Co-Op and Practicums
What is Co-Op?
Co-operative Education allows History students to combine traditional, in-class education with hands-on experience in the workforce. Co-op students alternate study terms at Carleton with three or four paid work terms.
History students have gained real world experience and have made valuable connections in a wide range of workplaces, particularly in the public service. Our students have recently completed work term placements at Global Affairs Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada; Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame; Library and Archives Canada; Archives and Research Collections, MacOdrum Library; Canadian Heritage; Revenue Canada; Public Services and Procurement Canada; and many other institutions both domestic and abroad.
Undergraduate students can enter the co-op program in one of two ways. Students can apply directly from high school or CEGEP or during their first year at Carleton. History students would be eligible to start their first work term in the fall of their third year of study. Want to learn more about the Co-op program?
Decoding the Decades: Looking at Canada in the 1980s Course and Student Experience
A brand-new history course called From Walkmans to West Edmonton Mall: The material culture of the 1980s in Canada offers a hands-on exploration of object-based research, shedding light on the cultural shifts and iconic artifacts that defined a generation.
The upcoming full-year, fourth-year course (2024-2025) on the eccentric 1980s was created as part of the Students as Partners Program (SaPP) and in collaboration with Ingenium. It will offer an immersive experience to students, allowing them to explore, observe, and even use authentic items from a national museum’s collection of signature objects from ‘the decade of decadence.’
Read more about student Angela Mortimer and Professor James Opp‘s experience working with Ingenium’s Canada Science and Technology Museum. The Students as Partners Program is a funded program through Carleton’s Teaching and Learning Services where students can apply to work with a professor on developing a course or course materials.
Mortimer also expresses her excitement: “Students will be writing, researching, and creating their final projects about their chosen tangible objects that Professor Opp and I have requested, and Ingenium will so kindly set aside. This means real hands-on experience working with artifacts.”
– Angela Mortimer
What is the Practicum?
Each winter, eligible* third- and fourth-year students devote one day / week (or its equivalent) working in the city as a historian. Some work for one of the many museums, often conducting research on collections in preparation for future exhibits. Others do research on specific topics for various non-profit organizations, usually at Library and Archives Canada or the City of Ottawa Archives. Finally, a third group of students find themselves doing several different things in which they get to apply the historian’s skills of conducting research, analysis of data, and the communication of results. In the past few years, students have worked for, among others, the Canadian War Museum, Library and Archives Canada, Canada Science and Technology Museum, Bytown Museum, Archives and Research Collections here at Carleton, the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Skate Canada, the National Capital Commission, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, The Council of Heritage Organizations in Ottawa, Partnership Africa Canada, and the City of Ottawa (Heritage Conservation Division).
More details on the practicum can be found in the course description for HIST 3807: Practicum in History.
I decided to return to university after failing to launch in my first career. As a mature student with some transfer credits, I found Carleton’s History department to be accommodating and welcoming. I studied for my BA Honours History and enjoyed my experience with Carleton enough that I chose to apply for the MA Public History program.
Today I’m working as a curatorial research assistant for Ingenium, doing collections research with the Ontario Hydro collection. This is a job that came out of my practicum placement with the Public History MA program.
Beyond that, Carleton’s Public History program introduced me to some fantastic people, taught me important research and critical thinking skills, and allowed me to blend together my two passions – theatre and history – into a creative MRE project.
– Nick Surges, Curatorial Research Assistant, Ingenium