The development of work-integrated learning ecosystems: an Australian example of cooperative education

The development of work-integrated learning ecosystems: an Australian example of cooperative education

Cooperative education and principles associated with learning ecosystems appear throughout the literature. However, the application of cooperative education and learning ecosystems to work-integrated learning has not been fully examined.Furthermore, the applicability of learning ecosystems within work-integrated learning to specific professional practice domains has similarly not previously been examined.The development of domain-specific work-integrated learning ecosystems and an explanation of how they might apply to cooperative education in higher education, the purpose of this paper,are explored from three sequentially related conceptual levels:Level 1),a proto-theoretical model of cooperative education>Level 2),a functional model of a work-integrated learning ecosystem>Level 3),an example of an applied model of a work-integrated learning ecosystem.Specifically, the paper explores how policing,presented here as a working example of a socially important practice domain, has been developed into a work-integrated learning ecosystem within the Australian higher education context.

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