iCo-op surpasses expectations

When Emilie Ah-Fock’s in-person co-op work term fell through after COVID-19 hit, she was initially nervous about what she would do to complete the co-op requirement of her Interactive Media Design – Web program.

But thanks to an ‘alternative co-op’ pilot project at Georgian, this summer, she is completing an Innovation Co-op (iCo-op) that gives her just as much experience and satisfaction as an in-person co-op work placement.

Since COVID-19 has made it increasingly difficult for students to complete in-person co-op work placements, Georgian has been piloting a new approach to co-op. The ‘alternative co-op’ project is a unique collaboration between Co-op Education and Career Services and all three innovation centres at Georgian – Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre (HBEC), Research and Innovation (RI) and the Centre for Changemaking and Social Innovation (CCSI).

At this time, they include two different co-op opportunities: Entrepreneurial co-op (eCo-op), which sees students build out a business idea, and Innovation co-op. The innovation co-op (or iCo-op) allows students from all disciplines to work together on products or services for industry partners or community needs with the help of faculty mentors.

Emilie is one of 25 students that are working in teams on projects with social impact and changemaking as part of their iCo-op work placements. At the same time, the team is going through foundational skills-building workshops in Human Centred Design Thinking (HCD).

“Human Centred Design Thinking has become a valued approached to creative problem solving in business, tech and a wide range of other disciplines. Employers have started to list ‘design thinking’ under preferred experience for job postings,” notes Nicole Norris, manager of Centre for Changemaking and Social Innovation, which has taken the lead for iCo-op projects. “Because the HCD process focuses on softer skills – like creativity, collaboration and empathy – it gives our grads a competitive advantage for employers looking for the blend of both soft and hard skills.”

Emilie’s iCo-op team is working with HBEC to help HeyLocal, an online marketplace focused on providing businesses in Barrie a simple platform to connect with consumers.

HeyLocal was created to keep online spending local during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company launched an eCommerce marketplace that helps businesses reach more customers while simultaneously helping more Canadians shop locally. The platform also helps businesses across Canada.

“It’s like a local Amazon,” Emilie says with a chuckle. In her role, she assists Barrie businesses with their digital transformation strategy to participate on HeyLocal.

“Here I am, I cannot dream for more,” she says. “My super power is networking and my iCo-op is the perfect blend of business and connecting with local businesses. I am loving it. I actually want to keep working on these projects even after iCo-op.”

As part of her iCo-op, Emilie is also providing technology support and onboarding to an internal CRM, working as a bridge to collect information, as well as guide users through the creation of profiles, and data collection.

“I am happy to see that I made a lot of connections and I am on my way to creating my own job,” says Emilie. “I kept my part-time job while doing my co-op, and on days I was working on my iCo-op activities, it felt like my relaxing day. This is when I was like, wait a minute, I am happy. This is what I want to do.

What more can I wish in terms of fulfillment, right? ICo-op stands for ‘innovation co-op’ and it portrays it perfectly.”