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Co-Curricular Record CoP Spotlight
72 Plays6 months ago
This episode our on-air host Rachel Barreca is joined by Bailey Gross, Chris Glover, Christine Wiggins, Christy Starkey and Paul Smith as we point a spotlight on the Co-Curricular Record CoP. This is our final episode release of the CACUSS50 podcast; we hope that you have enjoyed listening to each episode as much as we have enjoyed producing them.
The CACUSS50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organizations 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by: Sean Fast, Adam Kuhn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Muehlethaler, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret de Leon, and Becca Gray. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler-colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. For more information on the territories you may reside on, visit: https://native-land.ca/
Music: Expanding the Limits | Performed by Audiorezout & Written by Oleksii Striapchyi | Stock Media provided by Audiorezout / Pond5
Podcast Cover Art by: Ravi Gabble (UTM)
Twitter: @cacusstweets
Instagram: @cacussphotos
Website: https://cacuss.ca/
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Transcript
Introduction to Caucus 50 Podcast
00:00:19
Speaker
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Caucus 50 podcast. My name is Rachel Bereca. I'm your host today. And you're listening to a podcast that is part of the Caucus 50 Retrospective last year in 2023. It was our 50th anniversary as an organization. And this is one of the many ways that we looked back to the past in order to be able to look to the future in the next 50 years.
Discussion of CCR and COP
00:00:46
Speaker
And I'm very excited about today's episode, we're going to be talking about the CCR, COP, lots of acronyms, the co-curricular record or recognition um community of practice. And I'm not going to sing down on the corner just so you all know, even though I love me some CCR. Okay, so I'm going to turn it over to today's participants to um introduce themselves and let you know who's in this conversation. And then we'll get into the meat of it all.
00:01:17
Speaker
How about we start with you, Chris?
Participant Introductions
00:01:20
Speaker
Hi, everyone. My name is Chris Glover. My pronouns are he, him, and I am currently working at Lakehead University. My position is Associate Vice President Administration for Lakehead's campus in Aurelia, Ontario. Christy. Hi, everyone. My name is Christy Starkey. My pronouns are she, her, and I am the co-curricular and Career 360 Lead at St. Mary's University in and Halifax, Nova Scotia. And I am also the current co-chair of the COCA CCR Community of Practice alongside my colleague Sarah Schultz at Michigan State University. And I've been involved with co-curricular learning since 2018. Paul. Hello, everyone. My name is Paul Smith. Pronouns are he, him. I'm Director of Career Services at Loyalist College at the main campus in beautiful Belleville, Ontario.
00:02:16
Speaker
Great. How about you, Christina? Hello, everyone. I'm Christina Wiggins. i ah Pronouns are she her. I work for Sheridan College in Southern Ontario, and I am the co-curricular learning and career readiness specialist. Yeah, Sheridan loves their long job titles. And I've been involved in the co-curricular program at Sheridan since it started in 2012. Thanks. And last but not least, Bailey.
00:02:45
Speaker
Hi there, my name is Bailey Gross and my pronouns are she, her. I am an experience record and resource specialist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, and we work within the Career Center. um And a little fun fact is back in 2004, I was in my second year at Laurier and um helped to initiate the co-curricular record as a student on campus here. And and um it's almost been 20 years, so still working away, missed a few years in there, but um I'm working with it for a very long time. So I've seen it evolve a lot and it's gonna be really exciting to chat about it today.
Challenges in Defining CCR
00:03:18
Speaker
Yes, there's been lots of evolution when it comes to the to CCR experience in this country. Well, let's talk a little bit about that. Let's talk about what this COP is all about. And I think the first question really is,
00:03:31
Speaker
What is a CCR? Who wants to take that on? What is a CCR? Bailey, maybe you're a good person to to do that, given that you've been involved in this for quite some time and seen some of that evolution.
00:03:46
Speaker
um I was when ah worried that you were going to call on me. um It's actually probably the hardest question on this list of questions to talk about. um It's actually what we do a lot in our in our meetings is we talk about what the CCR means to each institution it is a little bit different everywhere. And we try to pull it together in our meetings and and really focus on the similarities and the differences. um So I know we're actually in the process of rewriting our definition.
00:04:17
Speaker
um I don't even know, Christy might not even have the most up-to-date, but our current edition is something like a co-curricular record or recognition program provides a process and and ah as an official or unofficial document, validating the students' achievements, learnings, and involvement within a post-secondary institution to find co-curricular programming or or experiences.
