eCo-op Student Responsibilities
Getting Started
Start by telling us a bit about who you are through our Student eCo-op Application form. We use this information to understand where you are at in your business development and planning. Once we have your information, we will review each application for the limited number of seats in this program. You will then meet with a member of the Co-op team and go over the next steps.
Finding your Mentor
eCo-op students are action-oriented so you are required to connect directly with a viable mentor for this program. You are encouraged to solicit a mentor through your own personal/professional network. If you do not have a mentor, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre will make every attempt to provide one for you. If a mentor cannot be found for you, you will be required to find your own. A mentor is required. Once you have decided on a suitable mentor for your business idea, please complete the eCo-op Mentorship Agreement with your mentor. At this stage, you would have met with your mentor, reviewed your Business Model Canvas (part of your initial application), and set parameters for the mentorship experience.
Regular and Informal Meetings
During the four months that you are working on your eCo-op, we ask that you schedule to meet with your mentor a minimum of twice per month. Ideally, our mentors could meet with our students once a week, but we understand that schedules may not always allow for this. The best practice is to set a reoccurring time each week to meet and commit to a valuable conversation.
Informal meetings and communication are also encouraged and can help keep your project on track – these can be short emails or phone calls in real-time to discuss challenges and opportunities that are facing your business.
Learning Objectives
You are required to develop learning objectives for your eCo-op work-term. One of the first tasks with your mentor is to review these learning objectives and agree on what can be accomplished in four months. These learning objectives should be focused on your intentional growth through this experience.
Midway Check-in
Approximately halfway through your mentorship experience, we will be in touch with a brief questionnaire to you and your mentor (separately) to ensure that everything is on track and to see how the College can help, if needed. Please take a few moments to let us know how it is going – we love to hear successes, and we are ready to help if roadblocks are in the way.
Final Work Term Report
Check on Brightspace for the details of the Final Work Term Report – this has three components so be sure all are completed before the due date.
Exit Meeting
To help you with your final report, you are encouraged to book an exit meeting with your mentor to discuss your final assignments and the work you’ve completed over the past four months. You may collectively choose to continue this mentorship experience beyond the 4-month work term, although this is not an expectation of any of our mentors, we would encourage and support this activity if both parties are gaining value from the experience.