The pandemic has highlighted the important role that new technologies can play in helping instructors connect with students and expand educational opportunities beyond the physical classroom. Earlier this year, Queen’s received more than $2 million in funding from the Government of Ontario’s Virtual Learning Strategy Initiative (VLS) for 32 projects to improve its online education offerings. These projects are now under way and will be available in March 2022 to students and faculty at Queen’s and across the province through eCampus Ontario, which will collect all projects in their Open Library.

“The projects created through Virtual Learning Strategy funding enable our Queen’s community to provide highly accessible educational materials to a wide range of students at Queen’s and across Ontario,” says Associate Vice-Principal (Teaching and Learning) Klodiana Kolomitro. “These projects will have a high impact for years to come.”

The 32 projects currently in development span a wide range of disciplines and topics, including robotics, artificial intelligence, race and migration in Canada, and sustainability. The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, the Faculty of Arts and Science, Queen’s Health Sciences, the Faculty of Education, the School of Graduate Studies, and the Regional Assessment and Resource Centre are all developing digital resources. A number of the projects align with areas of strategic focus for the university, including equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization.

Teaching skills for decolonization

The Decolonial Struggle is a project that will create a new online undergraduate course to support the Indigenous Studies major launched in the fall. This Indigenous-led online course will focus on the role of decolonial thought and practice in building more just, equitable, and socially responsible communities in settler colonial states such as Canada. The course aims to provide students with valuable knowledge and skills that prepare and empower them to make personal and systemic changes for a more sustainable future.

Graduate student success

Upskilling Graduates for Success is a series of e-courses that will offer Ontario graduate students self-paced professional development to ensure they are prepared to enter a rapidly evolving labour market, locally and globally. Developed through a partnership across five Ontario Universities, course topics were strategically selected to capitalize on institutional strengths and purposefully designed to respond to labour market trends. Each course in the series will be based on explicit learning outcomes and pedagogically structured through four interactive infographics, self-assessments, scenario-based learning activities and authentic experiential tasks. Students will leave these courses with new skills that set them apart and prepare them to cultivate wellbeing in their communities and workplaces.

Combating microaggressions in nursing

Racism, discrimination, and microaggressions experienced by underrepresented nursing students has many negative effects on their education and wellbeing. Harnessing Cultural Humility Against Microaggressions is developing innovative and accessible resources that tackle this issue. The project includes resources to help underrepresented nursing students navigate situations in which racism and microaggressions occur, as well as resources for faculty and peers to support students affected by racism and microaggressions. The project will make use of both eLearning modules and virtual simulation games, which have been shown to be effective in providing equity, diversity, and inclusivity training in healthcare settings.

More VLS projects

Learn more about these projects and others being developed with VLS funding on the website of the Office of the Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic).