Almost one year ago, EPICentre partnered with the Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences (FAHSS) to provide course credit for students completing the EPIC Discovery Program. Alina Hussey is the first FAHSS student to bring the partnership between the course Ways of Doing and the Discovery Program to life. During the course Ways of Doing, Alina completed the in-class workshops about wellbeing, interpersonal communications, organizational theory, online networking, project management, and experiential learning all while exploring her entrepreneurial dreams.
While in the Discovery Program she explored her business idea; Zoom Yoga – an online yoga service offering personalized one-on-one Zoom yoga sessions. The new collaboration allows students to set the activities while Brunet sets the frameworks for the types of skills needed to complete projects within the community. “We are thrilled that the partnership with Prof. Brunet is a success. Being able to test out their business ideas while earning course credit is a win-win for entrepreneurial students,” said Wen Teoh, Director of EPICentre.
Alina’s journey started after her first year at the University of Windsor when she traveled to Rishikesh, India, and completed 200 hours of training to become a yoga instructor. Upon returning home, she had the hopes of starting her own business and sharing the amazing benefits of yoga. Alina was eager to continue her studies, but also hoped for an avenue where she could explore her business idea further, which led her to enroll in Ways of Doing.
“Completing the Ways of Doing while being enrolled in the Discovery Program greatly enhanced my learning experience” said Alina “being in the class taught me the skills to network while the EPICentre provided me with the opportunities to put my new knowledge into practice. Since I was able to get class credit for the Discovery program experience, I was able to prioritize my entrepreneurial dreams and give it much more attention and care than if I was doing it on top of five courses.”
Tim Brunet, Professor of Ways of Doing, aims to facilitate learning that is social, student-driven, and collaborative. “Having an opportunity to explore entrepreneurial pursuits in the course Ways of Doing allows students to reflect upon imagined futures, their own wellbeing, and the wellbeing of others in their community” explains Tim.
“UWindsor’s EPICentre is connected to many social, technical, and practitioner networks not normally found in traditional academic courses” says Tim. “What makes the new partnership so enriching is that it puts student’s imagined futures into practice and creates real outcomes so that students create opportunities for new knowledge and growth”.
Students interested in the EPIC Discovery Program are encouraged to contact us at: EPICDiscovery@uwindsor.ca. You can learn more about the Ways of Doing online.