00:04:41
Speaker
So that's kind of one of the virgins, and we might have even updated it since that last little bit because I missed the last meeting. um But I think the biggest thing is that we're all a little bit different, and we're trying to um come together in this COP to define what we're doing on campus and and really relate to each other with that. Thanks. I'm curious to know what that means in in layperson's terms. When you're talking to students, what are you saying?
Co-curricular Programming Explained
00:05:12
Speaker
Well, for us, when we talk about co-curricular programming, and I was just doing a class presentation this morning, I tend to lean more into defining it as learning that takes place outside the classroom that's not recognized on the student's academic transcript. So it's not learning that is required as part of their academic studies, but they engage in outside of the classroom and the institution, Sheridan,
00:05:39
Speaker
All our institutions recognize that. And we provide that whether it's a record or transcript or or some way. But that's, I'm finding it was where students really resonate with understanding what is co-curricular programming. It's that learning outside the classroom that provides opportunities to build employability skills and competencies. That's how I define it. There might be another way ah there any other institutions talk about it. Like other perspectives on that?
CCR as a Skill Vocabulary
00:06:09
Speaker
whenever Whenever I'm talking to students about co-curricular record, and forgive me if you hear background noise, ah the price of progress, renovations going on here, whenever I'm talking to students about co-curricular record or any variation student experience record variations thereof, because there are variations, and and as as Bailey said, over 20 years it has morphed and moved and and continues to do so, one of the things I point out to them, and and the The notion that it's the learning that happens outside the classroom I think is a really great place to start. um One of the things that i I will share with them is that quite often people will find themselves involved in careers and work, which doesn't tie directly to the title of the diploma that they've graduated with. And I need to look no further than the mirror um to to find somebody who has benefited from
00:07:05
Speaker
the the involvement in things that I participated in as an undergrad that set me on a career path, which is not tied. I'm supposed to be by rights, a high school English teacher. It's not a high school, I'm not teaching English.
00:07:17
Speaker
um But it's ah it's the stuff that I did outside the classroom which influenced where where where my career went. I am by far not the only person who can say this. I would wager that most of us in this call would be able to say something along those lines. And it's and it's capturing that. It's it's um one of the things I feel that we've done poorly in higher ed as a general rule is that we have failed to provide students with a vocabulary to describe the full range of skills and learning that they exhibit or that they experience while they're in college or university. Co-curricular record is a gesture in that direction. It's an attempt to provide them a format, a forum, to capture some of that learning aside from what shows up on their academic transcript. And and very powerful, very powerful tool. That's great. Christy? Yeah, I can chime in on that.
00:08:14
Speaker
To me, co-curricular learning, it helps reinforce students' development and it really enhances their social connections and gives them a sense of ah shared community and it really highlights the well-rounded student. And then through programs like the co-curricular record or recognition program, so through these students can really reflect on their learning and identify their skills and competencies and also record their experiences on a university verified document.
00:08:43
Speaker
So, you know, sometimes I hear from students and they'll say, why should I participate in CCR? Why do I have to do this work if I have a resume? And, you know, we really try to underline that resumes can only contain so much information and it's not validated. And it doesn't really give a full picture of the student's achievements where students can use their co-curricular or their experience record if they're applying for jobs, scholarships for their education applications, and more so because each experience has been verified by the institution.
00:09:15
Speaker
It's really a tool, isn't it, for the learning and to be part of the learning experience. It's not a document to be a document. Chris. Yeah, I was smiling, listening to everyone's responses because the the question that you asked of us of what is a CCR in a way just reminded me of where we began with the with the community.
Origins and Growth of CCR Community of Practice
00:09:38
Speaker
And and that although I'm not as active now in the community as I once was,
00:09:44
Speaker
That was actually a question that helped bring us together. to to It was a question that we were all asking each other around a time when co-curricular records or whatever name of the program you use at your institution were starting to pop up at institutions across the country. And and this this question seems to be a thread through the the history of the the community of practice that continues to come up and and It's great to hear that the conversation is continuing to evolve. Well, that's actually a really good segue into, ah ah you know, what is the origin story of this community of practice? um All great superheroes have origins to stories and so too does the superhero. So I'm curious to know how things got started and Chris, you being one of the first co-chairs would be well placed to to go into that part of the story.
