UNB Students Turn Classroom Learning Into Work-Ready Skills
The University of New Brunswick’s experiential learning program is helping thousands of students turn knowledge from the classroom into skills and know-how they can use in their careers.
The University of New Brunswick’s experiential learning program responds to the changing needs of the job market, providing education in and outside of the classroom. UNB partners with more than 650 employers to provide over 6000 students with hands-on work and training every year. These opportunities exist across departments and programs.
About two-and-a-half years into studying nursing, Katie Herrington changed course and began studying for her Bachelor of Arts degree. She credits experiential learning as a cornerstone of her education and career plans.
“Having experiential education opportunities allows you to build upon what you enjoy and translate that into a career.”
Herrington applied her learning from the classroom in her fourth-year political science course, conducting research on how COVID-19 impacted people’s access to active and public transportation in Saint John.
She collaborated with fellow students, interviewing people in the community and different local agencies that worked with people who rely on public and active transportation and gauged how changes in active and public transportation impacted them.
“We surveyed people who used those forms of transportation to create a report and present it to the city council and mayor and other interested parties like the Saint John Transit Commission,” she says.
“We identified gaps, especially from the political science perspective, in advocacy for the city.”
Through the survey and research on best practices of the public transit systems of other cities, Herrington said she was able to put together information on how to handle pandemic-related issues, taking the initiative to address the gaps in service.
Herrington said it was exciting to see how her research had an immediate impact in its ability to inform the city of the issues citizens had been facing, sharing details on how the pandemic hurt public and active transit, with restrictions forcing a limited bus capacity.
“It was great; it changed my perspective. After being immersed in a project that was obviously relevant to municipal politics, I saw how our research was able to help the city,” she says.
“It made me decide that municipal politics is something I would like to pursue in the near future – to run for city council. I don’t think I would have come up with that idea without having that hands-on research. I think there should be more opportunities for courses like this and I’m grateful I found it.”
For Kate Walsh, experiential learning enriched her studies through Renaissance College and helped her understand the challenges faced by a specific community in New Brunswick.
Walsh did an internship through UNB’s experiential learning program with Autism Connections Fredericton, studying people with autism spectrum disorder and people connected to them living at CFB Gagetown.
“It felt like being fully immersed in the actual learning experience – not just attending and listening to a lecture, but actually developing new skills and new ways of thinking,” she says.
The nuanced skill-building work gave Walsh far greater confidence in her ability to problem-solve and take on projects like the kind of work she will be doing in the real world.
“Under normal circumstances, autism spectrum disorder presents individuals and families with many challenges and they become magnified when compounded with the realities of military service,” says Walsh.
“In order to understand these challenges and barriers my internship was to research anecdotal evidence through the facilitation of various focus groups including military personnel or their dependents with autism spectrum disorder.”
Walsh said experiential learning, along with supportive professors, allowed her to apply the skills learned in the classroom to address a real-life community problem, navigating the challenges and surprises of life on CFB Gagetown with autism spectrum disorder.
“It allowed me to use problem-solving abilities to think of creative solutions,” she says.
“I’m starting a career with a foundation of relevant experience and already have a position with Greater Fredericton Social Innovation. My experience as a project manager helped me get where I am upon graduation and now I can continue my efforts to tackle social issues.”