The Edu-Grad Collective (The Collective) is a voluntary, student-run program that promotes student engagement in the Faculty of Education through mentorship, information sharing, and collaboration. The Collective has two main components: a buddy program and monthly workshops based on themes that are relevant to the academic journey.
The purpose of The Buddy Program is for upper-year students to support the transition and integration of first-year students into the Faculty of Education community. The Buddy program matches an upper year MA/PhD students with first year MA/PhD students based on common academic streams or areas of interest. A mentor is an upper year MA or post-comprehensive exams PhD student volunteer who commits approximately 5 hours a month to staying in touch with up to three (3) first year MA or PhD students, responds to their questions or directs them to the information they need, and attends monthly events. A mentor is not an in-depth editor, a counsellor, nor should they be the only source from whom a student seeks information. The mentor-student relationship is intended to be one of several resources available to support personal and academic success.
Monthly workshops will be organized during the fall and winter semesters in collaboration with the EGSA-AÉDÉ. Workshops will cover topics such as time management, balance, career mentoring, sharing experiences, critical writing skills. Mentors and students are encouraged to attend these events, where facilitators or guest speakers will share their experiences, and students will have the opportunity to ask questions and contribute their own experiences to the discussion.
The Collective plans to develop Community Research Groups, which will be held in conjunction with workshops. Community Research Groups will be a platform for peer networking and fostering collaboration opportunities between students with similar research interests. This component of The Collective will be developed with student and mentor input as the year progresses.