In September, the University of Toronto will introduce an official document called the
Co-Curricular Record (CCR), which aims to show your involvement beyond the classroom. After months of consultations from a number of working groups, Kim Elias presented the CCR during a Town Hall today.
So what is the CCR?
A Database: A centralized search engine where you'll be able to search by campus, college, faculty, interest (everything from health and wellness to the arts), the kind of initiative it is, and the kind of commitment. So for example, if you're mostly on campus during the day, and want to engage in a leadership role, you can search for opportunities in this category for your available hours.
A connection between the skills you've gained from the experiences you have. Part of the objective here is to facilitate a clearer connection between the experiences you gain, and how you can help translate those skills for future plans (including grad schools and the working world).
For example, along with your role, the CCR will include a description of skills associated with the role, such as your teamwork and communication skills, becoming a consolidated record of your achievements.
Your CCR can help you market yourself in showing how transferable your experiences are for future endeavours. In a way, it is designed to help assist you in creating a resume, as it lays out all of your involvement, skills and networks gained in one place, but it doesn't
replace your resume.
Validation, of what you did,
what exactly you did, with whom and for how long all of confirmed by the university. There's also the option to have your CCR
tailored to how you'd like it, so for example if you didn't want some components on it when applying for specific jobs, you could adjust it accordingly. The CCR allows you to search, reflect and record the time and effort that goes into your work outside of the library, something that any student knows, is an incredibly difficult balance to maintain.
Some of the questions posed during the Town Hall included concerns over validation and having different initiatives find validators (who will be responsbile for confirming the CCR record). This goes especially for student run intiatives and clubs in which students have primary autonomy, as the CCR requires a staff validator. Understanding how to accommodate some of these extracurriculars into the system will be an ongoing process for the working groups of the CCR, who will work with these student organizations in order to figure out a process that can work for everyone.
The Q&A session also confirmed that Student Life is proposing an increase of 50 cents per student per term for St. George students to pay for a staff member to support the program; and that the CCR is opt-in, so it's not required of students.
What are your thoughts on the CCR?
-Vahini
For example, along with your role, the CCR will include a description of skills associated with the role, such as your teamwork and communication skills, becoming a consolidated record of your achievements.
Your CCR can help you market yourself in showing how transferable your experiences are for future endeavours. In a way, it is designed to help assist you in creating a resume, as it lays out all of your involvement, skills and networks gained in one place, but it doesn't replace your resume.
Validation, of what you did, what exactly you did, with whom and for how long all of confirmed by the university. There's also the option to have your CCR tailored to how you'd like it, so for example if you didn't want some components on it when applying for specific jobs, you could adjust it accordingly. The CCR allows you to search, reflect and record the time and effort that goes into your work outside of the library, something that any student knows, is an incredibly difficult balance to maintain.
Some of the questions posed during the Town Hall included concerns over validation and having different initiatives find validators (who will be responsbile for confirming the CCR record). This goes especially for student run intiatives and clubs in which students have primary autonomy, as the CCR requires a staff validator. Understanding how to accommodate some of these extracurriculars into the system will be an ongoing process for the working groups of the CCR, who will work with these student organizations in order to figure out a process that can work for everyone.
The Q&A session also confirmed that Student Life is proposing an increase of 50 cents per student per term for St. George students to pay for a staff member to support the program; and that the CCR is opt-in, so it's not required of students.
What are your thoughts on the CCR?
-Vahini
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