The Program Get Involved
How to get involved
Community organizations: you are invited to submit a proposal that outlines a question you would like to have answered, an issue to be investigated, or information to be collected and examined. U-Links has a Community Host Section that will provide you with addtional information and walk you through the steps involved in drafting your proposal.
Students: If you are interested in doing a community-based research or service project, please browse through the Available Projects. If you see a project you'd like to take on, contact either U-Links or the TCCBE to get more information on the project and how to go about getting started. More information is also available in our students section.
Faculty: Community-based projects allow students to apply and see the relevance of the theory and research skills they learn in the classroom to practical, real-life experiences. CBE projects work well as major assignments in many courses. If you are interested in offering this option to your students, please read more.
Which kind of placement do I want?
A Research Placement will help a community (host) organization to gather information and answer specific questions about an aspect of the community or organization. The end product of a Research Placement is typically a written report and/or a presentation of the results. These placements do not generally include a reflective component. If what you have in mind includes a large research component, this is most likely the program you're looking for. The Research Projects page will tell you more about what would be eligible for a research project.
A Service-Learning Placement does not necessarily include research, but instead consists of a student, or group of students, providing some other service to an organization, such as event planning, cleaning up a river, producing a public relations/media product, or developing a custom software program. Service-Learning Placements must include reflection on the part of the student. If you are a community organization looking for help other than research, a student looking for a community service project (as part of your academic work), or a post-secondary faculty member looking for ways to connect your course material to experience outside the classroom, this is the program for you. The Service Projects page outlines the types of service placements in more detail.
Still unsure?
If you're not sure which type of placement suits your project, give us a call (705-286-2411) or and we'll help you decide which one is right for you!