Experiences of Project-Based Simulated Work-Integrated Learning in Renewable Energy Course during COVID-19

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a key component of current higher education learning and teaching to train globally employable engineering graduates. However, COVID-19 imposed significant challenges to delivering WIL face-to-face at the workplace. One of the solutions to these challenges is the simulated WIL which can be delivered online or in hybrid mode. This paper presents a project-based innovative simulated work integrated learning (WIL), successfully introduced in the renewable energy course at the time of COVID-19, tackling all the issues related to online deliveries and simulated WIL. The project is on the practical design of renewable energy-based community microgrids where students need to collect real-world data for the design and use professional software to finalise their designs in collaboration with the course coordinator and an industry expert. Student surveys and external reviews show that the simulated WIL is well received to replace the traditional WIL.