Associate ProfessorSharon La Fontaine

2011-Present:

SLE301: Professional Practice

2011-2017:

SLE334: Medical Microbiology and Immunology

As a biomedical scientist and with significant teaching experience, I am committed to equipping students not only with discipline-specific knowledge and practical skills, but also with transferable skills that are distinctive to STEM graduates and highly valued by employers.

Teaching and leadership in work-integrated learning (WIL) and career education have provided the context for curriculum and assessment design that supports students to develop career self-awareness and self-efficacy and to build their professional identity. This is achieved through programs that feature active, experiential and socially connected learning. Our approaches that are both reflective and applied, not only deepen understanding of disciplinary content, but also informs students’ career decisions and equips them with lifelong skills that fosters student agency in managing their employability and careers.

I have co-led the re-design and expansion of the WIL placement program for all science degrees in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, ensuring that all students (>600 p.a.) experience a professional placement. In collaboration with Graduate Employment, I lead the design and implementation an embedded career education program across undergraduate courses in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment. This program constitutes a course-wide, scaffolded, curriculum-embedded and discipline-contextualised career education program that supports students to leverage existing paid work or secure employment early in their degree, progressing to more career- or industry-relevant “stepping stones” roles by graduation (Hansen & La Fontaine 2026). Hence the program supports students to “learn while they earn”. The career education and WIL placement programs, both delivered at scale across all science degrees, are having positive impacts on science students’ confidence, work readiness, career preparation and employment outcomes.

These programs have been recognised with several internal awards for teaching excellence and enhancing STEM student employability (School, Faculty and Vice Chancellor's Awards), and a 2025 Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT): Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.