Overview

As part of a cohort program, students will join one of five learning communities and take a selection of connected courses across various disciplines.

These learning communities are called streams and each focuses on a broad theme that the courses are centred around. Students will learn critical thinking and foundational skills within a familiar group of students and instructors who inspire success in a supportive yet intellectually challenging environment.

 

Why choose CAP?

CAP was a great program to get settled into university. As a first year, entering this new environment was overwhelming and I was afraid of failure. But, CAP made this adjustment easy, with great support and teaching I learned many valuable skills that I will take with me through the rest of my university experience. (...)

2023-24 CAP student

With small class sizes of 100-125 students per cohort and 25 students per seminar, students invariably build long lasting relationships with their professors and peers. This social and academic support leads to enhanced student success.

Located in a shared space with other “Gateway” programs, the Coordinated Arts Program gives students exclusive access to one of the most desirable and self-contained study environments on campus, while remaining situated in the heart of the university.

The Coordinated Arts Program offers students a smoother transition into the challenges of university. With smaller class sizes, committed instructors, and coordinated assignment deadlines, the program sets students up to enter second year with all other second-year students armed for success.

At the end of the year, students have optional opportunities to showcase their research. They can present at the CAP Conference, an event for students, faculty, and the university community, or submit their work to be published in our student journal, The Capsule.

Each stream is supported by an upper-level student who has previously taken CAP. These mentors host social events and information or study sessions, and are available to answer questions about being a student at UBC.

 

What is CAP 100 and CAP 101?

CAP 100 and 101 are seminar courses available exclusively to students in the Coordinated Arts Program. CAP 100 (formerly ASTU 101) is an introduction to scholarly research and writing; it fulfills the Faculty of Arts writing requirement. CAP 101 invites students to apply their research and writing skills to literary, cultural, and media analysis. The small class sizes (only ~25 students per section) is unique to CAP and the cohort learning environment is ideal to help students hone their critical reading and thinking around relevant topics, and develop their competence in university research and writing. Each stream has several sections of CAP 100/101, but students only register in one of them. Topics and readings are tailored to the stream theme.

Is a three-credit, one-semester course on academic research and writing which satisfies the Faculty of Arts Writing Requirement. It is offered in Term One in all five CAP streams. (This course was previously called ASTU 101).

Is a three-credit, one semester course on literary, cultural, and media analysis. It is offered in Term Two in most CAP streams (all streams except PPE) and students stay with the same instructor and classmates as CAP 100. This course offers students a chance to apply the research writing skills they learned in CAP 100, develop larger research projects based on their interests, and write in diverse genres that bring their research into communities beyond their university class.

 

Community Engaged Learning

Community Engaged Learning (CEL) is an exciting component of the Coordinated Arts Program. CEL connects classroom learning to communities and community-issues beyond the university. Many initiatives and projects have been developed to facilitate community engaged learning opportunities for CAP students. Initiatives and projects vary year-to-year.

One recent initiative is a speaker series called Community Talks. It features regular talks by community members or organizations. Speakers explore the themes of community-university relations, culture and representation, water and city planning, global migration and humanitarian work, civic engagement and Indigenous rights, and racialization and development among other things. Many classes incorporate the speaker topics and themes into their curriculum through discussions and assignments.

Individual instructors may also offer Community Engaged Learning opportunities specific to their courses.

Learn more about community engagement opportunities:

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