Franco-Ontario students can now go online for experiential learning opportunities
TORONTO, Aug. 28, 2019 /CNW/ – An eCampusOntario initiative bringing together six Ontario post-secondary institutions and a work-integrated experiential learning platform will ensure that Franco-Ontarian students get the chance to collaborate with off-campus partners in solving real world problems.
eCampusOntario announces its establishment of CAPFO (Consortium d’apprentissage experiential francophone de l’Ontario), a consortium of French colleges and universities that seek to provide Francophone students across the province with a range of experiential learning opportunities during the course of their education. Experiential learning has been recommended by government and industries alike to ensure graduates’ success in the changing workforce.
The institutions involved include the University of Ottawa, Collège Boréal, Collège La Cité, the University of Sudbury, the University of Hearst and York University’s bilingual Glendon College.
Through eCampusOntario support, CAPFO provides its member institutions with access to Riipen, a Canadian online work-integrated experiential learning platform and project management tool. The platform connects educators and students with industry partners to solve real world business, social, and scientific problems in real time. The experiential learning tools are fully online, available to any student with access to the platform. Riipen recently translated its online platform into French, which now makes Ontario’s French-speaking talent pipeline available to businesses worldwide. Other benefits of the platform include the world’s largest work-integrated experiential learning library, as well as project management tools that track student progress and enable industry partners to give feedback throughout the project.
CAPFO has already completed a pilot project (January to March 2019) that utilized the newly translated platform. 60 students and 2 industry partners successfully completed the pilot and expressed excellent feedback. Speaking of the University of Ottawa’s role in the consortium, Aline Germain-Rutherford. Ph.D. Vice-Provost, Academic Affairs – University of Ottawa says:
“CAPFO offers Francophone students unique opportunities to develop knowledge and skills in a professional or associative Francophone environment, and to employers who welcome them with the innovative and creative perspective of the new generation. Because that’s what experiential learning is all about: mutual enrichment for all parties involved.”
Throughout 2019, CAPFO will continue to drive institutional adoptions by providing eCampusOntario members who join CAPFO with free access to the platform and its resources, while working with Riipen to build more off-campus partners from the corporate and not-for-profit sectors.
For more information, please contact Lena Patterson (epatterson@ecampsontario.ca).