Co-op and Experiential Education

After three years of hard work, members of the Warrior Home design team were thrilled to finish second overall this week in an international competition that challenges university students to design and build highly efficient buildings.

But regardless of the outcome in the virtual finale of the Solar Decathlon, a nine-team event sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, more than 200 student contributors at the University of Waterloo already felt pretty good about it.

When you have a neurodegenerative disease, like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease, your symptoms may ebb and flow during the day. Going into a clinic for testing captures your status at that point in time, but how do you gain an understanding of what is happening throughout the rest of the day or over the course of many days?

The coronavirus pandemic has placed a bright spotlight on the need to collaborate and work together to meet community needs.

It’s also presented a unique set of challenges for Waterloo’s co-operative education students, who set out each term to apply their skills and education to solve real-world problems.

The University of Waterloo has the largest work-integrated learning program of its kind in the world.

One year after the start of the pandemic, we spoke with Norah McRae, Associate Provost, Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE) at the University, to learn how COVID-19 has impacted co-op students, how students found jobs during the pandemic and how the program intends to prepare students for the future of work in a post-pandemic economy.

How is Waterloo’s co-op program different from what it was a year ago?

An automated speech coach to help you nail your next interview. Image recognition that can always find Waldo. And a voice-controlled scanner that allows you to 3D print a medical cast. 

Those are just a few of the projects created by over 3,000 student hackers who attended Hack the North 2020++ from January 15 to 17, 2021. 

With the switch to online learning and working from home, many co-op student and workers alike have had to revisit how they network and build friendships, virtually. Just as many of us had polished our in-person salutations and office etiquette, we’re now needing to pivot to keep these same connections fresh and genuine. Here’s a few suggestions we’ve developed during our co-op terms at the University of Waterloo:

Getting to know your colleagues

As he approached his first co-op term in January 2020, Ethan Leiher knew what he wanted in a job. A student in Waterloo’s School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, he hoped to gain hands-on experience with an organization dedicated to protecting nature. Ethan tackled his job search with determination and thought he’d found the perfect position — until a lack of funding threatened his plans.