00:10:40
Speaker
I'm sure, I mean, I'll share what I can remember and and some of you were around then too, so feel free to fill any gaps or share a different version of the history, that which is totally possible. um a um From what I can remember was probably back as far as 2012, that was ah when a number of co-curricular records were starting to pop up, although we we know that there's some older programs certainly in the country and that are represented today on the call. um But it was probably around that that time when we started to see through um newsletters and things that these programs were popping up. And I know that one that caught a lot of attention ah was when the co-curricular record at U of T was was launching. And so around that time, I was working on launching a program at Dalhousie in Halifax.
00:11:36
Speaker
and had seen the news about U of T and reached out to Kim or Kim may have called me. I can't remember how ah how that happened. And we started to also receive calls from other colleagues who were starting programs on their campuses. And so we thought it was time to just to start to pull people together. So that we started as a really informal group. We weren't at the time yet ah integrated into caucus. And so for the first year, maybe two years,
00:12:06
Speaker
It was very ad hoc. We got together. This was also pre like really pre-Zoom, pre-MS teams. So we were using like dial-in telephone calls and some early like video conferencing stuff to be able to share and and to connect and to talk about um how people were rolling these programs out in their institutions, how they were developing guidelines for their programs, the policies, ah potentially in some cases,
00:12:33
Speaker
and And really starting the conversation around it trying to i find a common language that we could use because there were people, some institutions felt quite strongly that it wasn't a transcript, it was a record and and that co-curricular just wasn't ah accessible as a term. So some were using like my experience or or different versions of that. and But what we did acknowledge was that there was a commonality throughout um throughout the country in terms of what we were trying to accomplish. And that was everything that really everyone just mentioned is to find a way to capture these kinds of experiences and the learning that that students gain from participating in these kinds of experiences. It just how we were going about doing it was was slightly different from one to the next. And then I think probably around that time at caucus, the new community of practice and networks ah model was being introduced to the association.
00:13:33
Speaker
And so as as we were developing as this sort of grassroots group and as that became more established, then we were you know asked to consider moving into caucus. And then we transitioned to become an official community of practice. But I'll pause there. after I've said enough. I know, Christina, you were around in those early days. I don't know if you want to to share. And Paul certainly was active in bad while you've always been active. all inside Sure, I can jump in just to fill in some details. Because actually myself and Amy Baird from Conestoga, we ended up being the co chairs after you and Kim very big shoes to fill very hard to fill those shoes. So I have the little extra notes and maybe most community members may not have and so I was looking at it and I was
00:14:26
Speaker
So impressed and so surprised. Like from 2012, 2013, like 2013 to me was the real, that the caucus that you and and Kim did the birds of a feather. And I still remember that, birds of a feather. I didn't even mind need my notes to remember that. And that was a real transition and turning point where we became or to the rest of us, like here's something that's really important and going to happen.
00:14:52
Speaker
And then shortly after that, in 2014, we had U of T, we had a ah conference. And then 2015, we had another conference in which we started to look at what is the definition of co-curricular.
00:15:08
Speaker
Who are we? We
Technology's Role in CCR Programs
00:15:09
Speaker
had working groups saying who are we? Marketing ourselves to employers. Let's all come together and create some tip sheets and help each other. And it really, you know, and Kim really established a community of practice in which we all work together and that culture is still there that we help each other at the drop of a hat to get your CCRs together or get your programming together.
00:15:36
Speaker
And that's really the origin story is that true community of practice together. but's That's what I remember. Just explosion of getting together and meeting each other and sharing ideas. Like, I miss that. I honestly miss seeing everybody in person. Yeah. That's for me. Paul, do you? Yeah, um I kind of came to the party a little later um by virtue of the where I was in my career at the time. and But I can share with you that in an earlier phase of my career, I was working at ah Queens, Queens University, and and we were talking about bringing on a CCR there, and um it didn't get the traction to to move forward because I think, honestly, some people didn't understand what the benefit would be. um Student government were keen for it, but so some folks in administration thought it would be redundant.
00:16:28
Speaker
um and But then I left. Well, that conversation was still ongoing when I transitioned out of ah Queens and went to work with Casey and saw from the sidelines the emergence, the growing importance of co-curricular records. But one of the real challenges has always been um to To me, the the secret ah recipe, the the goose that lays the golden egg is reflective learning. And if we can get a student to stop and and think about how they've been changed by their experience, and then that they can describe it to somebody else, that's really valuable. And a co-curricular record gives them some vocabulary, gives them some words, gives them something they can point to to help them to understand that. um But I remember the the other the big challenges. and And how do we get employers to understand it?
