Peer-to-peer support critical to Centre for Work-Integrated Learning’s success
By: Matthew King (he/him)
Student staff serve as advocates bringing credibility to WIL offerings
Leaning on co-op students to support their peers is a structural pillar of the Centre for Work-Integrated Learning’s (WIL) approach to their courses and programs. With more than 70 co-op students employed every year, the multi-disciplinary group is vital to providing close support to students and assisting staff.
Student roles are at the core of everything we do at the Centre for WIL. Due to the vast enrollment of our courses and programs, our student staff help us to ensure we can provide timely, relevant and reliable support to our Waterloo students.
Student staff work in various roles to support the Centre for WIL in:
- PD course administration
- EDGE certificate engagement
- WE Accelerate administration
- Curriculum development
“Acting as a mentor to near peers engaged in our courses and programs not only supports the students, but also, supports the co-op student to better understand the types of work they most enjoy,” says Prier.
Their own experiences as co-op students have led nine current full-time Centre for WIL staff to make a career out of supporting Waterloo students.
“I was in the Faculty of Environment doing co-op and I loved the program, but none of those jobs felt like a good fit for me. It didn't really ignite a spark until I worked as a teaching assistant (TA),” says Olivia Muysson, an instructional support co-ordinator at the Centre for WIL.
"Seeing the growth in the students I worked with was really rewarding. That kind of shifted what I want to do for work and what kind of fills my cup in that way.”
Support starts with the students
At the Centre for WIL, most of the student staff serve as the first point of contact for students engaging in the courses and programs offered. The Centre for WIL believes that it makes the offerings more authentic and results in better engagement.
With fellow students, you kind of think about it like they've been there before. They know what it's like. You feel a bit safer because you feel like this person really gets it. When students feel comfortable enough to reach out to you and they're not just doing it because they have to, it’s a great feeling.
“I like interacting with students, I want to be in education. So, it works out really well,” says Melissa Moorthy, a lead TA at the Centre for WIL. “It's nice to be in my role, because I get to see the relief on their faces when they aren't as stressed anymore.”
With so many co-op students employed, the role also includes supporting fellow co-op students. Roughly one third of the students in the fall term are returning from previous work terms.
“I wanted to come back because of how open the communication was, how supported I felt from my supervisors, but also from the other team leads,” says Bullagao, who returned for her second work term in the fall.
“I realized this is a great opportunity to not only help students who are in their first work term, but also connect with students who are in the same term as you who want to support other students too.”
Scaffolding support throughout the Centre for WIL
Each year, because of the vast numbers of students supported through WIL courses and programs, the Centre for WIL has twice as many co-op students as the number of full time staff employed.
“With our largest enrollment yet, we had over 9,600 undergraduate students enrolled in PD courses this past winter term. To manage that scale, leveraging the talent that we have in our students is incredibly valuable,” says Lauren Broderick, senior manager, work-integrated learning courses at the Centre for WIL.
“Our full-time staff along with our course instructors support our co-op students, and they in turn support each other as well as our students who engage in our courses and programs.”
“The co-op students are invaluable when it comes to running our courses,” says Hannah Sesink, an instructional support co-ordinator at the Centre for WIL.
“They take on a lot of work to make these courses run smoothly and we couldn't do it without them.”
