An ongoing poll on MyUNB asks students whether they know anything about the Co-Curricular Program. As of this writing, 922 students, over 50% of respondents, have indicated they do not but they wish to learn more. Clearly, the Co-Curricular Program is shrouded in secrecy, but it does not have to be!
The Co-Curricular Program is a replacement for the Co-Curricular Transcript. This transcript was a record of student activities on and off-campus that students received with their diplomas upon graduation. The old system required quite a bit of paperwork and many students have said that it was a bit of a hassle.
Students would often forget to fill out the form until weeks after an event occurred, or then not want to pester whoever was in charge to get them to sign off on their participation. Or worse – they would lose their form, with all of its signatures, and have to start all over again. More often than not, however, students would not bother with it at all.
According to David Decker, Director of Enrolment Management at UNB, the aim of the new Co-Curricular Program is to “reduce [the] barriers and burdens that students had to deal with [with the old platform].”
With the new platform, students can keep track of all of their activities and club participation online – no cumbersome paperwork necessary.
“[The Co-Curricular Program] is operated entirely through D2L,” Decker explains, “and there is still a sign-off process, but it is done electronically by a staff representative.”
As the MyUNB poll indicates, as of this writing 523 students claim they are not interested in the program at all, but Decker thinks students should be.
“When you get out into the workforce and meet with people who are hiring, having a piece of paper or some tangible notice saying all of the things that you participated in while you were in university will look really good. It makes you seem well-rounded,” he emphasizes.
The individuals in charge of the Co-Curricular Program are currently working on producing certificates/awards for students who complete all of the themes on D2L.
“It’s almost something that would supplement a resume, depending on how active you’ve been on campus,” Decker suggests.
The Co-Curricular Program: A Student’s Guide
-Log into MyUNB portal and select D2L Brightspace in the launch menu. Once you arrive at the D2L website, scroll down until to the section labeled “Free Courses Registration”. UNB Co-Curricular Program should be the first option.
-Upon selecting that, there will be prompt to register for the program. MAKE SURE TO USE YOUR STUDENT EMAIL ADDRESS! Sometimes D2L will confuse your UNB email address with your IM address.
-Once you have registered, the six themes of the program will appear to choose from: Career Development, Global and Cultural Awareness, Personal Development, Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Civic/Social Responsibility & Proudly UNB.
-All of these themes have various activities you can take part in. Once you have participated in one of them, you will be required to submit proof of participation, be it a selfie of you at a sporting event for Proudly UNB, or a copy of your resume for Career Development. Once a staff representative has signed-off on your participation, that activity will be marked as complete.
Prior to UNB launching this program, UNB Fredericton students had no way of proving that they took part in campus activities. The Co-Curricular Transcript was purely a UNB Saint John initiative.
“We want to ensure that all of our students have access to the same opportunities,” Decker says. “By operating through D2L, we were able to make the Co-Curricular Program a bi-campus initiative.
“Now that we’re online, students [from both campuses] can also find information on the Program through our Facebook page, and through the weekly emails that we send out which feature events happening in Saint John and in Fredericton that students can get credit for.”
Decker notes the challenges of getting involved on a commuter campus is another reason this new program is beneficial to students.
“You go to university having watched all of the movies and TV shows, and you have certain expectations for what it’s all going to be like based on the American residential style campuses seen on screen,” he proposes. “There’s a lot of hype built up there and, because we are a commuter campus, it may appear that their university experience is lacking unless students actively participate.”
There are a plethora of activities that students can get credit for with the Co-Curricular Program. In fact, if you’ve been at all active on campus since you began attending UNB, you may already be able to check off some of the options in D2L.
