Creative and Inclusive: My Co-op Experience with the Live Work Well Research Centre in Winter 2025

Jordyne Craig worked as a Co-op Student with the Live Work Well Research Centre (LWWRC) in Winter 2025 and continued as a part-time student in Summer 2025. This is her experience. 

I am entering my fifth and final year in Honours Justice and Legal Studies with a minor in Creative Writing. Over the past few years, I’ve completed three co-op terms. As anyone searching for co-op jobs recently will know, the process is difficult and can be very competitive. It can be challenging to find a job, let alone a role where you enjoy the work and can expand on your skills. Working as the Research and Content Coordinator at the LWWRC has been a great experience and has given me opportunities to make amazing connections, expand on my communication skills, learn new tools, and gain practical experience in research.  

Throughout the Winter 2025 term, I primarily worked on the Reimagining Livelihoods project, focusing on building and launching the multimedia platform. This was an entirely new experience for me, as I had never done much website development before. Learning to use CampusPress was a challenge, but with the help of CampusPress Support, researching questions I had about the platform, experimenting with all the different features, and applying my existing skills in web accessibility ensured that the platform was accessible, inclusive, and engaging.  

It was important to me to make the website as accessible as CampusPress allows, as I believe accessibility is the basis of ensuring that everyone can benefit from the same content. Accessibility is often overlooked in the design of a product, especially in web design. It is often forgotten that accessibility is more than a physical ramp or an elevator, and that some people cannot use a mouse or may use assistive technology like a screen reader to navigate the Internet. And in a world where everything is becoming digital, it is important that we do not forget about accessibility. I learned my skills in website  and document accessibility during my previous co-op term with the Digital Accessibility Resource Centre (DARC), here at the University of Guelph. Because of my experience with DARC, I have been able to support the work of the LWWRC by conducting accessibility audits to ensure that their websites and documents are accessible, and to be able to pass on my knowledge to my co-workers so their materials can continue to meet accessibility standards. 

Beyond contributing to the development and design of the Reimagining Livelihoods platform by editing and refining content created by either previous student staff at LWWRC or myself, the part of the platform I am most proud of are the three composite stories we’ve published. A composite story weaves different pieces of anonymized data into one story to turn complex and extensive data into an easily digestible and engaging story. Working on these stories with my co-worker, Vanessa Bonham (LWWRC’s undergraduate Communications & Research Assistant) and the graduate research assistant on the project, Mrittika Ghosh, has been a highlight of my time at the Centre. If you would like to hear more about Vanessa’s and my work on and experience with composite stories, a blog will be coming out later this month in Notes in the Field, on the LWWRC website. 

For the project, we synthesized research from interviews, focus groups, and academic literature to form narratives that would not only anonymize the information but make the material more understandable for civil society organizations, government officials, and the general public to read. This process helped me understand that there are a variety of ways to portray research to users. I enjoyed the mix of creative writing and academic research on communities and livelihoods; it was a perfect match of the skills I have learned through my major and my minor. 

Another project I assisted with was Countering Policy Exclusions, which is a speaker series on the topic of women, girls, and gender-diverse people with disabilities and how they are being included and excluded in policies internationally, federally, and provincially. I was part of the organizing committee, and I ran online technical support at three events between February and May. It was an honour to meet the panelists and listen to all that they said. The series introduced me to LWWRC’s partner organizations like Disabled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada and Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW), for instance, both of which I had never heard of before this position. It was a fascinating project to be a part of and to hear all the knowledge the speakers had on the topics. 

Lastly, I would like to say thank you to the LWWRC team who truly made this a memorable experience, and I enjoyed getting to know everyone, though our lunches and weekly check at the team meetings. It made me feel very welcomed, and at times would be a highlight of my day. I would like to say a special thank you to Deborah Stienstra: it was wonderful to learn from you and witness your amazing leadership skills. I’d also like to thank Lenore Latta, with whom I worked the most: your guidance and support are much appreciated.  

-written by Jordyne Craig