Colin Aitchison & Andrew Clubine
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“WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING: STUDENTS WANT MORE OF IT, AND EMPLOYERS ARE REALIZING THE POSSIBILITIES” VOL. 11 FEATURE PLUS Exploring the Can an arts and “EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: A PATHWAY FOR STUDENTS successes and social sciences TO THEIR FUTURE” struggles related degree really lead “INSIGHTS INTO to student to a good job? PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ES employment in EMPLOYMENT” Ontario. By John Milloy “EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT Page 12 & EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING” WITH A FOREWORD FROM PREMIER KATHLEEN WYNNE STUDENT EMPLOYMENT AN ONTARIO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ALLIANCE PUBLICATION ALMA MATER SOCIETY OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario BROCK UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ UNION Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario FEDERATION OF STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario LAURENTIAN STUDENTS’ GENERAL ASSOCIATION Laurentian University Sudbury, Ontario MCMASTER STUDENTS UNION McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario TRENT DURHAM STUDENT ASSOCIATION Trent University Oshawa, Ontario UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ COUNCIL OF WESTERN UNIVERSITY Western University London, Ontario WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ UNION Wilfrid Laurier University Brantford, Ontario & Waterloo, Ontario EDUCATED SOLUTIONS 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR & PRESIDENT.........................................................................................4 Colin Aitchison & Andrew Clubine FOREWORD...................................................................................................................................5 The Honourable Kathleen Wynne BALANCING THE MASSIFICATION OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING WITH INSTITUTIONAL DIFFERENTIATION.........................................................................................6 Marc Gurrisi ENVISIONING A 21ST CENTURY LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION............................................................8 Rob Leone UPDATING THE ESA: SETTING A NEW STANDARD FOR STUDENT EMPLOYMENT............................10 Victoria Lewarne CAN AN ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES DEGREE REALLY LEAD TO A GOOD JOB?...............................12 John Milloy EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: A PATHWAY FOR STUDENTS TO THEIR FUTURE.......................................15 David McMurray & Jan Basso EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT & EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING................................................................18 Dr. Amit Chakma INSIGHTS INTO PROFESSIONAL STUDENT EMPLOYMENT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS..........................................................................22 Stephen Franchetto, Giuliana Guarna & Roch Goulet BUILDING WIL PROGRAMS ISN’T AN EXERCISE IN CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY - IT’S A SAVVY WAY FOR SMART BUSINESSES TO GET AHEAD........................................................26 Isabelle Duchaine EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT...........28 Danny Chang IN PURSUIT OF WIL: LEVERAGING BEST PRACTICES FROM THE CANADIAN CO-OP MODEL..........30 Anne-Marie Fannon & Judene Pretti EDITOR: Colin Aitchison ONTARIO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ALLIANCE DESIGNER: Deborah Lam 26 Soho St, Suite 345 OUSA PRESIDENT: Andrew Clubine Toronto, M5T 1Z7 PUBLISHER: Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance phone: 416.341.9948 DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in Educated Solutions w: ousa.ca e: [email protected] Magazine are those of the authors and do not reflect the twitter: @ousa ES opinion of the magazine, its staff, or its funders. Content may SPECIAL THANKS TO: OUSA Home Office, Steering not be reprinted without written permission. Committee, and all who contributed VOLUME ELEVEN/SEPTEMBER 2017 © EDUCATION SOLUTIONS MAGAZINE 4 EDUCATED SOLUTIONS Welcome to Volume Eleven of Educated Solutions! This issue is called FROM THE Student Employment and is aimed at exploring both the strengths and challenges the post-secondary education sector encounters as Ontario’s students prepare to enter the workforce. To do so, we have brought EDITOR together a diverse set of perspectives from across the post-secondary education sector to share their thoughts, expertise and experience on the topic. Students’ understanding and participation in “work” affects their university experience in many ways. Employment can serve as both a motivator and hindrance to academic success: it can teach valuable lessons, while also detracting from academic work. With the end goal of a successful career in mind, students often base many of their decisions during their studies on the