February 28, 2023

Personal support workers and nurses will now have access to their next career through the $13.3M pilot program “Step Up to Nursing” offered through New Brunswick Community College, Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, University of Moncton, and University of New Brunswick. The workplace-based initiative will enable workers to study part-time and upgrade their credentials through one of two program streams: Personal Support Worker (PSW) to Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and LPN to Registered Nurse. Students will continue to earn full-time wages and keep their benefits as they complete the tuition-free program. The program is supported by federal and provincial government funding.

The Université de Sherbrooke recently inaugurated the new site for its faculty of medicine and health sciences in the Montérégie region. The new facility is located near a hospital centre and features a procedural room, clinical simulation room, and more. Students will be able to stay in the region as they carry out their medical training. USherbrooke Rector Pierre Cossette noted that the plan to relocate the medicine program to the Longueuil campus has been over 30 years in development. The new facilities are supported by donations and government funding.

Université de Saint-Boniface has received almost $5.3M in combined funding from the Government of Canada and the Government of Manitoba. The funding will support two projects at the university: the acquisition of a French-language software package for student record management and a project that will increase USB’s ability to recruit students and modernize its branding. “This eagerly awaited investment is essential to enriching the student experience at the Université de Saint-Boniface and to the modernization and sustainability of our institution,” said USB President Sophie Bouffard.

Two more postsecondary institutions – McGill University and Carleton University – have rescinded honorary doctorates given to Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. At McGill, a subcommittee completed a review process and found evidence calling into question the validity of Turpel-Lafond’s academic credentials, accomplishments, and claims to being a Treaty Indian. Carleton also completed a review and chose to revoke the honorary doctorate awarded Turpel-Lafond in 2019. “The evidence that emerged about disputed claims to both Indigenous identity and academic credentials/accolades was deemed to outweigh the accomplishments that originally warranted granting the degree,” read a statement from Carleton.

Manitoba needs more college seats, but change will require community support, writes Assiniboine Community College President Mark Frison. Frison discusses the longstanding need for more college seats in Manitoba and ACC’s work to increase the number of graduates and address MB’s low postsecondary participation rate. The author writes that while MB has now improved its postsecondary participation rate, it has slipped on its number of college seats. Frison writes that MB’s recent throne speech signaled a commitment to work with MB colleges and increase the availability of college seats. He concludes by encouraging the community to view this as a positive move, rather than listening to “actors who want to politicize it as some sort of attack on postsecondary programs that may appear to have a less direct line of sight to the labour market.”

In a recent editorial for Inside Higher Ed, Steven Mintz discusses how dogmatism can halt intellectual discussions within the classroom. Drawing on the example of a professor whose classroom discussion was shut down Mintz writes that instructors should expect students to bring the discourses they have picked up outside of the classroom into the learning space. While students may challenge the instructor with their pre-existing discourses, Mintz asserts that the instructor is ultimately responsible for managing classroom dynamics. The author recommends addressing issues with students one-on-one or in small groups and maintaining authority by setting firm classroom rules and preventing “witch-hunting.” Mintz also advises instructors to encourage students to speak from their vantage points, recognize that humanities classrooms are a place to challenge viewpoints and receive frank feedback, foster independent thinking, and forge a community rather than expelling dissenters.

McGill University, Cegep à L’Assomption, and Cégep de Thetford have announced new programs over the last week. L’Assomption will offer a Techniques d’orthèses visuelles program this Fall. The program is partly offered in a blended format, where students will be able to decide whether to attend many of their weekly lectures in-person or online. McGill will be offering a French micro-MBA program in the Matane region. The intensive five-day training has been developed for managers and human resources professionals. Thetford has launched a revised pre-university humanities program with new specializations and a common core first year curriculum, as well as a revised education program with the option to study outdoor learning interventions.

An LGBTQ support group at Trinity Western University has been denied permission to host a storytelling event on campus, report CBC and Global News. The group, One TWU, reportedly held the event on campus each fall from 2014 up to the pandemic. When the group requested to hold the event on campus this year, One TWU co-director and TWU student Carter Sawatzky says it was rejected with the rationale that the event was being held by an “external group.” Sawatzky told CBC that the group has also not been permitted to put up posters about its services or events since a change in senior leadership in 2019. “This decision to not have us on campus is something that doesn’t reflect [the fact that] TWU is made up of good students and faculty who are inclusive, supportive, critical thinkers,” Sawatzky told CBC.

In a recent Global News article, Andrew Benson discusses the ways that AI technology could change the postsecondary landscape in Saskatchewan. Some professors are already using ChatGPT for help with their own work. “Personally, I’ve been using it for just about everything,” said University of Regina professor Alec Couros. “Emails, discussions with students, and developing lessons.” Couros noted that AI has a great teaching and learning potential as it can support the personalization of student experiences and development of better assessments and feedback. University of Saskatchewan professor Eric Neufeld noted the power of AI technology and commented on how student overreliance on the tool could result in challenges in the future when the student needs to demonstrate their skills or be creative.

Conestoga College and the Huron Perth Catholic District School Board have partnered to introduce Grade 8 students to electronic. Through the partnership, students will be able to attend half-day presentations where they will use electrical boards to learn about electronics. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program Project Leader Mark Flanagan explained that introducing youth to the skilled trades at an early age provides them with a career option that they might not have otherwise considered. “When you graduate as an apprentice, you are fully employed and you’re in demand,” explained Flanagan.