Experiential Learning Guidelines and Tracking Project | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Emma Schafler, Academic Learning Services

in the September 2018 issue

In October 2017, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD) published Guiding Principles for Experiential Learning (EL). These guidelines (Experiential Learning Checklist (PDF)) outline the requirements for an activity, whether occurring within or outside of a particular academic course, to meet the definition of an experiential learning opportunity.

Along with the publication of these guidelines, there are increased requirements to track and report the number of experiential learning opportunities offered. Seneca received funding through MAESDs Career Ready Fund to develop a sustainable and efficient process to track eligible EL opportunities.

Over the course of the summer, the Academic Learning Services team has reached out to many faculty members to gather information about the experiential learning opportunities that occur at the course level within each program. Each course that offers an experiential learning opportunity has been categorized and tagged with different attributes, allowing us to more easily meet our reporting requirements. The identified attributes include Work-Integrated Learning Course (WIL), Work-Integrated Learning Prep/Reflection Course (WILPR), Field Placement Course (FP), Assignment Based Experiential Learning Course (AEL), Clinical Placement Course (CLN), Consolidation Course (CON), Research Course (RES), Lab Course (LB), Capstone Course (CSC) and Internship Course (IN).

To date, the courses in 71 programs have been successfully categorized. The goal is to complete the tracking of all the programs offered at Seneca within the next few months. Furthermore, we are also planning to track experiential learning opportunities occurring outside of an academic course, involving an activity performed by the student.

By tracking EL experiences, we are able to better understand how Seneca supports students to access real-world learning opportunities that will provide them with the necessary employability skills to transition into the workforce upon completion of their program.

View the September 2018 issue of the Academic Newsletter.