A pilot program at the University of Northern B.C. is giving students some hands-on learning opportunities.
The Undergraduate Experiential Service Learning program takes students out of the lecture halls and out into the community where they work on practical, real-life situations faced by local organizations.
"UNBC students have long benefitted from the fact that our excellent UNBC faculty members support the high impact practice of experiential learning," said Bill Owen, the university's vice-provost of student engagement, in a media release. "Today, more UNBC students have been provided the opportunity to apply and test their course content in environments outside of the classroom, and in doing so learn new perspectives on their subject matter."
This year, five courses received funding through the program. The content of the courses including learning and transcribing Tsilhqot'in songs and stories, working with the owners of a Skeena River cannery and learning about the biodiversity of the site, serving as liaisons between a province competition in the Canada Winter Games and the mission centre, gaining skills needed for outdoor recreation, and building a traditional Lheidli T'enneh pit house.
Vince Prince, who taught the course involving the pit house, said the course helped develop skills needed by the Aboriginal Business Development Centre, where he is the executive director.
"It's a great fit in terms of what we do at the Aboriginal Business Development Centre," he said. "It helps us develop community capacity in every sense."
The five courses were partly funded by donations totalling $20,000.
"Unrestricted gifts allow UNBC to direct funds to priority areas, such as the UESL pilot program," UNBC development manager Katherine Scouten said. "This gives UNBC the chance to enrich and enhance student learning while also engaging directly with community organizations and businesses.
