Students from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences were forced to adapt quickly and get creative while completing their Work Integrated Learning Placements during Adelaide’s recent COVID-19 lockdown. Sam Kuhl (BA), Grace Woodall (BTourism) and Matthew Atkinson (BTourism) spoke about how the lockdown affected their work and positives that have come from doing a placement during COVID-19.
Grace Woodall, Bachelor of International Tourism.
Placement organisation: Department of Environment and Water. I helped develop a report for a Kangaroo Island Re-imagining project after the devastating effects of the fires in early 2020.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the organisation you work for? Instead of working within the department offices, we completed our placement online, from home. So far, our placement revolves around research for the discovery phase, which is not all that different to online learning at uni.
What have you learned? Although things may be difficult, work can still be completed from home. The tourism conference I attended was able to call into 7 remote locations around the state that would not have been able to attend otherwise. I think this will become a new method in the future.
How do you think this will benefit your career? If I had not taken part in this industry placement, I would not have developed my skills within an industry experience. I also wouldn’t have had the chance to create new connections within the South Australian tourism community.
What are some of the challenges the organisation had to overcome in this time? Going into a second mini-lockdown with heavy restrictions meant that we couldn’t attend a few of our meetings, such as the eco-tourism conference. However, worked through these issues by using Microsoft Teams to meet up, chat and develop ideas.
If you knew what was ahead in 2020, what would you tell yourself? I would not hesitate to have done a placement through non-semester one. Getting in and getting it done would have been a lot easier than sitting through such a long period of uncertainty through semester one and two. Also, look into and chat further with your teachers and mentors about placement availabilities.
Sam Kuhl, Bachelor of Arts, High Achievers.
Placement organisation: National Trust of South Australia. I have been working on a creative response for use at one of the National Trust sites as information and interaction with the site. This has mostly been writing, research and putting together a creative writing response. I have also observed several school programs and assisted in any way I could.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the organisation you are working for? Opening hours, programs and events have all changed to fit with social distancing and to make them economical with only smaller groups. School programs still run with dozens of children but within participant limits and split into groups.
What have you learned during this period? The National Trust runs some excellent programs and have an interesting role in education and events which I have never been involved with before. Their research and role in maintaining sites is interesting and the business side of heritage is completely foreign to me, but has offered new insights for me.
How do you think this will benefit your career? It has given me a new view on history and heritage work. The combination of creative writing and history will help me in the future as I look to combine my Creative Writing study with my interest in History.
What are some challenges the organisation had to overcome? Participant restrictions has forced the National Trust to adjust its events and programs but I’m still able to go into the National Trust and work and research in person and supplement that with work from home to continue writing.
If you could go back to this time last year, and you knew what was ahead in 2020, what would you tell yourself? Be open to adjusting the way you work. Changes such as online classes, less time on campus, less options for hands-on research for the project have all been products of the restrictions but have not all been negative. I’ve been able to work fine from home and have just had to think ahead in preparing my research for the National Trust.
Matthew Atkinson, Bachelor of Tourism and Events
Placement organisation: Department of Environment and Water. I worked with fellow students Grace Woodall and Isaac Peplow on the Department of Environment and Water’s Re-imaging Kangaroo Island Initiative, which aims to address how elements of conservation are able to become embedded within tourism experiences following the devastating 2019/2020 bushfires. Our work so far has mainly revolved around working from home and doing preliminary desktop research about the idea of volunteer and ‘regenerative tourism’ programs which will aim to be incorporated onto Kangaroo Island. We have also been doing some stakeholder mapping and planning for our visit to Kangaroo Island in early December, when we will consult with key stakeholders on the idea of incorporating regenerative tourism programs into what the island already has to offer.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the organisation you are working for? All of our work so far has been from home and online; we organise weekly Microsoft Teams meetings with our supervisors to keep in touch and discuss progress and ideas. We had an initial orientation at DEW’s city offices, where we met the tourism team, and attended the Tourism Restart Conference at Adelaide Oval on 2 November. The rest of the department continues to work from home in wake of South Australia’s recent outbreak.
What have you learned during this period? I gained a huge insight into how government operates, particularly within the tourism industry and all its connections with the private sector that have to be established and maintained. I have also come to realise that the DEW sometimes isn’t able to maintain a positive relationship with all of its stakeholders and there are sometimes barriers and differences in opinion between government and stakeholders that cause friction. My placement has also opened my eyes into the complexity of some projects the department undertakes, and the amount of knowledge and connections you need to have with other departments and people on the ground to make things work. It certainly is a machine with many working parts and collaboration is essential if anything is going to get done.
How do you think this will benefit your life after university? I have already gained some connections from this placement, and I believe this will continue to grow after our Kangaroo Island trip, when we will be communicating with many businesses and commercial tour operators within the industry. I’m think in greater depth about some of the issues facing the industry and how tough the landscape is for businesses to survive in the COVID-19 environment.
What are some of the challenges or obstacles you have overcome? Working from home had its benefits, but also disadvantages. I feel like some of my placement has been compromised as I am simply sitting at my computer for many hours a day in my home trying to get work done. I don’t feel like this reflects the entire experience of the role that I have been doing. However, I understand that nobody has any control over this, and it is just how things are at this stage. On the flip side, we can still communicate easily through Microsoft Teams when working from home and the support I get from my colleagues and supervisors is still really positive and welcoming.
If you knew what was ahead in 2020, what would you tell yourself? Enjoy the present a bit more and the time you spend with my friends and family. Obviously this year has been a struggle for everybody, and I feel that beforehand we took a lot for granted. I would tell myself to remain positive and ride the bumps of 2020, because it will all be worth it when I (hopefully) graduate at the start of next year.