Ken Steele pulls together the evidence for a growing majority of college and university students who are "invisible" part-time students -- registered full-time, for financial aid or other practical reasons, but in fact working as many as 34 hours a week. Now that the average Canadian's work week has declined to about 33 hours a week, these students are essentially working full-time, while registered as full-time students too. Whether because they need the income to survive financially, or they value work experience above all else, these students are inevitably cutting corners, cutting short their sleep and spending half the time on their studies that most universities claim to require. As more and more institutions use the NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) to measure student engagement on campus, it is clear that Canada's big urban universities are already at a significant disadvantage, perhaps in part because of broader participation and larger class sizes. Students who spend less time on their studies are, by NSSE's definition, less engaged students.
Finally, just #ICYMI, we share clips from a recent video on Durham College's YouTube channel, about a cat named Odey who decides to enrol at Durham College to improve his life.
Videos excerpted in this podcast have been significantly edited. Check out the full, original videos here:
Centennial College: IMPACT Partner
https://youtu.be/7Vb3lyBUslM
Gates Foundation, Get Schooled: Balancing Life and College
https://youtu.be/ry2Hedfe1jM
Dalhousie Student Union: The Student Poverty Song
https://youtu.be/Cr2LiQGrC7A
Odey the Cat goes to DC
https://youtu.be/u5a75Sn7JPY
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