Many of our undergraduate and graduate students are interested in hands-on, research-driven opportunities whereby knowledge is created through experiential learning as well. Community partners and employers echo this sentiment and many actively seek out graduates who have acquired world-ready knowledge that can translate seamlessly into the workforce.
In order to enhance our students’ development through a multifaceted educational experience, academic units at UTM also offer various types of experiential learning––or “learning by doing”––as a core feature of their curricula. The Experiential Education Unit in the Dean’s Office (EEU) facilitates and supports these diversified types of learning, which include academic internships or practicum placements, domestic and international community engagements, project-based research opportunities, and field courses.
UTM has over a decade of demonstrated success in experiential learning and made measurable positive contributions to the diversification of our students’ learning. The EEU’s goal is to support all experiential opportunities for UTM students and broaden the types of experiential learning in both scale and type in the coming years. Pilot projects are already underway to add paid work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities for undergraduate students and expand the existing robust WIL program at the graduate level.
As we strive to increase and deepen student learning through direct experience and intense reflection, the EEU works with academic units across UTM to strengthen existing experiential learning opportunities and develop exciting new ones. We provide a range of resources for faculty and students regarding for-credit Experiential Learning opportunities and support departments with the implementation of Experiential Learning components in their courses. We also connect with our community partners and employers, who generously provide many opportunities to our students.
Our objective is to offer to our students an education that is built on a diverse range of experiential learning opportunities, to develop spaces for research beyond the classroom, and to make disciplinary learning readily transferable to the workplace. If you want to make experiential learning central to a UTM degree, we have the resources to assist you in your endeavour.
Andreas Bendlin
Vice-Dean, Academic Experience
