Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is conducting a feasibility study to identify and evaluate opportunities for collaboration in the collection, curation, sharing and creation of online/digital resources that are used for teaching, practicing and assessing technical skills that have traditionally been done in hands-on, physical spaces.
We are grateful for your response by the end of the day, September 18, 2020
The goal of the first phase of the project is to identify:
- the colleges and institutes that are interested in participating in this project
- the programs and courses for which there is a critical need for specific online resources to be created and the resources that would be required to do so
- the resources that are currently available, that may be shared if the appropriate incentives are in place
- the incentives that would be required for there to be a viable and sustainable way for inter-institutional collaboration in creating and sharing online resources that could be used for sector-specific skills particularly in high labour market demand areas, such as trades (e.g., welding and trucking), health care, nursing, personal support workers, engineering etc.
- the programs for a small number of pilots based on the findings of this initial survey
The intent is that the information gleaned from the feasibility study will be used to inform the creation of a public, digital catalogue of media-rich open educational resources, focused on hands-on skills training. This digital space would also become a sandbox for Canadian educators to explore, create, and collaborate with each other and potentially with educators around the world to enhance the curriculum for training specific technical skills.
Throughout the study emphasis is placed on exploring ways to enable and maintain access to hands-on skills training for vulnerable learners, including Indigenous students, persons with disabilities and those who live in areas under-served by broadband.
If you have any questions about the study or would like to participate please contact Valerie Lopes – valerie.lopes@senecacollege.ca, or @valerielopes