Workload implications of teaching and administering work-integrated learning: the Macquarie University experience through PACE

Macquarie University's Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) program is an initiative designed to provide work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities to all undergraduate students. The size and scope of PACE, and its thorough embedding into the curriculum across multiple disciplines, differentiates it from other university work-integrated learning initiatives. These characteristics also portend a number of workload implications for staff. While previous research and anecdotal evidence suggest that WIL units (i.e. courses, subjects) are more time consuming and resource intensive to administer and teach than 'traditional' classroom-based subjects, few studies have systematically collected empirical data on an institution-wide basis to test these assertions. This chapter presents preliminary findings of the first phase of a research project examining the workload involved in developing and delivering PACE units at Macquarie University. More specifically, we report data obtained using a diary-style survey instrument administered to ten university staff over one teaching session. Initial findings suggest that there is considerable variability in the workload involved in teaching and administering WIL units (particularly in terms of overall hours worked). The main drivers of this variability appear to be the number of students enrolled in the unit, and aspects of its mode of delivery. Some commonalities were also identified, most notably peaks and troughs in workload, atypical session structures and similarity in the types of tasks that were most time-consuming.