UNews - Co-operative Education & Applied Studies

Work-integrated learning opportunities the focus of new Student Experiential Learning and Career Hub

trevor.kenney — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 17:34:57 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will bring together its co-op, applied studies, MyExperience transcript and career services groups to create a hub to elevate work-integrated learning opportunities for its students.

The Student Experiential Learning and Career Hub will launch in early September and support all U of L students at its Calgary and Lethbridge campuses.

The Student Experiential Learning and Career Hub will launch in early September and support all U of L students at its Calgary and Lethbridge campuses. The hub will feature a strong relationship with all ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Faculties and be critical in further connecting the U of L’s exceptional classroom experience to a range of personal development opportunities. The creation of a new Experiential Learning Academic Council to support the work of the hub will ensure connection to academic programming as well as community and industry partners.

“Work integrated learning opportunities equip our students with the tools that will make them successful in their careers and difference makers in their communities,” says Mike Mahon, president and vice-chancellor. “The creation of the Student Experiential Learning and Career Hub ensures our students are able to participate in expanded opportunities through employment, volunteerism or applied study.”

The launch of the hub follows last year’s creation of the MyExperience transcript, which complements the academic transcript and is being designed to reflect a student’s curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular experiential learning opportunities. The MyExperience transcript gives students a well-rounded summary of their ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ career as they transition to the professional world.

The work to create a hub started with the creation of a task force, which was assigned to review the current structure supporting the delivery of co-op, applied studies and career services. The purpose was two-fold: to build on existing strengths to enhance the delivery of experiential learning for students and to improve the sustainability of the services, given current financial constraints.

“All post-secondaries are being challenged in these times of fiscal restraint and by the COVID-19 pandemic. This transformation will ensure we are able to continue to offer the supportive student environment for which we are known,” says Mahon. “The consolidation of these services is done in a strategic manner to ensure we continue to provide an exceptional student experience.”

The U of L is consistently recognized for its strong commitment to providing students the supports they need for success. Over the past five years, the U of L has consistently ranked as a national leader in delivering student support programming.

Associate Vice-President (Students), Kathleen Massey, says the establishment of a new hub is critical in ensuring students are connected to a variety of opportunities in the many communities the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ serves.

“Experiential learning is so beneficial for students, and it is a message we hear repeatedly from our alumni after they graduate from the U of L. It is also an exercise that greatly benefits many stakeholders. The impact our students make on the world as they embrace these activities is great and continues well after students conclude their academic journey with us,” says Massey.

Leading up to the fall launch, a university-wide strategic plan on work integrated learning and experiential learning will be written to guide the direction of the consolidated hub.

U of L students create innovative programming for Galt Museum

caroline.zentner — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 17:51:41 +0000

Two ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students completing Applied Studies courses have developed unique tools to help educate school children about local history.

Ashley Henrickson (MA ’19), museum educator at the Galt Museum & Archives, and Dr. Kristine Alexander, associate professor of history and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Child and Youth Studies, supervised LaRae Smith and Benjamin Weistra, both Education students, as they completed Applied Studies courses last semester. Their projects involved working with museum staff to research and produce new educational programming for school groups visiting the Galt.

“Recent scholarship about teaching and learning in higher education has shown that the opportunity to work on community-engaged research projects produces enormous gains in terms of student engagement and retention,” says Alexander. “The U of L’s Applied Studies program is a model in this respect, and it has been a real pleasure to be able to watch Ashley, LaRae and Ben work together to connect historical research, cutting-edge technologies and museum education.”

From left to right are Dr. Kristine Alexander, Ashley Henrickson, LaRae Smith and Benjamin Weistra.

Smith’s project, sponsored by Farm Credit Canada, was about the Great Depression in southern Alberta. Smith, with guidance from Henrickson, developed a simulation that’s like a board game.

“The game, which is designed for Grade 5, is played in a number of rounds and, in each round, students choose what crops to plant and which agricultural techniques to implement,” says Henrickson. “The students analyze newspaper articles and photographs from the 1930s to help inform their choices. Their farms are then hit by a number of travesties which affected Alberta farmers, including drought, grasshoppers and low market prices. Finally, the emotional reality of life in the Great Depression is driven home by sharing the stories of local families who lived through the period. LaRae collected these stories through oral history interviews.”

“As the ideas for this simulation started flowing and it began to take shape, I couldn’t help but get increasingly excited for the launch of this program,” says Smith. “I can’t wait for students to be able to come and experience firsthand what it was like as a farmer in southern Alberta during the Great Depression. It was a very rare opportunity to get to spend so much time on a single lesson plan and dive right into the fine details. I feel lucky to have been able to partner with the Galt Museum on this project and I am excited to see how students react to the program.”

Smith’s Great Depression simulation is still in the building stages but is expected to launch in September.

“LaRae’s work has been amazing,” says Henrickson. “I had envisioned the Applied Study being a jumping-off point for the research and the game, but she was so effective that it was nearly a finished product at the end. She’s also a very talented teacher.”

Weistra’s project focused on Ukrainian-Canadian internment in the First World War, a topic that’s part of the Grade 3 curriculum.

“There was an internment camp here in Lethbridge, although many people don’t know a lot about it,” says Henrickson. “Ben researched the camp in Lethbridge, located where Exhibition Park is now, and the camps in Banff because people from Lethbridge went there.”

Several prisoners escaped from the Lethbridge camp in 1916 using shovels, an auger and a fan to dig a tunnel under the fence. These tools are now held in the Glenbow Archives and therefore cannot be easily accessed by Grade 3 classes in Lethbridge. Ben examined how technologies like augmented reality, photogrammetry and 3D printing can be used to bring replicas of these objects to local students.

“This project not only made me realize the potential of using 3D/AR/VR technology in my future teaching adventures and other history projects, but also led to great connections at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, the Galt and Agility,” says Weistra. “It also led to other great experiences like taking part in the Agility pitch competition. As a student with Ukrainian heritage, it also makes me proud to be able to take part in a project like this which helps bring light to a darker and lesser-known part of Ukrainian-Canadian history.”

U of L Agility, a student-centred program that focuses on innovation, provided valuable support for Weistra’s project by sharing knowledge about virtual reality and 3D printing. He also won the Agility Pitch Competition with his idea and now the Galt is waiting for the outcome of a grant application to help with the costs of digitizing the objects.

As part of their learning, Weistra and Smith presented their projects during the recent Institute for Child and Youth Studies symposium and have each won scholarships as a result.

“LaRae and Ben were spectacular students and they made significant contributions to the museum,” says Henrickson. “We are very excited that both of them are working with us again during the summer. I am also very thankful to Dr. Alexander and the U of L for supporting these projects.”

Art and social change focus of first ever Arts & Science entrepreneurial co-op

caroline.zentner — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 18:25:53 +0000

Two cultural anthropology students are the first to take part in an entrepreneurial co-operative work term in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Canvas art created by Ipaa.

Typically, students who participate in a co-op term undertake paid, full-time work for a semester or longer with an employer. With an entrepreneurial or e-co-op, students essentially work for themselves.

“E-co-ops are an exciting and unique opportunity for students to invest in their business full time while maintaining their student status,” says Lukas Neamtu, programs coordinator and instructor with Co-operative Education & Applied Studies. “Students work closely with the Co-operative Education office, Agility and local companies such as tecconnect, as they learn about entrepreneurialism and the key steps of building a business. They also gain access to an exceptional network of experts and professionals.”

Bariyaa Ipaa and Cecilia Reid, who’ve been friends since they were both students at Winston Churchill High School, launched Art with Purpose in the fall of 2015. They’re both passionate about art and social change and Art with Purpose gave them a way to bring those interests together.

Bariyaa Ipaa

“We produce and sell artworks and use the money to fund local and international community projects,” says Ipaa.

In addition to prints, stickers and cards are made from the original artworks. They also sell handmade bracelets, original paintings and painting on denim jackets. They both contribute artwork and share in the administrative duties.

They found it easy to manage their studies and their business when they were in their first year. By second year, their studies demanded more of their time and they decided to put Art with Purpose on hold. The break gave them a chance to determine how they could make their development work different from the mainstream.

“Since we started this project, the learning that comes with Art with Purpose has coincided with our studies. We’re choosing courses we think will help us improve Art with Purpose,” says Reid.

“We want to make sure that the communities involved in our projects have agency to speak for themselves and say what their wants and needs are. It’s for us to listen and help them facilitate that goal,” says Ipaa.

Reid, wanting to apply knowledge gained in the classroom, was considering doing a co-op work term for the fall 2018 semester. She spoke to Neamtu, programs coordinator and instructor with Co-operative Education & Applied Studies, who helped set up the entrepreneurial co-op. They soon met Brandy Old, program coordinator with Agility, and she helped them go through the necessary steps to establish a business. They’re also taking an entrepreneurial boot camp course through Economic Development Lethbridge.

Cecilia Reid

“The flexibility has been really great so we can grow in the direction we want. We have several mentors to help us in different fields,” says Reid.

They are currently working on a library project in Malawi. During their first year at the U of L, they participated in the Malawi field study with Dr. Jean Harrowing (BSc ’78), where they met Aaron Maluwa, a facilitator for the field study.

“He understands what his community needs,” says Ipaa. “We kept in contact with him even after the trip and decided we wanted to focus on education. Out of our own pockets, we were sponsoring five students who were orphans and didn’t have the funding to complete secondary schooling. Then we also started thinking about a library project.”

“We wanted Art with Purpose to take on something new, so we reached out to Aaron. He was interested in a library project as well,” says Reid.

“Funding this library project will benefit the girls and women in the community especially, since girls are often disproportionately underrepresented in classrooms,” says Ipaa. “Later on, this transfers into women being underrepresented in the public sphere. This project will be crucial in helping young girls pursue a future they desire and gain economic agency independently of men.”

Their goal is to raise $26,000 and they’re planning a fundraising event in February with an art show and silent auction. The event coincides with Black History Month and is intended to empower the Black community in Lethbridge but it will also be an educational event for the general population.

“What I want out of the art show is to create conversation about identity, race, gender and the Black experience,” says Ipaa.

Art with Purpose can be found on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter.

UNews - Co-operative Education & Applied Studies

Work-integrated learning opportunities the focus of new Student Experiential Learning and Career Hub

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U of L students create innovative programming for Galt Museum

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