EDAS 1181 Student

EDAS 1181 Field Practice (previous known as EDAS 181) is two, full days a week for the length of the Winter term. This is an EA student’s opportunity to put a theory to practice by developing their skill within the EA profession.  Students are placed in K-12 classroom settings to work with Alberta-certified teachers that use the Alberta Program of Studies in public or accredited private schools. The cooperating teacher will support the EA student in their role of refining academic and behaviour supports in the classroom. For further information review the EDAS 1181 Course Overview.

If you are a distance student requesting to complete your practicum outside of Alberta, please contact edpracticum@rdpolytech.ca immediately for discussion.

After the following deadlines have passed, students cannot register in a practicum course, regardless of the seats that may be available. Our registration deadlines exists months before the start of term in order to allow our Ed Practicum Office (CEED Centre) time to properly arrange placements for all of our students. Our practicum placement personnel work diligently to ensure that students have completed all the prerequisites, submitted the required documentation, and are placed in a suitable practicum location. We also work with a large number of practicum partners who require advance notice to be able to locate suitable practicum mentors, verify site eligibility, and provide legal documentation required for placement.

Fall Term: July 1 *EDAS 1181 is not offered during this term!

Winter Term: November 1

Spring Term: March 1 *EDAS 1181 is not offered during this term!

If you feel that you have extenuating circumstances, please contact edpracticum@rdpolytech.ca to discuss.

1. Confirm the course requirements for your practicum. If you are unsure if you meet the course requirements, see your Academic Planning Guide for your program. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are eligible for your practicum course. Students who are not eligible will be dropped during a routine prerequisite check. If you have not met the prerequisites for your practicum course, you will not have the necessary background to successfully complete your practicum. You will need to defer your practicum to another term. Please reach out to an Academic Advisor in our Student Connect Centre at www.rdpolytech.ca/advising to discuss. If you make any changes to your registration that may affect prerequisites, you must inform the Ed Practicum Office at edpracticum@rdpolytech.ca. 

2.  Review the Educational Assistant FAQ for information about the different placement types (working vs non-working) and other commonly asked questions.

   • NOTE: Unless you are currently a working EA (with approval to complete your practicum at your school), you should not be in contact with schools or school divisions regarding your placement. Placements occurs at the institutional level between RDP and school divisions.

3. Submit the Practicum Request Form. After the registration deadline has passed for the term, students who are registered or waitlisted in a practicum course will be emailed (via RDP email) a Practicum Checklist, which will include the Practicum Request Form. This form is used to initiate the placement request process for your practicum. 

** If the information that you provide in your Practicum Request Form changes between the submission deadline and the start of practicum, this may require that you postpone practicum to a later term. Changes may include (but are not limited to) a loss/change of employment, a reduction in hours, moving to a different community, or closure of the program you have requested.    

4. Review the EA Required Documents webpage for information about the different documents required for practicum and how to submit these documents to our office.

5. Check your RDP email (@rdpolytech.ca) on a frequent basis! Your RDP email (available through the Loop) is activated within 24 hours of registration in classes. If you do not have access to your RDP email, contact RDP IT Services immediately. You will receive a communication from the CEED Centre (edpracticum@rdpolytech.ca) with information regarding your placement a few weeks before the beginning of practicum. Flexibility with confirmation is required as the CEED Centre  works with a large number of division partners to determine successful placements.

6. Carefully review the information that has been provided in the sections below in further preparation for your practicum placement

• To provide assistance to the cooperating teacher and the students as requested by the cooperating teacher becoming actively involved with classroom activities.

• To communicate daily with the cooperating teacher to report on the progress of your tasks and to discuss observations or questions that you have.

• To remind the cooperating teacher of the evaluation deadline and ensure that the cooperating teacher submits the evaluation form electronically to the RDP instructor.

• To be reliable about attendance just as would be expected of an employee and to follow proper procedures for unavoidable lateness or absence, if any.

• To expect that the cooperating teacher and the RDP instructor will be giving feedback on ways to improve performance and to show eagerness to carry out suggestions given.

Please refer to the Information Package for Cooperating Teachers for complete information on the responsibilities of the EA and Cooperating Teacher.

Absences

1. Any absence must be made up, unless this is the result of a school closure.

2. If the employed EA's are attending PD days, Collaborative days etc., student EA should as well. An exception would be if the teacher or administration specifically says otherwise or if scheduled on a non-practicum day.

3. If you are ill, contact both the cooperating teacher and RDP instructor directly.

Snow Days & Bus Cancellations

If the buses are not running but schools are open, this means that the teachers and EAs who can get to school safely will and those who cannot get to school safely will not. Professional and personal judgement comes into play here for you. There is an expectation that teachers and EAs make a reasonable effort to attend work. EA practicum students may not go in, they may go in later in the day as the road conditions and the weather clears up, etc. Whatever the choice is, EA practicum students must communicate with the cooperating teacher and RDP instructor and make the best decision for their safety.  

• Educational Assistant FAQ 

• Information Package for Cooperating Teachers

• Teachers and Educational Assistants (The Alberta Teachers' Association)