| Breakout Session |
Presentation/Panel Title |
PresentationDescription |
Presenter(s) Name |
Organization Name |
| Tuesday, November 10, 10:45-11:30am |
Intentional Architecture: Sustaining a 'Hat-Trick' of Employability and Inclusive WIL through UDL Design |
This panel discussion explores a proven framework for maximising graduate outcomes by intersecting strategic industry integration with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Drawing on an award-winning multi-campus model that achieved a national "hat-trick" of employability accolades, Aoife Prendergast will demonstrate how embedding inclusive design directly into Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) and Experiential Learning (EL) structures drives success for all students, particularly those from equity-deserving groups. |
Dr. Aoife Prendergast, Careers & Employability Manager |
Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Ireland |
| Tuesday, November 10, 10:45-11:30am |
Never Search Alone: Building Access to People for International Student Success in WIL |
International engineering students bring strong academic preparation and global perspectives to Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) yet often face barriers that extend beyond skills and qualifications. Differences in cultural expectations, confidence, language, and familiarity with Canadian workplace norms shape how they understand and navigate WIL when compared to domestic students. |
Laura Li, International Student Career Advisor |
McMaster University |
| Tuesday, November 10, 10:45-11:30am |
In THEIR Words: Experiences of Student Leaders from Equity-Deserving Groups – Panel |
This panel brings together student leaders of equity-deserving support groups to share their lived experiences, including insights from the students they supported, on navigating career development and their WIL/EL experiences. Panelists will discuss emerging obstacles, sources of career anxiety, and the impact of career supports and EL beyond graduation. Hear directly from students on the benefits and challenges of AI as it impacts their career planning. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how student voices can inform inclusive practices and better support diverse pathways to WIL/EL success and meaningful career development. |
Martha Gutierrez, Career Development Practitioner
Angelo Vaccaro, Career Development Practitioner
Hana El Kaissi, Career Development Practitioner
Maria Osea, Career Development Practitioner
|
Seneca Polytechnic |
| Tuesday, November 10, 11:45am-12:30pm |
Student Readiness for Experiential Learning: Theory and Action for Empowering Student Learning |
Readiness is a multidimensional construct, encompassing affective, technological, sociocultural, among other dimensions, though fundamentally it is about cultivating an adaptive repertoire of knowledge and skills that can help lead students to achieve success in how they learn, live, and work, despite encountering unfamiliar contexts and being faced with uncertainty. |
Kris Erickson, Academic Integrity Specialist and Contract Lecturer
Danielle Moed, Educational Developer
|
Toronto Metropolitan University |
| Tuesday, November 10, 11:45am-12:30pm |
Rethinking Award Bias: Expanding Access and Recognition in Co-op Programs |
This session explores the redesign of a co-op student award nomination process following a question that challenged long-standing assumptions about recognition and excellence. After a student raised concerns about whether exceptional work was always being captured through existing co-op award pathways, our team began examining how nominations were generated and whether some forms of achievement may be less visible within traditional recognition processes. |
Philip Brown, Assistant Director
Stephanie Panou, Program Manager, Co-op Operations
|
University of Toronto Scarborough |
| Tuesday, November 10, 11:45am-12:30pm |
The Value of Humanity: Tailoring EL/WIL in the Arts & Community |
Creating bespoke, community-engaged EL and WIL opportunities – no matter the discipline – can be perceived as requiring more input than is efficient, within capacity, or generating enough "results" or impact for a WIL practitioner. By highlighting the diverse opportunities that exist in the Arts for students’ career development and community impact, and the necessity of creativity in (co-)designing truly impactful EL and WIL, this session will seek to answer the question: Where does the Humanity come in to Experiential and Work-Integrated Learning? |
Kirsten Webb, Experiential Education Coordinator |
Brock University |
| Wednesday, November 11, 1:00-1:45pm |
Building Employer Partnerships in WIL |
Over the years, the landscape of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) and Co-op opportunities has continued to evolve, changing the way institutions connect, communicate, and collaborate with employers. Employer engagement is no longer viewed as a one-time recruitment effort focused only on hiring students for a semester. Instead, it has become an ongoing partnership built on trust, communication, responsiveness, and shared goals between institutions, employers, and students. |
Manmita Chopra, Industry Outreach Coordinator
Suzette Williams, Industry Outreach Coordinator
|
Seneca Polytechnic |
| Wednesday, November 11, 1:00-1:45pm |
Nothing New, Just Better Connected: Coordinating Experiential and Work-Integrated Learning Around What Is Already Happening |
Across institutions facilitating WIL programs, industry engagement is often distributed across teams, programs, and individuals working toward similar goals in parallel. The opportunity is not to add something new, but to better connect what already exists. When those connections are made intentionally, small, low‑risk collaborations can scale into meaningful impact for students. |
Rachel Jenson, Faculty Relations Manager, Arts
Greg McIntyre, Strategic Initiatives Manager, Digital Media & Technology
|
University of Waterloo, Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business |
| Wednesday, November 11, 1:00-1:45pm |
Relational Readiness in WIL: Integrating Critical and Indigenous-Informed Approaches |
Work-integrated learning (WIL) is often described as a bridge between education and employment, yet many students are prepared mainly for securing placements rather than for the relational, ethical, and identity-shaping realities of work. This session shares an emerging approach at George Brown Polytechnic between WIL curriculum development and Indigenous ways of knowing and being, shifting the focus from employability alone toward relational readiness. |
Tara Zabella, Senior Manager, Work-Integrated Learning
Leslie Wexler, Manager, Indigenous Pedagogies
|
George Brown Polytechnic |
| Wednesday, November 11, 2:30-3:15pm |
Taking a Universal Approach to Reflection and Career Competency Development at Sheridan College
|
As institutions strive to better integrate experiential learning across the student journey, competency frameworks can serve as a unifying foundation. This session explores how the Sheridan's Career Catalyst competency model is embedded and continuing to expand across the institution, including through the a Career Catalyst Portfolio (CCP), co-op/internship curriculum, co-curricular recognition (CCR), WIL, EL and classroom curriculum. |
Jessica Angus, Experiential Learning Coordinator & WIL Specialist,
Christina Wiggins, Co-curricular Learning Coordinator & Career Consultant,
Laura Dutton, Interim Associate Director, Cooperative and Internship Education
|
Sheridan College |
| Wednesday, November 11, 2:30-3:15pm |
Orbis Outcome, From Functional to Exceptional: Continuous Improvement Strategies for Enhancing the User Experience |
This presentation highlights how our team has used continuous improvement to evolve the Orbis platform from a functional system into a more strategic, user-centered tool for experiential learning operations. Drawing on practical enhancements already implemented and additional opportunities being explored, the session will show how targeted system improvements can streamline workflows, increase engagement for staff, students and employers, and support better administrative and reporting outcomes across work-integrated learning. |
Jordan Carlson, Senior Business Analyst, Experiential Learning |
Sheridan College |
| Wednesday, November 11, 2:30-3:15pm |
Delivering Inclusive, Accessible, and Scalable WIL through Virtual Mentorship and Project-Based Learning |
As postsecondary institutions across Canada work to make Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) more inclusive, many face a common challenge: how to deliver accessible, high-quality experiences at scale without overextending institutional resources. |
Krista Pawley, Co-Founder, Wavemakers,
Shenelle Payne Cuffy, Manager, Career Center, Ontario Tech University
|
Wavemakers, Ontario Tech University |
| Wednesday, November 11, 4:15-5:00pm |
Building Career Ecosystems |
Students encounter career learning opportunities across classrooms, experiential learning programs, student leadership experiences, and campus services. Grounded in the Systems Theory Framework of Career Development, this presentation explores how career offices can strengthen career learning by coordinating partnerships across institutional contexts. Drawing on examples from Brock University, including collaborations with the Black Student Success Centre and Goodman School of Business student leadership programs, participants will examine practical approaches for extending the reach of career development and strengthening WIL-aligned learning across their own institutional ecosystems. |
Andrew Bassingthwaighte, Manager: Career and Curriculum Development |
Brock University |
| Wednesday, November 11, 4:15-5:00pm |
Bringing WIL Home: Strengthening Communities, Retaining Talent |
What does it mean to bring WIL home? For students from northern, rural, remote, and Indigenous communities studying at southern Ontario institutions, work-integrated learning often means staying south, disconnected from the communities, networks, and futures they actually want to build. Meanwhile, employers and organizations in those same regions continue to face workforce shortages, recruitment challenges, and barriers to meaningful engagement. Communities decline when the workforce leaves faster than it is developed. |
Janet Westbury-Swain, Regional Associate Director, Central Canada |
CEWIL Canada |
| Wednesday, November 11, 4:15-5:00pm |
EL across the student journey
|
This session will highlight how the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University is embedding experiential learning across the student lifecycle: engaging prospective students through hands-on recruitment experiences, integrating experiential learning into all undergraduate and graduate programs, and creating opportunities for students to serve as mentors, peer leaders, and co-creators through initiatives such as the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery Employment Program. |
Sarah King, Manager, Experiential Learning
Brenton Barnaby, Senior Recruitment Officer
Abiha Hassan, Experiential Programming and Outreach Coordinator
Lisa Lorentz, Program Manager (Experiential Learning)
Darcy Oberding, Program Manager
Amy Pachai, Educational Developer
Shelley Rottenberg, Instructional Assistant
|
DeGroote School of Business - McMaster University |
| Thursday, November 12, 9:30-10:15am |
Flexibility in Experiential Learning: Opportunities, Challenges and Scale |
This panel explores benefits and challenges of integrating flexible experiential learning opportunities in PSI classrooms, particularly those that are autonomous from structured community service learning, internships, and co-op placements. Our panel will explore if enabling more space for students' creative experimentation and innovation could deepen engagement and potential for social innovation and transformational skill development. Panelists will also reflect on “who leads whom†in creating and supervising students' placements, examining how AI disruption, evolving labour market and skills can impact the clarity of a student's work placement task description, as well as raise concern around the additional training required for industry/community partner/faculty to provide adequate pre-placement student training. Finally, the panel seeks to listen and learn from each other and the audience members on opportunities and challenges in experiential learning implementation at scale: panelists will share reflections on designing experiential learning within large classrooms with one or a few community partners and provide insight on implementing class-wide experiential learning in undergraduate courses in sport or leisure by integrating digital historical online newspapers. |