hopes of getting their first interview for an entry-level position. Despite these calculated decisions, many students are struggling to enter the workforce. Oftentimes, the term “skills-gap” is thrown around with employers stating that university education no longer provides the skill set necessary for graduates to be successful in the workforce. In reality, undergraduate education provides students with critical thinking, research, teamwork, and additional skills, which are vital to today’s workforce. COLIN Thank you to our authors for your contributions; your insight, time, and AITCHISON thoughts have given our sector much to consider! Research & Policy Analyst For most of my undergraduate degree, I worked part-time during school FROM THE terms and full-time over the summers. I held positions that were person- ally fulfilling and professionally enriching. I enjoyed working, but was of- PRESIDENT ten stressed about how much time it took away from my studies and wor- ried about how my marks would be affected. As the cost of post-secondary education continues to rise and students continue to bear the brunt of these increases, more students are finding themselves in a similar posi- tion. Gone are the days when a summer job could cover most costs for the ensuing school year, so they seek employment to finance their education. A recent OUSA survey suggests that students who study and work concur- rently often see their in-study employment as being detrimental to their academic success. On the other hand, those who participated in work- integrated learning programs are more likely to see their employment as complementary to their studies. I suspect that this is because experiential learning programs, in general, can provide a paid work experience while mitigating some of the challenges normally associated with work-study arrangements. They are designed with students’ academic schedules in mind and can provide additional benefits, such as professional develop- ment opportunities and career mentorship. Given the increasing recognition of the benefits of experiential or work- integrated learning, it is important for all partners in higher education to ANDREW work towards improving and expanding these opportunities. This volume of Education Solutions brings together various viewpoints from across CLUBINE the sector and explores future possibilities for experiential or work-inte- grated learning in Ontario’s universities. I am sure that you will find their President 2017-2018 contributions insightful and exciting. EDUCATED SOLUTIONS 5 FOREWORD PREMIER KATHLEEN WYNNE ON THE WORK THE PROVINCE IS DOING AROUND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND HER HIGHLY SKILLED WORKFORCE EXPERT PANEL. HON. KATHLEEN WYNNE When I was a linguistics student at Queen’s — employers and student groups — including our racing between my dorm, lectures and track partners at OUSA — this Highly Skilled Workforce meets — how could I have guessed I would one Expert Panel released a final report this past June. day become Premier of Ontario? I encourage you to read the report. At its centre is the idea that if we all — government, businesses No course or program would have readied me for and postsecondary institutions — create more what was to come, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t opportunities for students to gain new experiences, prepared. During my time at Queen’s, and then you’ll take full advantage of them. the University of Toronto, I learned how to listen to people and really hear their concerns. Through Whether through co-ops, work-integrated work and volunteering, I discovered the power of learning or our new Career Kick-Start program, communities coming together. we want young people to feel prepared for the working world. There may be no way to predict Everyone deserves this chance to find what drives the future, but when we work together to create a and inspires them, which is why we’ve made better postsecondary education system today, we tuition free and more affordable for hundreds of can ready you for whatever the world throws your thousands of students. way. But these days just going to a university or college isn’t enough. I hear from students that it’s tough, between classes and exams, to feel like you’re The Honourable getting a real sense of the world you’ll enter after Kathleen Wynne is the graduation — the choices you’ll need to make or 25th Premier of Ontario. challenges you’ll face. She was first elected as the MPP for Don Valley That’s why, two years ago, I assembled a team of West in 2003. education and business experts to look at how we can help students explore the possibilities in our workforce. After hearing from instructors, 6 EDUCATED SOLUTIONS of this process, it yielded an unsurprising result: currently, isomorphism and institutional homogeneity BALANCING THE run rampant across Ontario’s university sector. To put this into perspective, 18 out of Ontario’s 20 universities MASSIFICATION listed experiential learning opportunities as one of OF EXPERIENTIAL their institutional strengths. LEARNING WITH Another fundamental influence into the policy discourse