00:17:17
Speaker
how do we How do we build something that will be of value to people? I mean, we get it. The students who are involved, hopefully they get it. I know from some experience that they do. But how do we communicate it to a third party, to somebody who's who's not been part of it? And and I think the the great news is that the movement, this the growth of this community practice is creating that body of people who can leverage understanding, have influence, ah employers begin to see it. Our colleagues in grad school admissions begin to see it. um the The benefit of these documents being available ah that students can take with them into their lives. I remember one of the um early conversations was also around technology and the platform.
00:18:08
Speaker
Would somebody like to speak a little bit to that? Because that was definitely an issue in the early days as well. Yeah, sure. So our technology around CCR, it does continue to evolve um each day and year. And it's really the key piece in managing all of these amazing things that are being done in the various CCR related programs. So, you know, for example, in our earlier days of CCR at St. Mary's, we had a really clunky platform built by our IT t department.
00:18:38
Speaker
And it had a lot of very challenging administration pieces, but then we we implemented our new student engagement platform. It really helped us simplify our processes and see all of our experiential learning in one place and really so help us start to bring together all of these things into a more comprehensive record. um I'll jump in just quick ah from what I can remember in the the early days. I think that um The challenges around technology also were linked to our conversations around what how do we find some common language and some and in a way to set some sort of common standard. If that was at all possible, we weren't obviously a governing body that they could could set that, but we did want to have at least some sort of standard that we could all work toward.
00:19:26
Speaker
ah throughout the the network. And so the the reason why technology was linked to that has a lot to do with what we've been talking about in terms of capturing the students' um experiences and and the yeah student development through that process and what did that look like and how do we how do we capture that in ah in a meaningful way. um and And also linked to that was then how do you scale it. So if you're you you have a system that we could even agree on that we would use to be able to track that information. As your program grows on your campus, how can you manage it? So we had discussions around, you know, I think actually at St. Mary's in the early days, your system was was very involved in that students had to write personalized statements acknowledging what they had gained from their experiences. And then those statements would be reviewed by
00:20:19
Speaker
your administrator and then approved or maybe there would be back and forth between the students and the the administrator before they would be finalized and listed on our record versus other systems that we had that were more of pre-built statements that students would review and check off as a box um or maybe an overall summary that they would have to write. So there were there were variations and we had to, it wasn't easy and I think there's still lots of variations out there but to try to find a way that how can we use different forms of technology to try to achieve at least some kind of a ah minimum standard. And it that wasn't easy. But again, like if you were a proponent of something that was very hands-on, so using the St. Mary's example, um how do you how do you then scale it when you're going across the whole campus? So it's one thing if you have a small handful of students who are active in your program and writing these statements, it's manageable for a person to do that. But now if you have thousands and thousands of
00:21:18
Speaker
records and students to review, it really becomes resource intensive. And so I'm sure that it won't be a surprise for many to hear that lots of institutions were keen and wanted to have this, but the resources weren't always there to support it, to be able to roll these systems out. So it it was a really interesting time and trying to figure out how how we get there. And um when you know there's diverse opinions and thoughts on what is the most valuable would outcome for students to have. So anyway, just an interesting time and the technology continues to evolve. Yeah, I i also um want to note that in the early days, and I'm curious to know if this is still the case, are there arguments about the validated versus self-reported approaches to
00:22:09
Speaker
co-curricular records and recognition. I know for us, the validation piece is is one of the stumbling blocks for for wide adoption. It kind of concerns people. um Am I going to pick up a whole lot of new work by virtue of having to do this? And invariably, it's not that much. ah But if we are if we're serious about this, if we if we want this to to have some meaning, um there needs to be somebody who validates that what this person said they did, they did. um That's where that's where the the benefit of this comes from, besides reflective blending, which we've already talked about. Any other thoughts on that one, Bailey? Hi. um Yeah, I think for us at Laurier, we really are thinking about the reflection for the students and and really using that as a
00:23:04
Speaker
ah a leader in how we are thinking about validation as well. um So we have even started to move to like just having a list and importing a list to validate students. But the experience actually doesn't appear on their rent record until it's the um the reflections completed.
