Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning (EL) is the process of learning by doing and reflecting on the process. EL allows you to develop new skills, learn about the workplace and discover career interests. There are many different types of EL opportunities either within the classroom, within the community, or within the workplace, including community engaged learning, field experience and organization partnered-projects.

Political Science EL Courses

This course will introduce students to the global policymaking process, with an emphasis on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students will make practical contributions to the policy areas under the SDGs through partnerships with community not-for-profit organizations, international not-for-profit organizations, or international governmental organizations. Students will learn about problem definition and the emergence of global policy positions in the SDG policy areas. They will assess the roles of non-state actors in achieving the SDGs and analyze the mechanisms that drive the global partnership between developing countries and developed countries.

Prerequisite: 8.0 credits including [1.0 credit from POLB80H3, POLB81H3, POLB90H3 or POLB91H3]

EL Components: Students will make practical contributions to the policy areas under the SDGs through partnerships with community not-for-profit organizations, international not-for-profit organizations, or international governmental organizations.

This course examines the principles of research design and methods of analysis employed by researchers in political science. Students will learn to distinguish between adequate and inadequate use of evidence and between warranted and unwarranted conclusions.

Prerequisite: 8.0 credits including 0.5 credit in POL, PPG, or IDS courses

EL Components: In this class students will have the opportunity to design and carryout survey research and analyze their research findings in an interview project.

This course examines the foreign policy of the United States by analyzing its context and application to a specific region, regions or contemporary problems in the world.
Areas of Focus: International Relations; Public Policy; Comparative Politics

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits

EL Components: In this course students will have the opportunity to participate in simulation activities. Every student will receive a role as a Senator or the U.S. Secretary of State to play during simulations of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In two (or three) simulations, students will role-play Senators and witnesses during hearings on a bill, followed by a debate and possible amendments to that bill. At the end of each simulated debate, Senators will vote to send the bill to the entire Senate.

This course focuses on selected policy issues in the United States.
Areas of Focus: Comparative Politics; Public Policy

Prerequisite: One full credit in Political Science at the B-level

EL Components: In this course students will have the opportunity to participate in simulation activities. Students will be assigned a state to evaluate a party's chances of winning the Senate seat(s) and additional House seat(s). You will be assigned to either compose an optimistic or a pessimistic assessment. Other student(s) will have the same state, but the opposing view. Each side will designate one or two representatives to present their best argument (for optimism or pessimism) in a four minute presentation, followed by the opposing side on a designated date.

This course will introduce students to the ideas and methods that guide judges and lawyers in their work. How does the abstract world of the law get translated into predictable, concrete decisions? How do judges decide what is the “correct” decision in a given case? The class will begin with an overview of the legal system before delving into the ideas guiding statute drafting and interpretation, judicial review and administrative discretion, the meaning of “evidence” and “proof,” constitutionalism, and appellate review. Time will also be spent exploring the ways that foreign law can impact and be reconciled with Canadian law in a globalizing world.

Area of focus: Political Theory

Prerequisite: POLB30H3 and POLC68H3 and [an additional 1.5 credits at the C-level in POL courses]

EL Components: This course integrates work done by legal practitioners into the class in the form of case studies.

This course examines how law both constitutes and regulates global business. Focusing on Canada and the role of Canadian companies within a global economy, the course introduces foundational concepts of business law, considering how the state makes markets by bestowing legal personality on corporations and facilitating private exchange. The course then turns to examine multinational businesses and the laws that regulate these cross-border actors, including international law, extra-territorial national law, and private and hybrid governance tools. Using real-world examples from court decisions and business case studies, students will explore some of the “governance gaps” produced by the globalization of business and engage directly with the tensions that can emerge between legal, ethical, and strategic demands on multinational business.

Prerequisite: POLC32H3 and 1.0 credit at the C-level in POL courses

EL Components: Focusing on case studies, the class will use real world examples to show the challenges that exist for states to regulate companies with a global presence. Students will explore some of the “governance gaps” produced by the globalization of business and engage directly with the tensions that can emerge between legal, ethical, and strategic demands on multinational business. Particular attention will be paid to the impact that companies from advanced capitalist countries has on the global south and the difficulties that arise policing corporate conduct in a global environment.

Topics and area of focus will vary depending on the instructor, and may include global perspectives on social and economic rights, judicial and constitutional politics in diverse states and human rights law in Canada.

Prerequisite: 1.5 credits from the following [POLC32H3, POLC36H3, POLC39H3, POLC68H3]

EL Components:  This course incorporates a variety of experiential learning opportunities that focus on developing areas of public law. Examples can include immigration and refugee law, municipal law, administrative law, or other legal areas going through rapid development. The course embraces a case study approach, as well as relying on practitioners to teach the class who will bring their real world experience.

This seminar examines how legal institutions and legal ideologies influence efforts to produce or prevent social change. The course will analyze court-initiated action as well as social actions “from below” (social movements) with comparative case studies.

Area of Focus: Comparative Politics

Prerequisite: POLB30H3 and [POLC33H3 or POLC38H3 or POLC39H3] and [0.5 credit in Comparative Politics]

EL Components: This course includes a case study experiential learning component. Specifically, it includes studies of different social movements to demonstrate why some succeed and others fail in bringing about social change to their societies. It focuses on learning how such movements succeed “from below” by looking at the organizational activities of the memberships to discover how they achieve the results they seek.    

This course studies the theory of constitutionalism through a detailed study of its major idioms such as the rule of law, the separation of powers, sovereignty, rights, and limited government.
Area of Focus: Political Theory

Prerequisite: [[(POLB70H3) and (POLB71H3)] or POLB72H3 or POLB30H3] and [1.5 credits at the C-level in POL courses]

EL Components: This course looks at relevant non-governmental actors and government agencies to better understand their role in society and uses case studies of constitutional litigation that has helped develop the concept of constitutionalism both in Canada and internationally.