Clinical and fieldwork placement in the health professions

This text prepares students for the fieldwork issues that they will confront as health professionals. It provides them with the diverse skills and techniques required in clinical and fieldwork settings, and encourages multidisciplinary practice to enable all health professionals to work together successfully.

Potential utilisation of assessment centre methodology to enhance student placement outcomes, experiences and employability

Background: Placements are of particular importance due to the richness of learning associated with placement experiences and the wider links they represent to industry and the community. Students often refer to placements as the most significant, productive and memorable component of their training. Importantly, placements also provide the opportunity for students to become work ready, i.e., integrate their knowledge into a new set of employable skills and personal qualities. There is now increased emphasis on employability by employers and universities alike; in fact, it now represents a critical performance measure for Australian universities. Despite these key points, there appears to be inconsistencies in approaches to maximising work placements across and within Universities. Assessment centre methodology may represent a useful approach to standardise and optimise work placements for all stakeholders. Assessment centre methodology has been used successfully for selection purposes in industry for the past 50 years. However, their use as a developmental tool is less prominent. Furthermore, their application in the higher education setting, particularly in the context of placements and student development appears under researched.
Overview of issue: Only one published study was found that reported the use of a developmental assessment centre with a post-graduate sample. That study took place over 10 years ago when the concept of employability was still gaining recognition and work placements were less common. The current paper reviews this unique concept in the context of the existing literature and the current needs of Universities, employers and students.
Discussion: It is argued that the reconsideration of assessment centre methodology for development represents an innovative approach to consistently maximising work placement outcomes, experiences and employability.
Conclusions: Given the importance and increased use of placements, the application of assessment centre methodology within the placement curriculum warrants further research. This methodology represents a standardised approach for implementation within a range of placement programs to enhance student development, placement outcomes and employability.

Evaluation of the use of Assessment Centre methodology to enhance development planning, work placement outcomes and work readiness for postgraduate students : a pilot

Background: Placements as a form of Work Integrated Learning are widely recognised for the positive impact they have on improving student employability and work readiness. Students can maximise strengths, improve areas of weakness, and develop a strong understanding of the requirements of their chosen field within the confines of a well monitored and rich learning environment. Assessment Centres (ACs) are commonly used in corporate settings for recruitment, selection and more recently to provide developmental feedback to participants. Based on a recent literature review, the present the present project evaluates the application of AC methodology as a developmental tool within the placement milieu. The review, which is also included the current conference proceedings details the benefits of utilising the AC process forming the impetus for the present pilot (Sturre; von Treuer & Keele 2010).
Aims: The primary aim of the paper was to evaluate the application of AC methodology as a tool for measuring and subsequently enhancing professional competencies in a sample of postgraduate students in organisational psychology (n=15).
Method: A longitudinal design was utilised with numerous evaluation points from placement stakeholders. This paper presents the first wave of findings. Students undertook a range of activities, including an in-tray exercise, role play, written report, leaderless group discussion and a personality assessment. Comprehensive feedback was provided by organisational psychologists who also fulfil the role of placement co-ordinators. With the assistance of Placement Co-ordinators, students prepared development plans relating to the competencies identified as requiring development. These plans were to be addressed and progress monitored during consecutive placements.
Results: Initial perceptions gathered from students regarding the AC process were very encouraging. Performance
evaluations collected to date, as measured by behaviourally based ratings scales completed by the students themselves and their workplace supervisors illustrate the positive effect of this methodology. The rigour and comprehensive techniques offered by the methodology enabled students to focus on and improve areas identified for development.
Conclusions: It is important to note that the present design formed a pilot study and as mentioned was undertaken with a limited sample. Future implementation is planned with larger samples, enabling a more comprehensive analysis of the methodology. Nevertheless, the methodology appears to provide a much needed strategy for the assessment and ongoing development of students prior to and during work placements. The application provides early intervention enabling students to address development needs with input from both university and organisational stakeholders based on an established, standardised process.

Problematic placement : pathways pre-service teachers’ perspectives on their infant/toddler placement

The inclusion of an infant/toddler placement in a ‘pathways’ early childhood teaching degree, where students already have qualifications and experience in working with young children, can be problematic. This pilot study investigated student teachers’ views on their infant/toddler (birth-to-two-years) placement. Sixty-six students completing their early childhood education degree at an Australian university responded to a survey seeking their perspectives on the effectiveness of the placement in developing teacher confidence, knowledge and skills, and the quality of the supervision they received. The participants had entered their degree with a two-year Diploma of Children’s Services. Responses indicated significant dissatisfaction with the quality of supervision, the absence of teacher-mentors, and the lack of opportunities to practise new approaches. Participants commented that they ‘already knew’ how to work with this age group, and that they aspired to work with older children. The results align with other findings on factors associated with positive placements, and raise questions about the effectiveness of the infant/toddler placement in its current form.

Pathways to formally assessed work placement : employers' perspectives on collaborative education in the Australian construction industry

The QS and construction industry is uniquely impacted by project-based work environments. This creates special challenges for collaborative, work-integrated education of pre-professional students. This research is based on investigating the attitudes of employer’s towards the use of formally assessed internships. The study comprised two stages- firstly a series of pilot interviews were undertaken with employers to test a number known issues and secondly, the results from the interviews were used to refine a set of questions that were put to a large focus group of employers who were invited from across the property and construction sector in Australia. The results showed that many employer organisations expressed considerable goodwill towards collaborative education with universities. However, the challenges caused by project-based work environments restrict employers' ability to provide comprehensive learning opportunities. This research discusses some of the distinctive issues associated with work-integrated learning in the construction industry and proposes some potential opportunities for overcoming these restrictions.

Optimal sensor placement in linear arrays : part I - AoA based localization

In this paper, we examine the optimal linear separation requirements for AoA sensors, in order to achieve the best performance in estimating the position of a target subjected to noisy measurements. Cramer-Rao inequality and the corresponding Fisher information matrix are used to analyze the sensor-target geometry, in order to characterize localization performance with respect to the linear spacial distribution of sensors.

Overcoming inconsistencies in placement assessment : the case for developmental assessment centers

Placements are integral to many university courses and to increasing student employability skills. Nevertheless, several complications, such as the assessment of placement experiences which often go against the principles of procedural justice, may limit placement effectiveness. For example, procedures are not applied uniformly across students; and evaluations of intangible qualities are susceptible to biases. As a result, effort and learning can be compromised. This paper advocates the use of developmental assessment centers to help solve these shortcomings. Developmental assessment centers are often used in organizations to evaluate capabilities of individuals and to facilitate development. Participants complete a series of work related and standardized tasks. Multiple raters then utilize a systematic approach to evaluate participants on a range of competencies, and consequently present constructive feedback to facilitate learning. Therefore, developmental assessment center principles match the key determinants of procedural justice and thus overcome many problems with traditional placement assessments.

Optimal sensor placement in range based localization for linear arrays

This paper investigates the linear separation requirements for range sensors in order to achieve the optimal performance in estimating the position of a target from multiple and typically noisy sensor measurements. We analyze the sensor-target geometry in terms of the Cramer-Rao inequality and the corresponding Fisher information matrix, in order to characterize localization performance with respect to the linear special distribution.