00:23:22
Speaker
So that completion of the reflection is the most important key element. And students can do that. And it's not actually reviewed by the validator. The validator just lets us know that, yes, they have completed their role. They met all the requirements. And then the student has to do that reflection themselves. So the reflection please validation seems easier for our validators. And the reflection becomes a key piece for students. And they they have to do a written reflection as well as selecting um competencies and indicating time commitment. So there's a number of elements for them to do. And I guess and different institutions are doing it differently. And I think as the years have gone on, it is about finding ways to make sure it's easy for our validators and it's easy for the students. But we also want to um add that extra level of learning for them, that experiential learning, right, of bringing that reflection piece. So we don't ever want to lose that. Right. It's really clear that, you know, in this work, you've got this sort of
00:24:16
Speaker
um centralized community of practice where you can all come together, but you're all coming from a whole bunch of different contexts and figuring out how do we have consistency and flexibility at the same time. So let's talk a little bit about what happens in this particular community of practice.
Activities within CCR COP
00:24:35
Speaker
You've begun to talk a little bit about some um conferences or going to conferences and having institutes or or or gatherings at those conferences.
00:24:44
Speaker
If you were speaking to members of caucus, which you are doing right now on this podcast and those who maybe are not yet caucus members and you wanted to recruit them to this community of practice, what would you say to them? What do we do in this and the CCR COP? So the CCR COP is really a great space for any CCR professional to learn.
00:25:06
Speaker
from each other and to really help each other grow and understand the world of CCR as it involves. So we host monthly meetings where we discuss CCR related topics and new this past year we introduced a new piece in our meetings where we do an institutional walkthrough. So we have a member from the group share their CCR platform, they walk through all of their processes and then they give us a sneak peek into the actual platform and and what that looks like, which is really great for all of us to see, because it's not something we really get access to. um And we also have a couple working groups that members can get involved with. So ah there's a research and assessment work group, and we also have a marketing, the CCR work group. So folks in these groups, they really help us drive forward our goals and initiatives, so um various ways that folks can get involved. And then we also have a large,
00:25:59
Speaker
and growing a listserv of CCR professionals. So ah people in the group can ask questions to the network at any time. And it's just a really great way to get help with any things that you need or really help grow your initiatives at your institution. Yeah, I can add to what Christy was saying. I mean, for me, having been around since the beginning, I really value the community of practice because it's like a safe space that we can all come together um I think it was Adam who said earlier, we're not a regulated body or programming. So we create the safe space that with that common definition, we all know we're creating a program that employers will respect, that students respect, but it has to be tailored to each of our institutions. But the safe space of our weekly meeting or monthly meetings is that we give each other ideas.
00:26:56
Speaker
like every meeting I walk away going, Ooh, let's try this. Ooh, let's try that. No one feels the pressure to be like any other institution. We very much, and this is what I think is very unique about it. We very much respect and appreciate our uniqueness and we share with each other what we're doing. And then we get inspired to maybe do what we're doing better because I think With very few exceptions that I can think of off the top of my my head, usually this program is run by one person or two, and it can be very lonely. And this community of practice is our colleagues. I feel like every person in the community of practice is my CCR colleague. No one else truly understands the work that we're doing.
00:27:45
Speaker
um And I think it's amazing. I think that's what happens every month is we get together and we're colleagues from all across Canada and now, you know, internationally as well. It's pretty amazing stuff. I think it's pretty unique. that's The community part is important as well as the practice. For Christina's comments, I can remember when I was co-chair of the COP, myself and Rose Lynn were co-chairing together.
00:28:14
Speaker
And so here I'm with a community college in 3,000, 3,500 students. And my job at the time involved work around micro credentials and involved work around badging and involved work around co-curricular record. There was a continuum that that touched on a whole bunch of stuff that were offshoots, one might say, from co-curricular record, ah whereas Rose at the University of Toronto's George campus did co-curricular record.
00:28:47
Speaker
And it was was a a living, breathing example of the the range of ah higher ed in the country, very, very different um situations for both of us. But we both got real value from the work. And and it was a lot of fun to hear um what others were doing, as Christy was saying, the notion of you can bring somebody into a meeting, see how they're tackling something. Laurier was tremendously important to us as we were getting started. and I don't want to get the impression that we're well-launched. We're still getting started. But Laurier, it was extremely important. Yeah, I would i mean, I just would reemphasize Christina's point about ah in in many cases, folks are coming from offices where there are a person like a department of one person and that this was a place where you actually had people speaking similar language and that you could relate to one another
00:29:43
Speaker
And so it it was it was exciting. I remember being able to ah look forward to those meetings where you could call in and people understood what your day to day looked like and the problems that you were facing. ah And you know especially in that if you're at the early stages of implementing a program at your institution, there's lots of people willing to share advice based on their experiences of rolling programs out and the difficult conversations that you're having at your institutions because Not everyone is supportive of the idea and I remember navigating some really um difficult moments in the early days that dealt with some some people who were opposed to the concept and didn't didn't really like the idea of it. um And knowing that you had a group of peers that you could turn to and ask for some advice. um But then also within the community itself that there weren't always easy conversations.
