Looking Back to Look Forward: Designing Meaningful Capstone Experiences in Therapeutic Recreation

Dr. Colleen Whyte has always known the value of experiential learning while teaching courses in Brock’s Recreation and Leisure Studies program. Her belief in authentic experiences has students working alongside seniors in a local retirement residence to visually document their personal narratives; she has students submit to IDeA, an innovation designs for accessibility competition; her students undertake a virtual dementia tour through the Alzheimer Society of Niagara; and collectively they launched TR (Therapeutic Recreation) Awareness Month at Brock in which they showcased a variety of therapeutic and stress reduction activities to the university campus.

But when it came to teaching a fourth year course, she wanted those students to have a meaningful capstone experience that would integrate their varied course activities and contribute to the development of a professional identity within Therapeutic Recreation. To do so, she implemented an assignment she called Looking Back to Look Forward, an academic audit of artefacts over the degree at Brock that could help prepare them as Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists. This, combined with reflective activities revisiting earlier work from second year as well as engagement with a suite of career based workshops, allowed students to more fully position themselves within the profession.

In her proposed research program, Prof Whyte herself is looking back to move forward. As a Chancellor’s Chair in Teaching Excellence, she plans to re-imagine and re-design the course based on a study that collects and analyzes student data on how the course enables them to master professional and employability skills. She will also survey colleagues from across the field of Therapeutic Recreation to learn best practices in meaningful capstone experiences. Prof. Whyte’s ongoing commitment to finding innovative ways to fostering a professional identity in Therapeutic Recreation is supported by her letters of nomination by both colleagues and students. Sanghee Chun writes that “from a pedagogical perspective, Dr. Whyte has made an effort to design her classes to identify theoretical frameworks that maximize student strengths, skills, and competencies, while fostering connections to practical and professional “real world” experiences with the implementation of various innovative and experiential projects.” Her students agree. As one former student writes, “Dr. Whyte shaped my career through providing me with the tools, opportunities, and authentic support that allowed me to pursue the career of my dreams”. Prof. Whyte’s redesigned course, along with this three year research study into capstone experiences, will undoubtedly help even more Brock students find the career of their dreams.