Engineering and Agricultural Internships

1. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Engineering and Agricultural Internships Susan Doel School of Engineering

2. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship An internship that enables students to develop and demonstrate engineering graduate attributes whilst undertaking a high quality research project.

3. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship (PEPS)

4. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship • Six month programme comprising; • one semester vacation work • one semester PEPS scholarship • Placements sourced by School and students apply • Elective • Fourth year engineering students • Written contract with placement provider • Fully accredited program • Two enrolled courses • 6 unit research project • 2 unit professional development course

5. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship ENGG4011 Research Project (6 units) Project agreed by placement and university prior to commencement of placement Must be of suitable academic rigour for fourth year student IP retained by placement Assigned academic supervisor with specialist knowledge Assessed project plan and report Presentation to placement

6. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship ENGG4010 Professional Development (2 units) Professional Development Log (weekly logs) Critical Analysis of Professional Abilities (report drawn from logs) Presentation of Professional Abilities (job applications) Work-Integrated Learning: A Critical Analysis (literature review) Workplace performance (supervisor report) Lessons Learned (presentation)

7. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Central to the professional development course is the Professional Development Log or PDL

8. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship • Professional Development Log • Kept by each student and submitted weekly • Students identify critical learning events in terms of professional development • Students analyse the most significant of these events using a standard analysis template • Submitted via email • Assessment and feedback returned within 48 hours

9. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship • Analysis? • Situation: What actually happened? • Affect: What was its impact on you personally? • Interpretation: What did you learn from the experience? • Decision: What did you decide to do so as to become a better engineer?

10. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Situation: What actually happened? “The day before I had to complete an experimental run, I was talking to one of the techs, who informed me that he needed to use the golf buggy (for travelling around the plant) at a specific time the next day (7.30 am). I mentioned that I was also going to use it to get some samples, and I would aim to get there at 7 am, and head straight out, to have the buggy available when he needed it. As it turned out I was late getting to work, arriving at 7.10 am, which meant that I could not use the buggy to get samples, and later the tech told me, (quite annoyed), that he had had to rush around to complete a sampling run at 6.30 am in order to get the buggy back at 7 am for me (I wasn’t aware of this) and that if I needed a favour from him again, not to ask.”

11. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Affect: What was its impact on you personally? I was surprised that he reacted so badly to what seemed like a small misunderstanding. I also felt annoyed because I didn’t know that he was making an effort to have the buggy ready for me at this certain time, and if this was the case I certainly would have made the effort to get there with plenty of time to spare. At the time I believed that it would be there at my convenience if I arrived at 7 am.”

12. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Interpretation: What did you learn from the experience? “I learned that in the workplace, people will often have different agendas that must be worked around, whereas in university everyone is there for your benefit (the student) so to speak. I also learned that your actions can have a large effect on the amount of work that others have to do, regardless of whether you realise it at the time, and so care must be taken to see the ‘big picture’ rather than just focusing on your small role within the community.”

13. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Decision: What did you decide to do so as to become a better engineer? “I will identify situations where my actions could have an effect on the work of others and make sure that the outcome will be beneficial to both parties. Recording of these situations in a reflexive journal (both successful and unsuccessful) will also help in the case of future events. I will aim to enter as many possible situations as I can identify, and then check them at the end of the PEPS period. I will then be able to compare the various situations and see if the earlier situations allowed me to make better decisions later on.”

14. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship ENGG4010 Professional Development Professional Development Log (weekly logs) Critical Analysis of Professional Abilities (report drawn from logs – standard template) Presentation of Professional Abilities (job applications) Work-Integrated Learning: A Critical Analysis (literature review) Workplace performance (supervisor report) Lessons Learned (presentation)

15. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship • SO, what do we think the student’s get out of it: • Develop critical reflection skills • Realisation that professional development will be as important as engineering skills in career progression • Ability to recognise own strengths and weaknesses • Become more effective workers whilst on placement

16. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship SO, what do the student’s get out of it: “I didn’t think I would benefit at the start, but once I considered the benefit that it would have for me to achieve my CP Eng, my attitude changed.” “Time management has become something I am much better at.” “It did force me to think back and remember my week which was good.” “Generally, I learnt from negatived experiences ie when things went wrong and I had to deal with certain issues.”

17. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship SO, how would student’s like it to be changed? “The actual process of reflecting on my learning experiences may have been useful, however, the format of the assessment led to it becoming a process of ‘going through the motions’ in a very formulaic way.’ “Possibly a less structured log with less frequent entries would promote a more realistic response.” “Way less logs.”

18. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship • A similar internship format is being piloted by Agricultural Science Students • School of Land, Crop and Food Science • School of Animal Studies

19. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship Agricultural Science Internship Third year Agricultural Science students Course requirement One semester Students source placements Fully accredited Three courses

20. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship AGRC3028 Enterprise Analysis (2 units) AGRC3029 Professional Development (2 units)Preparation for placement Learning contract Professional Development Log Workplace supervisor’s report Lessons Learnt presentation AGRC3030 Workplace Project (4 units)

21. Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship For more informationwww.uq.edu.au/peps Susan Doel s.doel@uq.edu.au