2.1 Cara Krezek, Canadian Association of Cooperative Education and Work Integrated Learning (CEWIL)

Topics discussed in this episode include:

CEWIL’s history from the 1970s as a passionate volunteer organization of universities and colleges that began with the name CAFCE (Canadian Association for Cooperative Education) but broadened the definition and incorporated Work Integrated Learning (WIL) into its name.The partnership with the government and education starting in western Canada in British Columbia in WIL, but then picking up the attention of the federal government for future talent and future workforce development to start an ecosystem.The current state of serious federal investment from two governments that reaches down to the students and drove the collaboration represented in CEWIL.The members of CEWIL have shared expertise and best practices across all of the pockets of expertise, geographic diversity, types of students to meet the welcome pressure to use the government’s money well.Traditional academic excellence and the importance of quality frameworks of experiential education to develop and sustain excellence in the experiential domain in part through CEWIL accreditation of these programs.Cara’s own history of coming to Brock University, working in the co-op career and experiential center and her leadership with the faculty and the university in getting Brock to adopt definitions of experiential education as the first higher education institution in Canada to do so.Brock now has 100% participation across all university programs and showing what can be done, perhaps even nationally when educational change is led by passionate people like those at Brock and across the nation in CEWIL.

Resources Discussed in this Episode:

Cara KrezekBrock UniversityCEWIL Canada

Music Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg