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In-Course Experience Fund Application

This digital application gives Social Sciences course instructors an easy way to apply for the undergraduate In-Course Experience Fund.

Review Periods
Applications are welcome during the following review periods each year:

  • July 16 to October 15 for Fall and Winter
  • November 16 to February 15 for Winter

About the In-Course Experience Fund
 

  1. This funding is intended to support instructors of undergraduate courses in meeting the goal of bringing experiential or hands-on elements into the classroom, outside of what would be considered standard academic lecture, discussion, and lab proceedings.

    Typically, the In-Course Experience Fund is used when instructors themselves require funds for the class to purchase resources, tools, licenses, virtual admission, etc., rather than for staffing or for payment to another person, company, consultant, etc.

    Another funding source instructors may wish to apply through is:
    • Trainer/Facilitator Fund - funding applications that involve inviting trainers/facilitators into the classroom (which can also cover related ancillary costs)
       
  2. Experiences costing over $500 will typically require coordinated funding from the academic department, where possible.
     
  3. This fund may be used in-course by instructors of social sciences undergraduate courses or by departmental leaders for courses in their program/department/unit.
     
  4. Successful In-Course Experience Fund applications by instructors of undergraduate Social Sciences courses will clearly address at least one of the following eligibility categories:
    • simulations (experiences simulating a situation or workflow in a workplace, community, or public sector scenario)
    • field learning (experiences including field trips, class excursions, site visits, tours, etc.)
    • hands-on learning (experiences focused on giving students a chance to try practical techniques, tools and application)
    • skill development (experiences fostering transferable skills beyond core academic skills)
       
  5. To be eligible, students must actively participate in 'doing' or 'practicing' something during the session versus simply 'learning about' something. To receive funding, the experience plan must include the following:
    1. a planned experience where students learn by doing
    2. a plan for the experience to take place during the regularly scheduled class time
    3. a plan for the experience to be a 'required' component of the course
    4. a plan to collect a written reflection from the students on the experience

Questions can be directed to Ruthanne Talbot on the Careers & EE team at talbotr@mcmaster.ca.

There are 11 questions in this survey.
Applicant Details
Please enter the following applicant details:

The In-Course Experience Fund supports the addition of Experiential Education to undergraduate courses or programs in the Social Sciences.

Which of the following best describes you?

Please note: the In-Course-Experience Fund is aimed at supporting experiences in undergraduate courses. Graduate courses are not currently eligible, nor are extracurricular activities or events.

Based on your response above, please consider checking the Careers & EE website for eligibility details before continuing your application.

Course Details
Please enter the following details about the course:
Experience Details
What type(s) of experience do you have in mind?
What do you want to do? (Please provide a brief summary of approximately 5-7 sentences outlining your proposed idea.)

To receive funding, the experience plan must include the following:

  • A planned experience where students learn by doing;
  • A plan for the experience to take place during the regularly scheduled class time;
  • A plan for the experience to be a ‘required’ component of the course;
  • A plan to collect a written reflection from the students on the experience;

Please note that the requirement for an experience to be ‘required’ can be satisfied by having the experience incorporated into the normal course proceedings of a course where attendance and participation already have strong expectations or grade components. In classes where attendance and participation is not treated as mandatory, a viable strategy for fulfilling this criterion might be emphasizing or requiring the reflection and linking completion of the reflection to the necessity of attending that particular session.

Formal written reflection has long been central to the pedagogy and best practices of experiential learning. McMaster’s frameworks for experiential learning, informed by Ontario’s SMA3 and SMA4 reporting guidelines, also give priority to course elements framed as ‘required’. Experiences presented as incidental or optional, or scheduled outside of class time, can also set up barriers to student participation. These considerations are increasingly informing the funding decisions of the Careers & Experiential Education team’s teaching support funding.

Please check the boxes below to indicate that you agree with the following statements. Feel free to add comments.

What do you want to pay for using the In-Course Experience Fund?

(Elaborating in the space provided is optional.)

By your best approximation, how much funding in total do you think you will need? (Please provide a general breakdown.)

If the total amount of funds required is over $500, are you also seeking financial support from other sources? Please describe.

Optional: What additional support, financial or other, are you seeking from other supporters/stakeholders or from Careers & EE that was not adddressed in the question above?
 
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