Students: How it Works
The Community-Based Education Program is designed to complement established curriculum across all university departments and courses. All student placements take place in the context of academic courses including theoretical, reading, and field courses, both full and half. This means that while students are completing these projects, they are also meeting course requirements.
When doing a Community-Based Project for course credit, students must have designated academic and community supervisors. Both supervisors oversee the project, providing expertise and guidance as negotiated and agreed upon when the project first gets underway. The University instructor remains responsible for academic supervision. Normally the work involved is assessed by the instructor, but with his/her agreement, the host organization may share in the evaluation process.
Eligibility
Because students are expected to work quite independently, manage additional time constraints, and show a great deal of initiative in negotiating placements with hosts and instructors, the program is open only to senior undergraduate and graduate students with at least 10 full-course equivalent University credits, and at least a 75% overall average. Screening for relevant skills or knowledge may be undertaken in some cases.
The TCCBE and U-Links recognize that such factors as learning style and extenuating personal circumstances may affect student performance and progress, and that academic achievement alone is not always the sole indicator of a student's ability to successfully complete a Community Project Placement. Therefore, requests by students for exemption from the eligibility criteria (i.e. to waive the academic prerequisites) will be considered. Read more.
How to Get Involved
Students who are interested in taking part in this program should contact U-Links (or the TCCBE, for Trent University students) or view the list of available projects. You can then fill out the Student Application Form online to identify which projects you may wish to take on. U-Links/the TCCBE will then provide you with more detailed information on each project and how to get in touch with the host organization.
Students are responsible for contacting the host organization, setting initial meetings, negotiating the expectations of the project, and finding a faculty member to supervise and evaluate their work. Once these three elements (student, organization, and faculty) are determined, a Project Placement Agreement (.doc file) is drafted. U-Links and TCCBE staff can offer helpful advice on how to carry out all of the required steps. Once learning contracts are in place and a faculty member has agreed to supervise the project, work may begin.