Courses

For courses that have a Community Service-Learning (CSL) component, you will be participating in ongoing, weekly community service-learning placements, or community-engaged project activities. In your placements, you will be working primarily with non-profit and public sector partners.

Sample Courses Offered

Learn more about some of the courses offered with a CSL component to give you an idea of what is involved and your commitment. 

PS282: Community Psychology

In partnership with a broad range of community-based organizations students complete weekly placements in a collaborative and reciprocal way.  Organizations include not-for-profits and public-funded institutions running programs that work with under-represented and marginalized populations.

PS275: Developmental Psychology:  Infancy and Childhood (Brantford)

Students participate in a weekly placement, volunteering approximately two hours per week for 10 weeks assisting in programs with children from birth to age 11. Placement examples include: assisting in child care centres, schools, and recreation programs for children. During 2020-21 when in-person placements were not possible due to the pandemic, students in Brantford created a developmentally-appropriate activity plan for elementary aged students in JK-Grade 5. The activity plan was based on child development for the specific grade, linked to a topic in the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum and provided to teachers as an electronic resource.

YC300: Youth and Community Service-Learning

Students in YC300 participate in a weekly placement, volunteering 3-4 hours per week for 10 weeks, assisting in programs with children and youth from birth to ages 25 years old. Placement examples include: assisting in elementary and secondary school classrooms and recreation programs for children and youth in the community.  During 2020-21 the CSL component for students in YC300 shifted to provide them with remote/virtual placements. The opportunities included both direct contact with children and youth or indirect tasks to support programs.  Placements included: virtual tutoring, reading books with children, conversations with newcomers to Canada, and partnering with other departments on-campus.

HR300: Professionalization

Groups of students work together to assist a Community Partner organization by gathering information and assisting with writing grant proposals for Brantford City Grants. Students have been very successful in helping community partners to secure much needed funding.

HS208 Autism: Advocacy, Policy, Practice

Since 2019, students have completed a weekly community service-learning placement as part of this course. We have a range of partners and opportunities including schools, community-based organizations (e.g., Jason's Wheelhouse), and research and advocacy groups (e.g., Autism Alliance of Canada and the Laurier Autism Research Consortium).

INED201 Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

Students complete placements (two hours/week for 10 weeks) working with partners who support culturally diverse individuals and communities including KW Multicultural Centre and CanTeach Connections.

FR300: Teach, Learn and Think in French

Partnering with public schools and community organizations that offer French language programming, students take part in placements or projects which provide them with opportunities to work directly with French educators, supporting critical education-related tasks such as lesson planning, and classroom instruction.

FR370: Graphic Novels and Animation

Offering a community-service learning project, students work in groups to produce French Bande Desinees (graphic novels) and accompanying activities for the partner to use. Partners have included schools, Laurier Students for Literacy, and Epelle Moi Canada.

PS383: Environment, Psychology and Action

Working in groups, students apply psychological theories and principles through participation in action projects with environmental organizations and sustainability-focused projects and initiatives in the community.

PS282: Community Psychology

Students volunteer in a range of community settings working directly with equity-seeking individuals and communities and/or those with different lived experiences. Students volunteer two hours/week for 10 weeks with partners such as The Working Centre, Adventure4Change, YMCA, Empowerment Squared, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Read more about our partnership with Empowerment Squared and how students were provided with a virtual service-learning opportunity. 

Course List

Check out some of the courses offered at Laurier that have a Community Service-Learning component. The details of the CSL component may vary based on campus and instructor.

Refer to the Registration Guide to learn how you can register for these or other courses with a CSL component and check your program requirements.

• American Literature of the Early 20th Century
• Applied Anthropology
• Applied Business Research- MBA
• Applied Community Research - Psychology
• Atelier in Advanced French
• Autism: Advocacy, Policy, Practice
• Capstone in Social Entrepreneurship.
• Children/Youth Disabilities
• Christian Faith and Global Citizenship
• Christian Social Ethics Today
• Community Music Foundations
• Community Music Principles and Practices
• Community Internship – Social and Environmental Justice
• Community Psychology
• Community Service-Learning II – Youth and Children’s Studies
• Contemporary American Literature
• Contemporary Women's Writing
• Crime Prevention
• Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
• Developing a Social Venture
• Developmental Psychology of Adults and Elders
• Developmental Psychology: Adolescence and Young Adulthood
• Educational Psychology
• Faith and UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Graphic Novels and Animation
• Humanitarianism: gift and power
• Interdisciplinary Seminar II – Masters International Public Policy
• Intro to the Spirit and Community
• Introduction to Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood
• Introduction to Discipleship and Ethics
• Introductory German II
• Leadership and Facilitation in a Community Music Context
• Literature and Crime
• Loving God, Self and the World
• Multiculturalism
• Practice with Families and Children – Social Work
• Professionalization Seminar – Human Rights and Human Diversity
• Psychology Environment and Action
• Psychology of Exceptional Children, Youth and Adults
• Questioning Ability
• Semester in Community Engagement
• Senior Project Integration Seminar – Global Citizenship
• Social and Environmental Justice Practice
• Social Advocacy
• Social Determinants of Health
• Social Inclusion, Local Democracy and Community Enterprise
• Social Innovation in the City
• Teach, Learn and Think in French
• The Fairy Tale
• Youth and Community Service-Learning