Higher education is often divided into discipline-oriented and professional programs. Professional programs prepare students for a specific profession and include relevant theoretical and practical knowledge. Discipline-oriented programs emphasize theoretical knowledge and research within a specific discipline or field. Except for a career within research and higher education, discipline-oriented programs provide less obvious links to future careers. The transition from student life to working life may therefore be challenging.In this paper, we present and discuss the development and implementation of a work placement course as part of the disciplinary programs in biology at the University of Bergen. The course was developed to provide students with practical-and work-related competences, to inform about opportunities for future career and to foster motivation and learning. We have revised the course according to feedback from students, workplace hosts and our experience as course teachers during the six semesters the course has been running.The work placement course is at the bachelor (BSc) level and consists of two main components; a work placement and the student's own reporting of placement outcomes. For the placement, the students work 140 hours at a workplace as a biologist. The reporting consists of four open blog-posts, one written reflective essay and a final oral presentation. The course teachers also meet with the students and convey information on the roles of biology and biologists in today's society through a Facebook group.Feedback from the students, hosts and course teachers point to a range of benefits from work practice in discipline-oriented study programs. Based on our experience, we provide guidance for implementing such courses.

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Vi presenterer ein metode for å engasjere undervisarar i SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) der undervisingsutvikling i eigen praksis vert delt gjennom deltaking på læringskonferansar. Utviklingsarbeidet blir gjort i ramma av eit pedagogisk kurs, der deltakarane gjennomfører gruppebaserte SoTL-prosjekt meiningsfulle for deira kontekst og praksis. Som del av kurset vert arbeidet sendt inn som bidrag til ein kollegavurdert læringskonferanse. Kursdesignet med kollegiale grupper og prosjekt i eigen kontekst sikrar ei viktig lokal forankring av SoTL-arbeidet. Konferansedeltaking som kursaktivitet tilfører ein ekstra dimensjon og en arena for læring og deling. Undervisarane utset arbeidet sitt for kritisk gransking og formidling i eit større miljø, og slik blir utviklingsarbeidet relevant og ekte – og ikkje berre ei oppgåve i eit kurs. Vi finn at deltakarane hadde stort utbytte av å presentere på læringskonferansar, og opplevde at konferansedeltaking gav meirverdi til kurset. Å presentere for eit interessert og kunnskapsrikt publikum var inspirerande og meiningsfullt, men undervisarane kjende òg på usikkerheit om kvalitet og kunnskapsnivå. Førebuande kursaktivitetar bidrog til å styrke sjølvtillit og kvalitet, og førebygge usikkerheit. Konferanse som kursaktivitet er krevjande for både deltakarar og kursleiar. Andre potensielle utfordringar er t.d. høgare terskel for å delta, risiko for refuserte bidrag, auka arbeidsmengde, kostnad og tidsbruk.

University teachers grow professionally from conversations about learning and teaching with colleagues. Significant informal conversations can be facilitated through formal activities initiated from the institutional side. This case-study shows how a formal institutional initiative to enhance educational quality has facilitated more significant informal conversations. Such conversations power constructive feedback to the organisation, improve the formal quality development work at the institutional level, and increase the use of collegial experiences across the institution. We identify the formal initiative “Collegial sharing sessions” as particularly efficient for fuelling significant informal conversations within and across departments.