In this blog Lannie Birch, Learning and Teaching Academy, gives an account of Anne-Marie Fannon’s keynote call to embed Work Integrated Learning into teaching practices at Heriot-Watt University.
Anne-Marie Fannon, Director of the Work-Learn Institute, University of Waterloo, Canada
In her keynote address delivered at the annual Heriot-Watt University Learning and Teaching Conference 2026, 2 June, Anne-Marie Fannon, director of the Work-Learn Institute at the University of Waterloo in Canada, drew on her experience of working with a wide range of universities to share key lessons about the value of Work Integrated learning (WIL) and how to embed it into university curricula. Given the expectation that a university degree leads to employability, she argued, WIL should be understood as an integral part of learning and be explored as a question of curricular and educational design. In her words, ‘when we build employability into our curriculum, we not only enrich the learning experience …, but we strengthen the position of our institutions, … enrich our own work and inspire ourselves’. With this outlook, she delivered an optimistic message, suggesting that there is ‘so much we can do to build on our disciplinary foundation, [and] strengthen the learning outcomes for our students …’.
Why embedding employability is important to a learner’s journey
University courses currently face the challenge of how to adapt courses quickly enough to keep up with changes in the workplace. Integrating employability into courses, Fannon argued, allows teachers to ‘build and inculcate the very skills that our learners are going to need to thrive in these times of change’, with positive effects that reach well beyond the classroom. These effects include adaptability, resilience, curiosity, knowledge transfer, and lifelong learning, among others’. Research into this has shown strong post-graduation outcomes for WIL. In the case of the Canadian ‘Co-op’ programme, for example, students who had graduated as much as 50 years earlier indicated that the programme had increased not only their career skills but also their ‘confidence, adaptability and willingness to navigate uncertainty and change’.
What is WIL and how is it done?
Fannon explored several definitions of work integrated learning offered by scholars from diverse global institutions, including the Canadian Work Integrated Learning Association’s (CEWIL) nine types of WIL, which range from apprenticeship, through community service learning, to entrepreneurship. Given the range of options, she posed the question of ‘how should this be integrated into University learning?’ A meaningful place to begin, she suggested, is often with small acts of curriculum design, which can be assessed through the lens of authentic learning. Her memorable formula for implementing authentic and proximate tasks in a measured and incremental way is: ‘one assessment, one authentic problem, one partnership, one reflection; one opportunity for students to communicate with a real audience, engage with a live issue, or just to reflect on what they’re learning about themselves and their developing capabilities’. Small changes can begin to move a curriculum towards greater relevance and authenticity.
Embedding employability into Heriot-Watt courses
Many university teachers are already integrating WIL into their teaching, Fannon noted, and building on existing work is the most practical and effective way to develop a curricular focus on employability. Drawing on examples from across Heriot-Watt University, she mentioned ‘The Pitch’, a global marketing competition in which students at Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh Business School take a real brief from a major industry partner and then pitch live to a panel of expert judges. Also mentioned was a course at the School of Textile and Design in which students took a project through its full life cycle, including conception, design, production and marketing. Her final example was how Oriam had developed links with external sporting partners. These examples all demonstrated proximity to a real-world workplace and the authenticity of the tasks, which involved ‘engaging with challenges that feel relevant and consequential’.
Similarly, familiar forms of engagement such as Tax clinics, Law clinics, social media exercises, student engagements with community health bodies are all valid and useful exercises that can be enhanced to scale up the curricular element of work integrated learning. This scaling can be done, she suggested, through mapping what is already in place to enhance and embed work of this sort in a curriculum. A second important action is to connect with others who want to share and explore this sort of teaching; here Fannon pointed to ASET: The (UK) Work Based Learning and Placement Learning Association, as a key place to share resources and learn from others. She further invited Deans and educational leaders to draw the innovations of teachers and teams into broader institutional policy and planning.
Conclusion
Embedding WIL at programme and curricular level is worth doing for a wider set of reasons, in Fannon’s view. The evidence suggests that, beyond employment preparation alone, ‘properly structured work integrated learning can build those very future-ready competencies that will help us all thrive’. With this, her call was to continue to develop and embed the rich partnerships and work-related programmes already in place at Heriot-Watt; and to do this by ‘coming together as a community of educators, thinking at the programme level, designing and building together for that shared purpose’.
Watch the Keynote by Anne-Marie Fannon.
Explore the literature used in the lecture; for example:
Drewery, David, and T. Judene Pretti. 2021. ‘The Building Blocks of Relevant Work Experiences’, International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 22(2), 241–251.
Kaider, Frederika Kaider, Rachael Hains-Wesson, and Karen Young. 2017. ‘Typology of Authentic WIL Activities and Assessment’, Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 18(2), 153–165.
Linn, Patricia. 2015. ‘A Lifespan Perspective on Cooperative Education Learning: A Grounded Theory’, Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 16(4), 301–326.
Wynoch, Rosalie. 2020. ‘Work-Ready Graduates: The Role of Co-op Programs in Labour Market Success’, C.D. Howe Institute Commentary 562.
Zegwaard, Karsten, T. Judene Pretti, Anna D. Rowe, and Sonia J. Ferns. 2023. ‘Defining work-integrated learning’, in The Routledge International Handbook of Work-Integrated Learning, ed. by Karsten Zegwaard and T. Judene Pretti, 3rd edn (Routledge).
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Featured image: MS Stock images
