Practicum (ECON3380)

Course overview

This course aims to provide final year students with the opportunity to apply conceptual knowledge to the real world via a professional placement. As such, this course strongly links discipline learnings, personal employability skills and attributes developed by students across the duration of their studies with the challenges and expectations of working in industry. In doing so, students have the opportunity to gain valuable work and to connect this experience to the development of a workplace ready skill-set. Successful completion of the course will provide students with the employability skills required for transition to the world of work. Further information about how to apply for ECON3380 can be found on the Faculty's work-integrated learning website.

This is a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) course that provides students with the opportunity to apply their conceptual knowledge to the real world via a professionalﾠplacement. The placement allows you to integrate your theoretical and conceptual knowledge with the skills and problem-solving techniques required in the work place. The course is particularly focused on enabling students to develop their employability skills, gain knowledge, understand the attitudes of business professionals, grow their professional network, and engage with real world business issues.

PURPOSE OF PRACTICUM

The purpose of thisﾠplacement is to gain a greater insight into working within a professional environmentﾠand to develop anﾠemployability toolkit, which together actﾠas a springboard to your future career.ﾠThis course supports you in undertakingﾠan industry placement or internship of at least 100-120 hours in total, relevant to yourﾠstudies or career of interest.ﾠYou are required to source your own paid or unpaid opportunity, which must be approved by the BEL Employability team.ﾠStudents who require help in finding a suitable placement can accessﾠsupport from BEL Employability in the form of industry introductions.ﾠNOTE:ﾠYou may be required to participate in a competitive recruitment process to secure a placement.

The changing nature of work and the needs of employers necessitate a flexible approach to placements. Therefore, the placement may be completed in one block of full-time work during the semester break, or two to three days per week throughout semester.ﾠNOTE: One day per week is not recommended, as our experience shows that the likelihood of your being given realistic work tasks and being included in the work team is significantly reduced.ﾠ

During your placement, you will maintain an online reflective journal on the Blackboard site to assist you in demonstratingﾠlearnings, and towards the end of the course, you will submit a professional poster outlining your personal brand.ﾠ

Employability and career progression are important outcomes of any degree. The Professional Practicumﾠaims to develop awareness of yourﾠemployability strengths, your development needs and how to create an action plan to strengthen these needs. Thus, it isﾠstructured to promoteﾠa valuable industryﾠplacement, real work experiences and assists in bridgingﾠyourﾠtransformation from student to reflective practitioner.ﾠThe course's assessment tasks are designed to assist you with this aims. The workshops will provide guidence about combining reflection with evidence from academic readings to structure the writing of the assessments.ﾠ

Course requirements

Assumed background

Enrolment in this course is limitedﾠto students in the final year ofﾠthe Bachelor of Economics program. Before enrolling in this course, you must have approval by BEL Employabilityﾠand written confirmation of one of the following placement options:

• Paid or unpaid internship or work experience placement of at least 100-120 hours in total during the summer break 2022
• Paid or unpaid internship or work experience placement of at least 100-120 hours in total during semester 1, 2023

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

GPA of 4.0 or higher. Approval required from Head of School via BEL Student Administration Team.

Restrictions

Restricted to students in the final year of the BEcon program

Course contact

Course staff

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Additional timetable information

Workshops commence in Teaching Week 1.

Please see the Learning Activities section of this Course Profile for the timetabling implications of public holidays.

Important Dates:

·        Public Holidays: Fri 18 April (Good Friday), Mon 5ﾠMay (Labour Day).

·        Mid-Semester Break: 21ﾠApril - 25ﾠApril. Semester 1 classes recommence on Mon 28ﾠApril.

Students should refer to the timetable prior to the commencement of classes to ensure that they have the most up to date information, as from time to time late room changes may occur.

Aims and outcomes

This course aims to provideﾠ students with the opportunity to apply ﾠconceptual knowledge to the real world via a professionalﾠ placement. As such, this courseﾠ strongly linksﾠ discipline learnings, personal employability skills and attributes developed by students across the duration of their studies with the challenges and expectations of working in industry. In doing so, students have ﾠthe opportunity to gain valuable work experience in their chosen profession and, importantly, to connect ﾠthis experience to the development of an employability workplace-ready skill-set.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment details

Video Pitch- Your Brand

Mode

Oral

Category

Presentation

Weight

20%

Due date

4/04/2025 1:15 pm

Learning outcomes

L01, L02

Task description

Submission guidelines

Blackboard

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 7 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Reflections

Mode

Written

Category

Reflection

Weight

40%

Due date

2/05/2025 1:15 pm

Learning outcomes

L03, L04

Task description

Submission guidelines

Blackboard

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 7 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Professional Development Plan

Mode

Written

Category

Paper/ Report/ Annotation

Weight

40%

Due date

30/05/2025 1:15 pm

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03, L04, L05

Task description

Submission guidelines

Turn-it-in via blackboard

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 7 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Additional course grading information

A student's final overall end of semester percentage mark will be rounded to determine their final grade. For example, 64.5% rounds to 65%, while 64.4% rounds to 64%.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is available for this course.

Additional assessment information

Plagiarism

The School of Economics is committed to reducing the incidence of plagiarism. Further information on plagiarism, and how to avoid an allegation of plagiarism, is available in this course profile under Section 6.1 - Assessment Related Policies & Guidelines. Please refer to 6.1 and the link to theﾠAcademic Integrity Module (AIM). It is strongly recommended that you complete the AIM if you have not already done so.

Learning resources

You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Library resources

Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.

Additional learning resources information

Please see Blackboard site for selected reading material.ﾠ

During the semester, students will be required to participate in Employability Intensives, comprising 2-3 hour sessions designed to develop your workplace self-awareness and personal brand management. In doing so, you will engage in career coaching, peer-to-peer mentoring, a community-based activity, and the MOOC, Unlocking your Employability.ﾠ

NOTE:ﾠRecognition of Prior Learning (RPL) may be provided for some of these activities, and upon approval by your Course Coordinator.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

Policies and procedures

University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:

• Student Code of Conduct Policy
• Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
• Assessment Procedure
• Examinations Procedure
• Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.