User:BeamerWaterloo/sandbox

Wilfrid Laurier University located in Waterloo, Ontario offers co-op in 40 programs including Arts, Science, Double Degree, Business & Economics, Computer Science, User Experience Design, Professional Experience Program and Graduate Programs. The Business Co-op program at Wilfrid Laurier University is the largest of its' kind in Canada. Wilfrid Laurier University offers a wide offering of Community Service Learning (CSL) courses under the umbrella of Experiential Learning programs. Community Service Learning provides academic credit for participation in a placement within a community service organization. CSL course examples include psychology, human rights and human diversity, youth and children’s studies, business, kinesiology, global studies, history, health studies, and geography. Completing a CSL placement allows students to blend hands-on learning, community service and classroom learning in one experience. Many learning outcomes can be achieved through Community Service Learning. Examples of learning outcomes include: social responsibility, intellectual growth, leadership development, appreciating diversity, collaboration, career and educational goals, self-awareness and clarified values. CSL placements at Wilfrid Laurier University last approximately 10 weeks and typically involve attending a community organization for two hours/week. Section 5 In Canada

Since 1973, Canada has had a national body representing cooperative education and work integrated learning. . This national body used to be called CAFCE (Canadian Association for Co-op Education) and was renamed CEWIL Canada (Cooperative Education and Work Integrated Learning Canada) in 2017. This organization has representatives from Canadian post-secondary institutions and employers who work together to develop resources to promote the highest quality of post-secondary work-integrated learning programs. CEWIL Canada works to establish national standards for WIL programs. The organization also allows for delivery of training opportunities and best practice sharing. CEWIL maintains a national database on WIL with data from more than fifty post-secondary member institutions. CEWIL reports that over 75,000 students are participating in co-operative education programs across the country. Canadian students who work in cooperative education earn close to $20 per hour and represent a wide range of disciplines and programs, ranging from science, engineering, business, arts and technology.

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is the commonly accepted term for a wide range of experiential learning opportunities in Canada. Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is considered to be inclusive of educational programs  that  incorporate  a workplace-based component that has connections to the classroom through various learning goals designated in the students' program or curriculum. It is widely accepted that WIL opportunities have value and produce benefit for students and employers, including employment  readiness  (such  as  gaining  job-related  skills  and  knowing  what  kind  of  job opportunity  a  student would want  to  have after  graduation). Students participating in WIL can experience new environments, tasks, colleagues for typically a shorter period of time. Work Integrated Learning includes Cooperative Education which is typically a paid work experience of three, four, eight, twelve or sixteen months. . When surveyed by Miriam Kramer in a study in 2011, 92% of students Agreed or Strongly Agreed that their co-op work term had a positive impact on critical & analytical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills. In Canada, another grouping of industry and education professionals came together to create The Business/ Higher Education Roundtable (BHER). The BHER was established by the Business Council of Canada in 2015 and works on two goals: 1. Helping young Canadians transition from higher education to workplaces through collaborative partnerships and post-secondary institutions and 2. Strengthen research and innovation partnerships between Canadian companies and post-secondary institutions. The BHER reports that about half of all Canadian University students take part in some form of WIL and 65-70% of Canadian College students takes part in WIL programs.

For the Canadian Post-Secondary Student, it is considered to be a benefit to add a co-operative work term to an undergraduate degree. Jeela Jones, representing the University of Ottawa, completed a qualitative study on students' co-operative work experience. She states that bringing theoretical concepts out of the classroom and into a related vocational workplace can produce educational benefits. She researched the concept of Connected Learning in co-operative work terms, which is a learning approach where learners gain knowledge through connecting with people and things, while feeling safe in their environments, they can develop themselves. Jeela Jones explained the results of her study emphasizing the importance of relationships with supervisors as mentors, who pushed learners beyond their comfort zones. Many students interviewed for this study commented that despite many challenges that were faced in their co-op experience, that it was a worthwhile experience that allowed them to build new skills, meet new industry connections and become increasingly motivated, self-confident and career-oriented.