00:30:36
Speaker
the But the group was very open and supportive and you know like it was hard to agree or to try to find a way to agree on certain terms. But everyone was still so supportive. I just remember describing the experience in the community being like sort of prepare yourself for lots of gray areas, lots of gray conversations. Nothing is is one way or the other. Nothing is black and white. it was It was going to be um a lot of sort of all over and what if and but what about this? Okay. Well, we're maybe we're ready to settle in this Oh, no, but what about this one scenario over here and things like minimum thresholds for recognition on co-curricular Records was one thing of some people feeling quite strongly that we had to have an hour limit attached to certain experiences and
00:31:25
Speaker
um But then we would have really interesting conversations about student development in that, well, what if that experience was only an hour long and it didn't mean much to one person, but it it actually changed someone's opinion on something or they, you know, decided to take a different path after that one hour workshop that they had or that the one event where they volunteered. And so how did, by setting some really strict limits, how does that then make this an acceptable for some students? so's it was lots of really interesting conversations, but everyone was very, very supportive and came with an open mind. Chris, absolutely. I do remember conversations, okay, we're going to call it gold, silver, bronze, first degree, second degree, third degree. And then we would get into situations that, you know, we've got students who are enrolled in skilled trades programs who are here with us for like eight months. And we've got three month, three year long ah technician programs. And
00:32:22
Speaker
how can ah how can the experience How could we expect that the experience of those two students be equivalent through a co-curricular record? yeah Yeah, those are complicated conversations. Well, I can remember on my campus, one of the conversations um at Toronto Metropolitan University ah ah was that so many of our students are commuters and they're having all these rich experiences in their home communities.
00:32:48
Speaker
that might be intersecting with what they're experiencing in their classes on campus, how do you deny them the opportunity to have a ah a ah ah rich co-curricular record or transcript or whatever it might be um just because they couldn't be on campus as much as the students who might have had, quite frankly, more money, more free time um to to spend time doing on-campus things. So that that was ah another example of like the complexity that you're talking about. and and ah the politics of it all. um Yeah and similarly ah Rachel I remember another hot topic was jobs on campus and could student employment count for recognition and there were some people who felt strongly that it shouldn't because it was paid and you were you know that that was a way of recognizing your work and others talking about how ah many if not all jobs that we offer students on campus provide an opportunity to grow and to learn and to
00:33:44
Speaker
and that it was a co-curricular experience. And so there was lots of debate ah back and forth on on that one too. and And for us, I remember at Dalhousie, it was that one in particular, had ah our our position on it had to do with accessibility and and being and making sure that this was open to all students and recognizing that some students have to work part-time jobs, multiple part-time jobs in order to be a student and and that those experiences should count as part of their overall experience because they're spending time on campus, they're interacting with their peers on campus and supporting the the mission of the institution in many different ways. so it was And I'm sure all of you can think of some fantastic student workers who have worked with you over the years and the impact that they've had on your operations. like um Anyway, it was there were some really interesting hot topics. I'm sure that I'm seeing
00:34:40
Speaker
I know the listeners can't see the faces, but there's some smiles and not on some of these issues. Well, let's let's start talking about um not ah just the past and the present, but towards the future um of this
Future Trends in CCR
00:34:55
Speaker
work. And I'm curious to hear about what the themes and trends are today as you look to the future as a community of practice. What are people but are people curious about? What are people talking about? is it all the same stuff and there's nothing new under the sun or are there new things emerging?