Eileen O'Connor, Associate Professor
Laura Ambrosio, Language Professor - Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute, University of Ottawa
Caitlyn Shyng, Lead, Coordination and Program Support - Connected Canadians
Omotolani Oyelade, Environmental Health Professional / PhD Student - School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa
|
University of Ottawa, Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute, Connected Canadians, School of Human Kinetics |
| Thursday, November 12, 9:30-10:15am |
Forging Pathways: Military-Connected Co-op
|
Discover how an innovative partnership between Fanshawe College and the Canadian Forces is redefining work ‘integrated learning. This session offers a behind ‘the scenes look at a Military Connected Co-op model that gives students real military experience without enlistment, while building leadership, technical skills, and belonging. Learn how this reciprocal partnership strengthens workforce pipelines, expands access to an traditionally exclusive sector, and delivers measurable value to learners and employers. Leave with practical strategies you can adapt to create impactful, inclusive partnerships. |
Kelsey Currie, Manager, Cooperative Education and Entrepreneurial Services,
Andrew Malison, Career Consultant - Military Connected
|
Fanshawe College, Canadian Armed Forces |
Thursday, November 12, 9:30-10:15am
|
Partnership in Practice: A Collaborative Approach to International Co-op Success
|
Algonquin College will be presenting on our comprehensive approach to supporting students pursuing international co-op opportunities, from preparation and process navigation to employer vetting and approval. Central to this approach is ongoing collaboration between the Co-op and Career Centre, International Education Centre, Risk Management, and Academic Departments, ensuring a coordinated and student-centred experience. |
Ashoka Patel, Industry Engagement Specialist Team Lead
Sarah Kabalan, Co-op Student Advisor
Alicia Gibson, Co-op Student Advisor, Co-op Operations and Experiential Learning Coordinator
|
Algonquin College |
| Thursday, November 12, 10:45-11:30am |
Building WIL In: Using a WIL Course Design Model to Guide the Process
|
Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a powerful pedagogical practice that integrates workplace experience within formal academics to enhance student learning and development. However, individual educators often face challenges when it comes to determining a course structure that seamlessly integrates a WIL experience (Dickson & Kaider, 2012).
To facilitate expansion of the University of Waterloo WIL ecosystem, a WIL Course Design Model was conceived to aid instructors in integrating WIL experiences into their courses in a structured way that does not conflict or diverge from their existing course design approach. The University of Waterloo’s WIL Course Design Model integrates the principles of backwards design (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005) and constructive alignment (familiar to instructors) with the key components of quality WIL (McRae, Pretti, & Church, 2018) to guide the identification and positioning of meaningful WIL experiences within a course to maximize learning and bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world applications. This session will share the WIL Course Design Model and and point to UW’s Teach WIL self-serve web resources to anchor the process.
|
Monica Vesely, Lead Educational Developer - Curricular Integration |
University of Waterloo |
| Thursday, November 12, 10:45-11:30am |
Is teaching your calling? Students discovering opportunities through experiential learning
|
Many educators have found that experiential learning (EL) significantly benefits undergraduate students and future teacher candidates by providing practical experience, building confidence in teaching abilities, and fostering autonomy (Sanaoui, 1995; Ivanova, 2017). By offering meaningful engagement with real-world contexts, EL helps bridge the gap between theory and practice and supports students' readiness for professional environments (Brown, 2009). Providing such opportunities allows students to “get their feet wet by engaging with an authentic workplace setting before they graduate or as they consider further studies.
In 2023, a third-year undergraduate course was developed to offer students an internship experience within the education sector. Despite the rigorous workload, students demonstrated strong achievement across a range of assessments, including interviewing a teacher, reflections on self-selected thematic activities (e.g., building a resume or time management), in-class simulations, and a simulated partner-teacher interview using a chatbot. Their learning experience was documented through a final digital electronic portfolio, examples of which will be shared.
This interactive presentation will highlight the students achievements, as well as the benefits and challenges they encountered. For those considering EL, it will also outline the process of designing and piloting such a course, including building partnerships and networking with organizations. Finally, particular emphasis will be placed on the importance of ongoing course redesign and reflective instructional practice as we continually evaluate what works and what can be improved to ensure the courses long-term sustainability. The session will encourage dialogue and participant feedback, making it accessible and relevant to educators across contexts.
|
Sophia Bello, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
|
University of Toronto |
| Thursday, November 12, 10:45-11:30am |
Stronger Together in Practice: Seneca’s Career Concierge for Scalable WIL & EL Support |
Seneca Works is launching a new Career Concierge project in partnership with InStage to explore how proactive, AI-enabled career support can help more students access guidance related to career exploration, job search, resumes, interviews, and reflection on workplace or experiential-learning activities. |
Imran Mouna, Co-Founder, InStage,
Sheila Bruce, Director, Career Education, Seneca Polytechnic
|
InStage, Seneca Polytechnic |