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Experiential Education

Community partners can benefit from the skills and enthusiasm of Faculty of Health students in Global Health, Health Policy and Management, Kinesiology and Health Science, Nursing, and Psychology through a variety of experiential education (EE) opportunities.

Students and professionals in a conference room
Kinesiology students teaching children at soccer camp
Student nurses by a hospital bed

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What is experiential education?

As an organization, you can partner with our students as they apply their knowledge and skills to support your priorities, through opportunities like:

Project-Based Opportunities– Student support a specific project that addresses a priority, challenge or area of interest identified by your organization. Students generally complete the project on their own time with guidance and oversight from you. For example, students may investigate accreditation sources and make a suggestion for your organization based on their findings.

Community-Based Opportunities– Students support a wide range of community-engagement activities (e.g. mentoring, outreach, advocacy, etc.) in your organization. These opportunities help students develop civic engagement skills while supporting your programs and services. For example, students may lead play-based collaborative games with kids in a parent-child program.

Placements/Practica – Students engage in hands-on, supervised work experiences in your organization (on-site or remotely/virtually). Students contribute a significant number of hours while practicing discipline or course specific competencies and skills. This type of EE helps students– generally in their upper years of study– develop professionalism and career readiness skills. Check out the Community Partner Toolkit for Placements/Practica.

Visit our Gallery to see examples of experiential education in the Faculty of Health.

It is important that EE be mutually beneficial for both the students and the community partner. The following are just some of the ways in which partners can benefit from an experiential education partnership with the Faculty of Health. Partners will:

  1. Complete projects you might otherwise have to postpone due to lack of time and limited resources
  2. Benefit from student curiosity, energy, initiative and motivation
  3. Access a source of volunteers, board members, and even potential hires (i.e., students who have worked with a partner are vetted and partially trained candidates)
  4. Engage with and inform the curriculum (from the perspective of “what is happening on the ground”)
  5. Develop your staff’s coaching and mentoring skills as they supervise the student working in their organization
  6. Help students relay community perspectives in the classroom as they deepen their understanding of and engagement with community issues

Community partners can refer to small-scale local entities from the public or private sector to large-scale local, national and trans-national, entities. Partners may be, but are not limited, to:

  • Hospitals/community health centres
  • Community-based organizations
  • Non-profit organizations and/or charities
  • Government and public sector organizations
  • Research institutes
  • Social enterprises
  • Schools
  • Private organizations and corporations

Faculty of Health students will be in one of six programs of study, including: Global Health, Health Policy and Management, Kinesiology and Health Science, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Nursing. Experiential Education opportunities are related to students’ program of study and include support from a course professor and an Experiential Education Coordinator.

When you are connected with an EE opportunity, the EE coordinator or the course professor will work closely with you to identify appropriate opportunities and tell you more about students’ knowledge and skills.

How do I get started?

Contact one of our EE Coordinators to discuss your ideas! We are available to support you through all stages of a partnership, from identifying an appropriate opportunity, to planning and structuring projects, and connecting you with our students.

Contact Your Experiential Education Coordinator!

Paola Calderon-Valdivia

Experiential Education Coordinator

paolacv@yorku.ca
416.736.2100 ext. 40016