Work-Learn Institute

Student-faculty partnerships: The role of paid co-op experiences in enhancing teaching and learning

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Between 2020 and 2022, the University of Waterloo rapidly hired and trained over 1000 undergraduate co-operative education (co-op) students as part of the Online Learning Assistant (OLA) Program, to support faculty (i.e., course instructors) in the transition to online teaching. Our research findings suggest that these co-op hires were incredibly beneficial to many faculty, with their efforts ultimately leading to improvements in teaching and learning.

Tags: Journal publication, Completed project, Research feature, Student experience outcomes

Bridging the gender-gap in supervisor interactions: Empowering inexperienced women for success!

Idris Ademuyiwa, David Drewery, Michelle J. Eady, Anne-Marie Fannon — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 12:00:00 +0000

This study explores how students’ gender and work experience are associated with the amount of time they spend working together on tasks with supervisors during their co-operative education (co-op) experiences. We also examine how the time spent working together on tasks with supervisors affects students’ self-reported learning.

Tags: Student experience outcomes, Employer experience outcomes

The impact of remote work on workplace friendship development for co-op students

Katie Knapp, Iris Xing and David Drewery — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:00:00 +0000

This research study explored the kinds of friendships co-op students make on work terms and how they are impacted by remote work. We also examined the impacts of these friendships on outcomes that are important to both students and employers.

Tags: Completed project, Journal publication, Student experience outcomes, Research feature

Students’ perceived relevance of job advertisement

Dave Drewery, Judene Pretti and Dana Church — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Designed by a previous co-op student, this study explored how students perceived the relevance of a co-op role by reading a job description.

Tags: Active project, Student experience outcomes

Well-being and the recruitment phase

Dave Drewery, Judene Pretti and Dana Church — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Two previous co-op students designed a study to explore the emotional well-being of engineering co-op students during their first recruitment term to develop a better understanding of what aspects of the co-op process are particularly stressful for students.

Tags: Active project, Student experience outcomes

An investigation of co-operative education students’ experiences with an artificial intelligence résumé critique

David Drewery, Jennifer Woodside, Kristen Eppel, and Katie Shafer — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Work-integrated learning (WIL) programs often partner with career services centers to support WIL students throughout the job search process, and résumé critiques are among the most popular career services that WIL students might access.

Tags: White paper, Quality program design, Student experience outcomes, Future of work and WIL

Priming Jobs as Skill Development Opportunities and Responses to Job Postings

David Drewery, Judene Pretti and Jamie Nettinga — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Researchers conducted a study to test whether students can be “primed” to be more open to job postings that may seem unrelated to their interests or academic program.

Tags: Journal publication, Quality program design, Future of work and WIL, Employer experience outcomes, Student experience outcomes

Signaling student-oriented opportunities through job advertisements

David Drewery and Judene Pretti — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

To examine how co-op programs can create value for students and employers, this study examined whether work-integrated learning (WIL) job seekers are more attracted to jobs that signal a student-oriented opportunity than to those that do not.

Tags: Employer experience outcomes, Active project

COVID-19 and Co-op

Judene Pretti, Tara Stevens and Brittany Etmanski — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Despite the challenges and hardships individuals experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, these unfortunate circumstances presented a unique opportunity to study widespread organizational change in the context of co-operative education.

Tags: Student experience outcomes, Active project, Employer experience outcomes

Developing and delivering a culturally relevant international work-integrated learning exchange for Indigenous students

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Decolonization and Indigenization are increasingly important topics in post-secondary education. This paper evaluates an international Indigenous work-integrated learning (WIL) exchange between University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada and three Australian Universities.

Tags: Research feature, Future of work and WIL, Student experience outcomes, Quality program design