Students on placement

There are three courses in the School of Information Studies which require students to undertake a placement. These are:

Choosing a placement host:

Given the diversity of student experience, knowledge and skills, the School of Information Studies allows students to self-select their placement hosts. They are provided support where needed and advised of the requirements we have about which organisations are eligible to host a student.

We encourage our students to consider the professional placement a unique opportunity to go beyond their comfort zone and engage with a professional workplace outside their own wherever possible as we believe this is extremely beneficial in learning new skills and knowledge, as well as expanding one’s professional network.

We do allow internal placements in some circumstances however – including when they work in a large organisation where they have the opportunity to undertake duties they normally don’t do in their position/role. These duties may be a special project or daily operations in a role they’re not familiar with. For example:

  • a placement in the scholarly communications area of a large university library when the student usually works in cataloging,
  • a placement in the records management section of a local council when the student usually works in the library,
  • a placement in the library of a large public sector organisation when the student usually works as a marketing officer in another part of the service.

The organisation should ensure they are familiar with their legal obligations around workplace learning under the Fair Work Act if they allow their employees to undertake the professional placement with them.

International placements were supported pre-COVID so long as the host met the same criteria as for onshore students, liaison with CSU Global and additional documentation was completed by the student. Currently there are limited opportunities doing these kinds of placements and the student should discuss with their subject coordinator before submitting a proposal for an international placement.

Length of placement

All students in the School who are enrolled in the Bachelor of Information Studies, the Master of Information Studies or the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) must complete one ten-day placement during their enrolment. Teacher Librarianship students undertake a 10 working day placement in a library or information agency other than a school library as their course is accredited by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and they are eligible to work post-graduation in non-school libraries and information organisations.

Timing of placements

Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Information Studies or Master of Information Studies courses undertake two single session placement subjects, one called Planning for Professional Placement and one for the Placement itself. They must enrol in these two subjects over consecutive sessions so their planning is done well in advance of them actually doing the placement.

Students enrolled in the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) course undertake one, year-long subject (covering a professional study visit, a professional placement and a professional portfolio). There are two intakes a year from late February/early March-late October/early November (session 31) and July through to February (session 61).

All students must complete pre-placement assessments before they can organise and do a placement and take into consideration placement paperwork/processes to occur. Students are advised to take the subject expectations around timing their placement into consideration prior to contacting potential hosts and should be prepared to negotiate mutually agreeable and acceptable dates within their enrolment.

Prior to undertaking a placement

Students in all the courses have pre-placement subject requirements to fulfil before they can obtain formal approval to go on a placement. These involve completing subject modules which include: how to plan an appropriate placement, submitting a placement proposal; articulating their professional goals and the reason for their host choice; and learning about reflective practice.

Students must also complete a pre-placement assessment task where they acknowledge and agree to present and behave professionally throughout their placement, comply with CSU’s policies around Harrassment and Bullying Prevention, Anti-Racism and Student Misconduct as well as abide by all WH&S, Intellectual Property and any other relevant policies that the host organisation adheres to.

Placement report and Placement Review Meeting record

During and after their placement, students in all courses are also required to complete a formal placement review meeting with their placement supervisor at the end of the placement and sign off on a Placement Review Meeting Record. This is attached to the post-placement Placement Report they must submit after their placement finishes.

For Bachelor of Information Studies students in INF222 (Professional Placement), the Placement Report is a 2000 word report where they must:

  • Provide an overview of the host organisation including its role, vision, mission, goals, structure and so on
  • Relate theory to practice by discussing two organisational functions such as management and staffing, services provided by the organisation, marketing, technologies used in the organisation or other core areas from the course
  • Write a reflection about the placement experience. This includes analysis and discussion of activities they were involved in and their overall learning. They must also submit a signed Placement Review Meeting Record (from a discussion with their primary placement supervisor (and, if desired, other relevant staff who may have been assisting the primary supervisor) in the workplace about their placement and their progress towards meeting the professional goals they articulated prior to undertaking the placement).

For Master of Information Studies students in INF572 (Professional Placement), the Placement Report is a 2000 word report where they must:

Teacher Librarianship students do their professional placement as part of a subject called ETL512 Professional Experience and Portfolio.

ETL512 students are expected to:

  • Provide an overview of the organisation but also contextualise, critically analyse and discuss the role of the organisation in terms of its value to society
  • Focus on one subject area completed during the Masters of Education- Teacher Librarianship course and connect theory and content form that subject to the real-life work context experienced during the placement.
  • Give a critical reflection on the placement experience including activities they undertook and feedback from the Placement Review Meeting with the supervisor at the end of the experience. They must also discuss the value of the overall placement experience in their development as a teacher librarian.
  • Include a signed Placement Review Meeting Record from the final discussion with the primary workplace supervisor about their placement, including their progression toward meeting their articulated professional goals from the Placement Proposal.
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