00:35:14
Speaker
So I guess thinking about our conversation we already had about like how technology has influenced how what we do and the conversations we've had about is all these other experiences that didn't fall under co-curricular in the past. um with I think one of the biggest things right now is some of the platforms, of Orbis um is what we use, but they're actually opening the doors for us to to recognize students who are doing experiential learning in many ways. um So a lot of different institutions are starting to open the, ah it's not just co-curricular anymore. um So we have different modules that will pull together to make an experiential record for a student. So we are going to be starting to track, you know, co-op placements, um more curricular involvement. So the academic pieces and plan the experiential learning from the courses, um on-campus employment, those kinds of things that are,
00:36:07
Speaker
are typically not um highlighted before in the co-curricular record. So now with the technology and and all this new conversations ah about students and and and that involvement on campus has really changed how we are able to recognize students. um So I think that's one of the biggest things. and And then it also, that's why we're revisiting our definition is because um institutions are really expanding what they' they're tracking and what and recognizing for students. Interesting.
00:36:36
Speaker
What other things are bubbling up? What are you curious about? and Continuing on the technology theme, um we're dealing with limitations of our current platform, ah trying to figure out how we, I mean, our students, we've we've adopted single sign on for a lot of ah that the apps and so on that students can access. We're not there with with the with our CCR platform, and that's a limitation.
00:37:06
Speaker
So we're we're trying to figure out how can we make this as painless as possible for students to participate and for validators to validate, ah while at the same time being robust and and having meaning by virtue of, yeah, we can verify that this is what's going on, which which remains an important question. So we're kind of feeling like the technology hasn't quite caught up to what other things are telling us are possible. Trusting. Christy?
00:37:37
Speaker
So I think one of the hot topics for a lot of institutions that they're thinking about or they're moving into an experience record model. So this is a more comprehensive model that includes validated CCR experiences, but also other curricular and non-curricular experiential learning. So this type of model really allows students to verify all of their experiences that they're doing and showcase a complete view of their learned skills and competencies. And this type of model also has more sharing sharing capabilities. um So we're hoping that it will have better traction with our employers and and different stakeholders like that. And if I could just chime in as well. like
00:38:21
Speaker
what's happening at my institution is very much what we just talked about. And I sort of find myself thinking the future is the programming continues to grow and deepen its roots in the in our at our institution. But I think because of technology, because we are also connected to the experiential learning platform, I think Since you posed the question, i I think the growth in the future is more collaboration. Instead of the CCR program feeling like it's this isolated program over here and everybody knows about it, and but it it feels like it's an isolation. I think with technology, if you're using the Orbus platform, the experiential platform, I suddenly feel our program is more integrated into everything. ah There's collaboration happening with the experiential
00:39:14
Speaker
colleague on our team. And it's like, well, let's create this resource together. Let's create a resource about reflecting um in the CCR in your experiential learning, based on how to prepare the student maybe for future job interviews. So what helps to serve to promote one serves the other, but actually serves it together. So that's the only way I can sort of answer your question. I think the future of the CCR is the programming is just going to deepen its roots at each of the campuses and within post-secondary. That sounds very exciting, actually. um And I think ultimately well what is what will serve students and their success best as well.
Conclusion and Invitation to Participate
00:40:01
Speaker
So um I want to wrap up by reflecting back to you that what I've heard about this community of practice is that it is collegial.
00:40:10
Speaker
and it is willing to have tough conversations and it's very engaged and supportive and um curious and it's taking tangible steps to push forward this type of work on our campuses and you're doing it together as you may stumble on certain areas and find exciting new opportunities in other areas. So from from Chris Glover and Kimberly Elias as the first co-chairs to um Christy and your co-chair, who couldn't be here today, do you want to name check your your your partner in crime? So the other co-chair is Sarah Schultz and she is the director of the Spartan Experience Record at Michigan State University. Amazing. So how can folks get involved?
00:41:00
Speaker
So people can email us anytime at ccr at caucus.ca and we will get you connected with our lizard. We'll get you hooked up with our monthly meetings and an amazing community of CCR professionals. Sounds very easy to me. It sounds like ah any of you out there who are interested in this and enjoying joining this group of people, you've just heard from five fantastic human beings that are doing this work.
00:41:28
Speaker
and I'm sure would love to have you join them in their community of practice. So I will say thank you to Christina and Paul and Bailey and Chris and Christy. There's a lot of Chris names in here today. Thank you so much. um This has been the Caucus 50 podcast talking about the co-curricular recognition COP, community of practice. And stay tuned for more great podcasts about the history of caucus as an organization. My name is Rachel Bureka. Take care.
00:42:19
Speaker
The Caucus 50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organization's 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by Sean Fast, Adam Kuehn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Mulettoller, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret de Leon,
00:42:49
Speaker
and Becca Gray. Intro and outro music is courtesy of Alexei Stryapji. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. Miigwetch.