“I have taken with me so many memories and skills that I could have never obtained in a school environment…I now have a better understanding of how much a design piece impacts the end users and how much thought and research must be taken into consideration without rushing into an end product.” – Vanessa

Course Framework

Week 1: Immersion. Students will learn about the local area and culture, experiencing both the built and natural environment of a local community and its surroundings. Students will visit different institutions/organizations and learn about their work within the local community. Students will spend time in the field getting to meet and learn about the
community meeting with local stakeholders. The class will explore 2-3 organizations within Week 1 and begin to identify project opportunities.

Week 2: Co-Designing. Two student sub-groups will be formed; each group will be assigned to project for the remainder of the course. They will work with the organizations and the communities they serve to better understand their mission, culture, markets and impact of their work. Students will document their observations and
conduct interviews with various members of the community. Students will use their gathered insights to brainstorm and prototype various design concepts with the community. Students will debrief each afternoon at the hostel and
continue to work within their groups to further develop design concepts in the evenings.

Week 3: Implementation. Based on their work co-designing with the community, students will develop implementation plans at the beginning of Week 3. The rest of the week students will work in the field to implement their design projects. They will document this process thoroughly. This work will culminate in a presentation from each group to their respective organization and community, which will include a finished prototype(s) and various communication tools that will help to facilitate the ongoing development of the design proposal locally.

Course Itinerary

Below is a proposed itinerary of the three-week course. Some dates and info are subject to change.

Course Costs

The 2019 course costs are below:

Accommodation, Food, & Program Fee                                            $2835

Round Trip Flight Toronto/San Jose                                             $600-950
(This is an estimate – you book your own flight and
meet the class in Costa Rica) 

Weekend Trips (Cocoa Farm, Volcano/Waterfall Hikes, etc.)          $30-197
(The total cost of these weekend trips is $530 and is
being subsidized through CEAD International 
Experiential Learning funding. Level of subsidy per
student depends on student enrollment of 10-15 students.)

Tuition for 1.0 Credit Course                                                              $1345
(Tuition bursaries are available)

Estimated Costs without Tuition                                          $3465-3982
Total Estimated Costs including Tuition                              $4780-5327

On-the-Ground Support

OCAD University is collaborating with Global Vision International (GVI) for the on-the-ground course support in Costa Rica. GVI is multi-award wining social enterprise that runs high impact volunteer and international education programs. Celebrating its 20^th Anniversary this year, GVI has helped thousands of people make a real difference to the world they live in while also gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to live and work in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world.