168 Concordia courses that go beyond the classroom
In the Capstone Engineering Design Project, students work with community partners to solve a problem.
Looking for a hands-on learning experience? Why not consider taking one of the 168 community-based courses offered across Concordia’s four faculties?
“These courses are based on the premise that deep learning takes place through experience, or putting knowledge into practice,” says Nadia Bhuiyan, vice-provost of Partnerships and Experiential Learning.
“They allow students to contextualize what they learn in class and help them to absorb, retain and apply knowledge in a way that is more profound than a traditional lecture-based course.”
In addition, community-oriented courses can improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students, as they require working through real-world challenges.
“Clearly students benefit in many ways, but so do the community partners.” Bhuiyan adds. “They gain from the state-of-the-art knowledge that students apply to help solve their problems.”
Below are some examples of community-oriented courses at Concordia — one per faculty. Go ahead, move beyond the classroom and get your hands dirty!
Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science
INDU 490 – Capstone Engineering Design Project
Students must team up with a community partner — perhaps a hospital, the university bookstore or a private company — and identify a problem they’re facing. They must then improve or eliminate that problem through the redesign of products, processes and systems.
Capstone students must also try to minimize their use of resources, and be mindful of the impact their designs have on society.
Faculty of Arts and Science
AHSC 371 – Community Recreation Planning
In this course, students plan and implement a recreation program for the community of their choice. They gain practical experience through fieldwork, project planning, and group exercises.
Faculty of Fine Arts
DART 453 – Design and Community Engagement
Students collaborate with Montreal-based outreach programs, community centres and not-for-profit organizations, applying their course skills to various design projects.
John Molson School of Business
SCOM 498 – Supply Chain Project
For this course, community partners present students with supply-chain issues, which require them to apply the tools and techniques they learned in the classroom in order to come up with viable solutions.
Find out more about Concordia’s 168 community-based experiential learning courses.
