Student Experience Record (SER)
What is the SER?
The Ontario Tech SER is a comprehensive record of your involvement in co-curricular experiences throughout your Ridgeback journey. It's used to highlight your diverse university experiences, and showcases your personal involvement and commitment to growing outside of the classroom.
Your personal SER can be added to your resumé, and be a supplemental piece that highlights your skills that are easily transferable to the professional industry.
As you apply for jobs, future education or volunteer experiences, your SER will be a great tool to showcase soft skills that are important to employers in today's market.
The deadline to add positions to your SER is May 1, 2025.
Instructions for Adding an Experience
Please note: Activities will not be posted on a student’s official SER transcript if they are missing the reflection questions, time entry and/or competencies—even if approved by a validator. These fields are required to be posted.
1. Log in
- Ensure you are using your Ontario Tech credentials to log in.
2. Access your SER
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Navigate to the left-hand navigation of this page and select Student Experience Record (SER).
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Select the blue box that says access your Student Experience Record.
3. Tier 1 and Tier 2 experiences
Tier 1 positions are encouraged and provide you with intentional opportunities for personal and professional growth, requiring the completion of reflection questions and the acknowledgement of the pre-selected competencies.
Tier 1 positions for the 2024-2025 academic year fall under the following categories:
- Ambassador Program (All levels)
- Athletics - Ridgeback Leadership Council
- Athletics - Ridgeback Student Athlete Mentorship Program (Mentor and Mentee)
- Athletics - Student Trainer
- Athletics - Varity teams (captain and players)
- Athletics - Varsity Rowing Executives positions
- Black Youth Visionary Program
- Conversation Café Participant
- Equity Advocate
- Peer Leader Program (Peer Leader and Senior Peer Leader)
- Peer Mentorship Program (Peer Mentor and Peer Mentee)
- Peer Wellness Educator
- Recovery College
- Ridgeback Student Voices Crew
- Women in Engineers (Peer Mentor)
Tier 2 Positions for the 2024-2025 academic year fall under the following categories:
- Athletics - Extramural
- Athletics - Intramurals
- Engineering Outreach
- International Student Leader
- OTSU - Clubs and Societies
- Ridgeback Student Voices - Content Creator
- Sustainability Champion
This tiered position approach is designed to make it easier to add positions as well as for the validators when approving positions on a student's record. SER is a tool designed to capture your experiences outside the classroom, complementing not only your academic journey but also fostering your professional development and skill enhancement through each experience.
4. Add an experience
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At the top of your page select, add to experience.
5. Search for your position
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Search for an activity or position by:
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Using the search bar in the top right to find the position title (e.g. Ambassador Level 3 or Sustainability Champion).
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Selecting the correct position when it appears on the left side of your screen.
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6. Add to record
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Make your selection and then select add to record in the top right corner.
7. Competencies and reflections
- For Tier 1 positions competencies are pre-selected, so you only need to select add a reflection.
- For Teir 2 positions you may optionally select up to five competencies, however this is not a requirement.
- While you are encouraged to complete the reflection questions, to help reinforce and deepen your learning, this is not a requirement for Tier 2 positions.
8. Complete the reflection
- Fill out the reflection questionare honestly and thoughtfully.
- Select save.
- Reflections are essential for validation for all Tier 1 positions and must be completed for the position to be officially recorded.
- Your reflection helps demonstrate transferable skills and learning outcomes to employers, graduate schools or for continued future opportunities.
- Reflections are essential for validation for all Tier 1 positions and must be completed for the position to be officially recorded.
9. Confirm your submission
- Return to the overview section
- You should now see your position listed on your SER dashboard.
Value of Participating
Learn more - Value of ParticipatingValue of participating in co-curricular experiences
Becoming involved in co-curricular university experiences will help you:
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Build up and complement your resumé with hands-on work experience.
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Complement your classroom academics to help build your employability skills.
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Demonstrate your personal growth to enhance your skills and commitment to holistic learning.
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Discover the types of work-related experiences you're passionate about and guide your future learning.
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Highlight your initiative and dedication to becoming involved within the Ontario Tech community.
We know as a student, you're committed to your studies and may have obligations outside of your courses that are important to you, or required of you. Therefore, your SER will help you to further demonstrate your soft and industry-related skills, giving you a competitive edge in the job market while allowing you to draw on solid co-curricular experiences that can be connected to any upcoming interviews.
Adding your Experiences to LinkedIn
Instructions - Adding your Experiences to LinkedInAutomatically share your experiences with employers
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In the left-hand navigation, select dashboard.
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In the top navigation, select experiential record.
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On the experiential record page, select the menu button, which is the circle displaying three vertical dots.
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Please note: If you haven't done so already, you must select publish your experiential transcript to move on.
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Select view experiential transcript.
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Once on the My Ontario Tech Experiential Record page, you can:
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Use the LinkedIn button (add to profile) to automatically add the experience to your LinkedIn profile.
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Use the share symbol to send via email or copy the URL.
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Complete the add license or certification pop-up information.
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Select save.
Experiential Catalogue
Get involved in the community - Experiential CatalogueExperiential Catalogue
The Experiential Catalogue captures and houses all available experiential opportunities at the university.
This interactive platform allows you to search for specific opportunities based on your interests, as well as for specific skill development. It's easy to find a club, society, student group or other opportunity that's right for you.
Guidelines for what can appear on your SER
For a position to be eligible to appear on your SER, the experience must meet the following criteria:
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Be an ongoing commitment and/or training workshop.
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Be linked to—and support—the development of at least five relevant competencies.
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Have a connection to the Ontario Tech community.
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Showcase involvement, not just attendance.