Who was your community partner, and can you describe the project objectives?
University of Alberta, Zero Waste Program,
The project objectives were to examine what the current state of the zero waste programme was and understand the ways in which people interact with the system. From doing this the project aimed to identify current limitations in clarity and the key messages that need to be shared. And from these insights, the project aimed to develop a plan for outreach that identifies effective opportunities to share information with students.
What was the biggest takeaway from your CSL placement?
The importance of communicating information clearly and creatively to effectively capture peoples attention. Even small actions can make a difference to a wider problem.
There can be different ways to approach a problem.
How can you apply any newly gained knowledge/skills to your future endeavours (courses/employment/volunteering)?
Through working with my group to complete the project, I improved my teamwork and organisation skills. This helped to improve my organisation skills which has helped me to balance my coursework more effectively and has given me a practical experience that I can talk about within job applications and interviews.
Why should students consider being involved with CSL, and how does it enhance their academic learning?
The CSL program provides a way of putting what you learn in class into practice within a real life context. This allowed me to further improve my understanding of class concepts by understandinghoe these principles can be applied to address a real life problem.