Are your students prepared to enter their co-op or internship? Beyond technical skills, students need to feel confident in their rights and responsibilities, and so do the employers, industry professionals, and post-secondary staff who support them.
In this hands-on session, we’ll explore promising practices and co-create tools to ensure everyone is informed, aligned, and prepared to deliver and receive safe and exceptional experiential learning.
Learning Outcomes:
1) Identify and explore key “pre-departure” moments typical of student experiential learning placements.
2) Assess various tools and begin to develop resources that both prepare students before they leave and equip them well while on placement.
Webinars are offered at no charge. Attendees are provided with closed captioning and simultaneous French or English translation. If you have any additional accessibility requests to support your participation, please email us at communications@couragetoact.ca.
Guest speaker: Blessie Mathew
Blessie Mathew is the Assistant Dean, Student Success, Careers, and Experiential Learning at the University of Alberta. Blessie leads a comprehensive portfolio of units under Student Success and Experience (formerly Office of the Dean of Students), including the Career Centre, the Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI), Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science, and Technology (WISEST), and Orientation and Transition Programs.
Blessie's portfolio is a hub of student support, powered by a dedicated team of approximately 35 staff members, over 30 student staff and interns, and hundreds of volunteers. Each unit is strategically aligned to empower students, postdoctoral scholars, and alumni by fostering engagement in crucial orientation and transition programming, career development, and experiential learning activities. The ultimate goal is to equip individuals with the essential skills, knowledge, experience, and connections needed to navigate their academic and career journeys resourcefully, and with a strong sense of hope and resilience.