Education

C M Y K PAGE 3 SUPPLEMENT TO THE FREE PRESS • SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2022 3 EDUCATION GUIDE "Yes, we want them to successfully graduate from their program. But we're also looking to help them develop their careers and to serve as contributing members of their com- munities," Usick says. "At the end of the day, it's about helping students in their growth and development and for them to be able to look back one day and see how much they've learned. Conversa- tions are often about getting a job at the end of your degree program and that's important, but it's also about learning, thinking critically, developing new skills and being a good citizen of the world." UM offers a number of experiential learning opportunities in addition to Community Engaged Learning. They include: • Applied Research: allows students to learn by collaborat- ing with faculty researchers and community partners. • Campus Integrated Learning: provides campus and com- munity-based learning opportunities with a wide range of collaborators and partners. • Co-operative Education: combines academic program- ming with paid, full-time work experience. • Creative Works: offers students an opportunity to produce everything from fine artwork, dance and writing to film- making, music and other forms of creative expression. • Entrepreneurship: provides a chance to engage in the ear- ly-stage development of business start-ups and advance ideas that address real-world challenges. • Program-Based Experience: engages students in explor- ing and practising discipline-specific concepts and com- petencies for academic credit or recognition. This can include everything from working at a dental clinic to shad- owing a practising lawyer as part of an externship. Usick says at its core, experiential learning is when stu- dents learn by doing and then reflect back to make mean- ing from what they just learned. The university recently launched a new digital platform called UM Connect at umconnect.umanitoba.ca. It serves as an online catalogue of all the university's experiential learning programs and will help students choose which ones best match their interests or needs. As for students who may be interested in experiential learning but aren't sure if it's the right fit for them, Spearman has a few words of advice. "I always say that university is about academic learning, personal learning and emotional learning," she says. "The classroom can only give you one side of that. An op- portunity like a Community Engaged Learning program al- lows you to accomplish those other two goals of personal and emotional growth. I think all of those bundled together will make your university experience so much more mean- ingful than if you just have the academic side of it." CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 SUPPLIED PHOTO University of Manitoba student Amy Spearman wears face paint done by a midwife as a gesture of respect to the Quechua gods before entering the jungle. SUPPLIED PHOTO University of Manitoba students gathered with elder Indigenous midwives and local Ecuadorian youth volunteers of the Amupakin community. It was cool to be able to challenge my own ideas of what civilization is and my western ethnocentric views. It just went to show how little we know about our world. It was a very humbling experience." — Amy Spearman Faculty of Arts student University of Manitoba Find the future you want at our compact, cozy campus. BrandonU.ca/Future-Students CANADA'S finest regional university BE a gil e • BE c o ur a ge o u s • BE inc l u si v e

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