Practicum
The Practicum is the final capstone project in the Bachelor of Health Administration program and consists of two courses: the Practicum (CHSM419/CHIM407), ungraded, and the Practicum Seminar (CHSM418/CHIM406), graded. In parallel, the practicum unfolds over two terms, the Practicum Placement term (Spring/Summer for Fall students and Fall for Winter students) right before the Practicum Seminar term.
Students do not directly enroll for the courses: eligible students will be invited to participate by the Practicum Coordinator.
The Practicum involves a healthcare organization where the student will run a real project. Students are responsible for finding their own Practicum site and a Preceptor and project. Site, preceptor and projects are approved by the course instructors, who also act as Academic Supervisor to students.
The practicum serves to build a bridge between theory and practice; students have the opportunity to apply their knowledge and acquire insights into the management of health service organizations. Students will have the opportunity to integrate key aspects of a core body of knowledge related to evaluation such as developing terms of reference, designing research, using statistics, interviewing, facilitating, designing and analyzing surveys, and project management.
By the end of the course the student will:
● Produce a Project Report with all the elements of an academic research report.
● Display strong and professional presentation skills.
● Be able to verbalize the main learning experiences from the Practicum experience.
The Practicum (CHSM 419) and Practicum Seminar (CHSM 418) are the last two courses that each student will complete in the BHA program before graduation.
Students must have completed all required core courses before being eligible for practicum. Students are encouraged to access their Advisement Report on MyServiceHub review their program status and any remaining course requierments prior to the Practicum workshop.
During the term prior to practicum: students may complete a maximum of two (2) elective courses. In these cases, enrollment in the Practicum courses and eligibility to continue with Practicum will depend on receiving a passing grade in any final electives.
An invitation to attend a practicum workshop is sent out by the Program Advisor one to two (1-2) months in advance of the April or August Practicum Workshop. Once a student RSVPs for Practicum workshop, the School will perform an academic audit of their academic history to determine that they have completed all other required program courses.
Students cannot enroll themselves in the Practicum and Practicum Seminar courses on MyServiceHub as each course requires departmental consent. The Faculty Supervisor must approve the student’s practicum contract and project plan before the student is enrolled by the Program Advisor at the end of August or December. Students will be emailed when enrollment has been completed and tuition fees billed.
Each student is responsible for ensuring that there are no “Holds” on their student account that might impede registration for these final courses. Visit the Toronto Metropolitan University Collection Services page to find out more.
- Complete all required core courses
- Attend a practicum workshop
- The Dept. will enroll eligible students into practicum seminar and placement in September or January
- Ensure that there are no "Holds" in your student account
Choosing a site:
- The site must be a health care (or related) organization.
- The site must be willing to sign an affiliation agreement with Toronto Metropolitan University
- Due to conflict of interest concerns, legal requirements and other potential problems, students
- are not permitted to do their Practicum in their own workplace.
Choosing a project:
- The project needs to address an organizational need
- It needs to be a new endeavor. It cannot be a regular activity conducted by the organization
- The student needs to be in charge of its execution. It can be part of a broader project but the practicum project, of which the student is responsible, needs to be clearly distinguishable
- It needs to be achievable within 12 weeks
Choosing a preceptor:
- The Preceptor must have the appropriate role in the organization to help with entry into the
- organization and facilitation of the project, notably access to data.
- Preceptors must not be a Toronto Metropolitan student, regardless of the job role. However,
- the Preceptor MAY be a graduate of the Toronto Metropolitan program.
- The Preceptor must be willing to facilitate the project on site.
- Project must be approved by preceptor and related to the area of supervision/practice of the
- preceptor.
- A Preceptor handbook will be made available on D2L to students to share with prospective
- preceptors. It outlines in detail the role of the Preceptor as an essential part of an individualized
- teaching-learning method.
The Practicum Placement term
The Practicum Placement term happens between April and August for the Fall Practicum and
between August and December for the Winter Practicum. Its main purpose is to find a site, a
preceptor and a project.
The Kick-Off Workshop, is the first step to participate in the practicum. It is an online evening
workshop held in late April for prospective Fall term Practicum students and in late August for
prospective Winter term Practicum students*. Its purpose is to introduce the practicum process
and expectations.
A second mandatory Workshop, the Proposal Workshop, is held late July (for fall practicum) and
November (for winter practicum). Its purpose is to provide students with guidelines on how to
prepare the first major Practicum assignment, the Proposal, due in September or January.
The Practicum Placement term requires two deliverables: the rationale and the project plan,
which both outline the project to be conducted.
*Date of workshop subject to change at discretion of Department
The Practicum Seminar starts with the submission of the practicum proposal. Once the proposal is submitted, the data collection, analysis and discussion can be conducted until the final seminar presentation and the submission of the final report.
The Practicum Seminar involves three typically online gatherings throughout the term. During Seminar #1, students present their practicum proposal. Seminar #2 is a peer support workshop and Seminar #3 is the final presentation and is open to the community, including preceptors and friends. The Practicum Seminar is a positive learning environment; ideas are shared by all people in the room, students and instructors alike.
3 weekends
during fall or winter term
20-30 minutes
average presentation
20 minutes
of discussion