Waterloo Experience (WE) Accelerate: An innovative way to access student talent this spring!

co-op students working on project

We know from recent research done with over 74,000 work-term job descriptions that employers across all industries are looking for students with digital skills to help transition the way they do business. That’s why we’re offering our innovative Waterloo Experience (WE) Accelerate program – to give you more ways to connect with our tech-savvy students who can help fill your talent needs!  

WE Accelerate is a robust alternative to a traditional co-op work term for first work-term students. The program combines future-ready, in-demand skill development content (co-created with industry collaborators) with team-based project experience and employability development content.

If you don’t have the capacity to hire a student for a traditional 8- to 16-week work term, this is a great way to harness our students’ bright minds for shorter projects.

This spring, students will be enrolling in WE Accelerate skill streams and accessing skill development content provided by our industry collaborators. Here's a look at what students will be learning:   

Stream Industry collaborator(s) Skills students will develop Typical projects students will complete
Digital Bootcamp Sentrik Design • Website design for desktop and mobile  
• Search engine optimization (SEO) 
• Content, email, and video marketing  
• Office productivity software (optional)
• Improving a company’s digital presence
• Improving a website’s user interface (UI), user experience (UX), and accessibility
• Developing a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to reach new audiences and enhance digital marketing efforts 
 
Brightspace Training D2L • Developing course material
• Building assessments and grading learners
• Communication and engagement
• Helping to design assessments, evaluations and learning materials
• Exploring Brightspace features and functionality; proposing ways to increase learner engagement
• Creating a content and student communication plan that can be used on a termly basis
Azure & Artificial Intelligence Microsoft • Azure Fundamentals content and certification
• Azure AI Fundamentals content and certification
• Design Thinking
• Use Azure and AI to propose solutions to real-world problems
• Identify key challenges in the fields of accessibility, financial services and healthcare, proposing solutions based on tech innovation
•Present ideas to peers and industry professionals, outlining the viability of solutions from ideation to deployment

Do you have projects that require digital expertise?

We are seeking projects from employers that align with the skills above to help our students apply what they’ve learned. Each project will be assigned a team of approximately five students who will help tackle the problem your organization has provided across a 5-week span from July 2 - August 2 and should involve approximately 120 hours of work per student (approximately 25 hours per week). We also encourage you to explore taking on multiple teams of students to work on the same deliverable. It presents a great opportunity to investigate different avenues to the project you have in mind.

In return, we ask that you guide the students through your project, provide them with feedback and assess their performance at the end of the project to help them keep learning. We also encourage participating employers to provide a small award for each student's work on their projects, if possible.

By taking part in this offering, you’re not only gaining our students’ digital skills and cross-disciplinary creativity on the projects you provide – you’re also investing in student talent to help the next generation of graduates prepare for the future workforce!

Timeline and what to expect

WE Accelerate work term begins May 27
Career programming (part 1) May 27 - May 31
• Students complete onboarding and career curriculum (part 1).
• Approximately 25 hours during this first week, with approximately 10 additional hours of career programming throughout.
• 1 hour of synchronous content daily, with all other content provided asynchronously.
Skill development programming Beginning June 3
• Students complete skill development content provided by industry collaborator(s).
• Approximately 100 hours, with varying degrees of synchronous content depending on the stream.
Project experience July 2 - August 2 (exact timing will depend on the stream/project)
• Students complete industry collaborator projects in teams and receive feedback.
• Approximately 120 hours of project work (approximately 25 hours per week) across a 5-week span (from July 2 - August 2).
• Industry collaborators will complete a Project Evaluation Form and assign individual ratings OR an overall rating for each project team (up to the employer's discretion).
Career programming (part 2) August 6 - 12
• Students complete career curriculum (part 2) and final summative reflection.
• Approximately 25 hours. 

If you have questions or a project that can use some digital expertise this spring, connect with your Account Manager to learn more about WE Accelerate
and how to take part!


If you haven't hired with us before, you can contact hire.talent@uwaterloo.ca and a Business Developer will reach out to answer your questions.