Community-Engaged Learning

In the Spring 2021 semester, Benjamin Jud, a UVic Business student, collaborated with Victoria-based non-profit Seniors Serving Seniors to create and develop a new way of getting information from the organization out into the world. As a community-engaged component of his English 407: Digital Communication and Social Media course—taught by Sara Humphreys—Jud worked with Seniors Serving Seniors’ Executive Director, Vicki Pilot, to produce a new podcast. Jud explained, “The goal for Seniors Serving Seniors is really to represent the senior’s community and to talk about some of the issues and to be advocates for some of the issues that are in the community, so one of the goals of the podcast was to share some of those things.” 

Like many community organizations, Seniors Serving Seniors had a great idea for improving their resource offerings (in this case, via a podcast), but had little extra time and funding to complete the project. However, working with an undergraduate student provided a feasible way to get the podcast off the ground. Partnering with a student who had the know-how of podcasting was important and luckily Jud had the necessary skills. Jud compared his contribution to the podcast to a ‘bread starter’: “What we devised was a format and some topic ideas, and guest suggestions, just laying down the groundwork that we could use for the first episode that we produced together, but also for the future when SSS hopefully expands on the podcast.” Pilot had nothing but glowing words for Jud’s contribution: “He was really calm and capable and he had [made a podcast] before, so the great thing about this podcast is that it’s really put our agency moreso on the map, now, being more progressive and current, doing a podcast…What’s great about this partnership with UVic is that it starts off as a local grassroots project, but it grows to something more. It’s really exciting.”  

Jud recalled that he had not previously worked in the non-profit sectors, so he found it an eye-opening experience to learn a different side of business – one focused on helping people and the community. While reflecting on the project, Jud realized how quickly marketing and creating resources becomes expensive for businesses, especially non-profits. However, the project he engaged in created a resource at a low cost, which developed his skill set in creating cost-effective and engaging resources. For Jud, this CEL opportunity helped him “bridge the gap between theory and working with people” which solidifies concepts, applies skills learned throughout his undergraduate degree while having a creative outlet in supporting the community partner. Pilot shared her thanks for Jud’s work, saying “[The podcast has] really put us on the map at another level and highlighted our agency and put us into these different meetings where people will now look to us.” As for Pilot’s view of the future of the podcast? “I’ve forwarded it to our funders so they can see what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, and [am] forwarding it to different health agencies and organizations that are everything senior in Victoria. So I see this as just the beginning of a long-term thing!” 

English 407 is a course in the Professional Communications program in UVic’s English department that teaches students the skills for communicating in today’s social media landscape.  Learn more about English 407.