders. The Respect @ La Trobe Student Ambassadors represents a trauma-informed program within this wider student leadership and voice objective. This presentation explores practical strategies for building an inclusive and representative student leadership program. At La Trobe, students choose leadership roles that work for them, including the low-barrier, trauma-informed Respect @ La Trobe Student Ambassadors, which seeks out the voices that aren’t always heard. Supported by the La Trobe Students as Partners Framework, this program shows that with trust, choice, and the right tools, all students can become architects of cultural and wellbeing shifts. This program champions diversity in leadership, no perfect CV required. The choice of ways to engage in student leadership and voice at La Trobe will allow more students to lead and influence decisions and programs in areas of the university that they feel most energised by, representing more perspectives at the student leadership level. Diverse student roles also lead to more students developing stronger skills in advocacy, project design and development and collaboration with multi-disciplinary staff at various levels of institutional leadership, which are all assets in a highly competitive modern employment landscape.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL): Enhancing global connection and student wellbeing

Dr Perla Guarneros-Sanchez (presenting author) and John Mahoney, Australian Catholic University

In today’s globalised higher education landscape, fostering student engagement, intercultural competence, and wellbeing is vital. The presenters—a law academic and a member of the senior leadership group of ACU’s Centre for Education and Innovation (CEI)—seek to enhance both academic and personal experiences through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). During Semester 2, 2025, a COIL project was implemented within ACU’s Law School, connecting students and academics across the globe for meaningful collaboration. The project provides structured opportunities for cross-cultural interaction, social connection, and student wellbeing, particularly in online learning environments. The project promotes transdisciplinary and cross-cultural learning while enhancing engagement, wellbeing, and collaborative skills. Goals include developing students’ ability to navigate diverse perspectives, fostering peer networks, and integrating international experiences into the curriculum in a sustainable and accessible way. ACU’s Law School partnered with the University of Monterrey (Mexico), connecting law students in a six-week program. Students collaborate asynchronously and synchronously, including three live sessions. As part of their task, students co-analyse assessment tasks worth 40% of their coursework from both legal and cultural perspectives. Engagements, wellbeing, and learning outcomes are tracked through surveys and qualitative feedback. In addition, the CEI is developing a self-training site for academics interested in implementing COIL. We anticipate demonstrating that COIL enhances engagement, intercultural competence, critical thinking, and wellbeing by fostering social connection, peer support, and confidence in collaborative learning and by strengthening interdisciplinary and international networks. The project will be finalised by mid-October, with findings, outcomes, and implications to be ready for presentation at the National Symposium on the Student Experience and Wellbeing in Higher Education. We expect it will enrich student engagement, learning, and wellbeing, showing how international collaboration can enhance both academic and personal experiences.

Rethinking students’ experiences in government-funded exchange programs: Insights from Brazil’s Science without Borders program (2011-2017)

Icaro de Oliveira Rosa, Macquarie University

Traditionally, most of the government-funded exchange programs have been implemented by countries from the Global North (e.g., Fulbright, Erasmus). However, in recent decades, countries in the Global South have developed their own programs, particularly for outbound mobility in fields related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), given its recognised importance for economic development, employment, and innovation. Yet, despite the increasing number of agreements between countries and university networks (i.e. Russell Group, Ivy League), little is known about the differences in experiences between international students participating in government-funded programs and the these network groups, as well as experiences with scientific knowledge and skill development. Drawing on the analysis of the Brazilian government-funded program Science without Borders (SwB) (2011–2017), this presentation examines the differences in SwB students’ experiences across Australian university groups (Go8, ATN, and non-aligned universities) and how students perceived the program’s impact on their understanding of scientific knowledge and skills. Guided by a mixed-methods approach, this presentation focuses on the quantitative phase, which analysed responses from SwB students (n = 96) who studied in Australia between 2012 and 2016. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Spearman’s correlation tests were conducted to explore potential differences across university network groups. The findings indicate no statistically significant difference in the experiences of students across these groups. These results contribute to the field of comparative higher education by challenging the emphasis on internationalisation and academic mobility based on highly ranked university networks or international university rankings. They also highlight the experiences of international students with STEM backgrounds concerning their understanding and application of scientific knowledge and skills within these institutions.

Critical pedagogy as a modality of teaching for social justice: Perspectives from Australian university educators

Dr Merian Fernando, Monash College

Critical Pedagogy (CP) is a valuable educational approach that equips students to navigate discomfort and build resilience, fostering progress toward social justice in education. Yet, the concept of social justice in education remains ambiguously defined, and there has been little discussion about how CP intersects with social justice agendas in the Australian university context. This study empirically investigates this phenomenon through the guiding research question: How might teachers’ understandings of CP inform and navigate social justice educational agendas in an Australian university? This research examines how teachers' critical pedagogies can enhance student engagement, connection, and wellbeing in response to declining interest and growing doubts about the value of university education. This research employed a qualitative instrumental case study design, collecting data through a series of semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with six university educators from diverse academic disciplines. In addition, institutional and public records from Australian educational bodies, including the Department of Education, were analysed using Sankofa’s (2022) Critical Method of Document Analysis.

Full program

Abstracts