Experiential learning in the constituency office: educational innovation at Ryerson University.

• Author: Dutil, Patrice

In 2013, some senior undergraduate students in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University were given the opportunity to be the first class to enroll in an innovative course called the Constituency Office Project. Pairing each student with a Member of Parliament or Member of Provincial Parliament in the Greater Toronto Area, the course allowed students to experience the practical application of political theories they had learned in the classroom. In this article Patrice Dutil outlines the steps taken to set up the course, lists some of its scholastic resources, and shares the feedback he received from the first participants.

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The Ryerson University Department of Politics and Public Administration has developed and implemented an innovative learning experience for its senior students. Working with Members of Parliament and Members of the Provincial Parliament in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the department developed a credit course that includes 80 hours of work in a constituency office, as well as additional research projects. The course has rapidly become a keystone in the department's curriculum - an educational innovation that could set a new standard in political science education across the country.

The purpose of this project is to provide students insights on the applied aspects of what is involved in representing constituents, delivering front-line customer service, and helping the public navigate through government departments. The Constituency Office Project course has so far proven to be a worthy initiative that is reproducible, with some tailoring, across the land. Improvements continue to be made on how to deliver the experience, but these pioneering efforts have paid off, not least in exposing students to some of the real work of elected officials and in allowing them to discover what has become an important part of Canada's working democracy.

Constituency offices in many areas of Canada already host students, but the initiative mostly comes from social work faculties who wish to give students experience in assisting citizens. (It is worth noting that in some larger cities, urban planning and geography departments also place students in municipal councillors' offices.) The assignment makes sense, but these students also have the general option to complete their internship in any agency devoted to social work. In fact, social work students are not required to take political science as part of their curriculum, so their work in the constituency office is focused entirely on its social work dimension. The internship is typically a requirement to graduate, but it is not a credited course.

For Ryerson Politics students, this senior-level course is an opportunity to gain hands-on experience and to bridge the gap between the theory and skills learned in the classroom and the real work world of parliamentarians and their vitally important constituency staffs. The result has been an important success for the three partners involved. The students have reported immense satisfaction in their course evaluations and earned a credit for their work and study, the constituency offices received...