Accessible Education

THE ROAD AHEAD: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACADEMIC PLAN

As an institution, Northern College is known for its caring environment and high-quality programming. Our small size defines our relationship with students. This year saw the development of an impressive academic plan—a thorough and highly-collaborative project.

The purpose of the academic plan is to provide a ‘road map’ for the integration of program delivery with Northern College’s Strategic Plan. Articulation of this academic plan enhances program delivery while supporting faculty to ensure student success. This academic plan addresses how successful learning is incorporated with three key elements: 1) graduates/students; 2) educational philosophy; and 3) faculty development. Individual learning journeys will be supported through the implementation of this plan. Implementation of the academic plan is ongoing and will be evaluated yearly.

SOS FOR STUDENT SUCCESS: EARLY INTERVENTION

One main tenet of the academic plan highlights the fact that we are here for students. They are central to all that we do, and as such, represent our core purpose. To help students succeed, an early intervention system was developed over the past year to identify learners experiencing challenges in their studies. As time is of the essence to assist those who encounter difficulties as they learn—and since a crossfunctional approach is needed to be impactful — this seamless early-intervention system is fully integrated with the College’s online student records and allows faculty to ‘alert’ the Student Life Advising team when a student needs help. In this way, it represents a faster and more efficient way to help learners.

The introduction of this early-warning system helps us be proactive in student success scenarios. The implementation of this detection tool demonstrates the way in which the organization continues to build on new and exciting opportunities to reach out to students before they are in dire need of assistance. In responding to students’ needs in this way, the organization can set the student up for greater success, now and into the future.

PIVOT TO ONLINE LEARNING

As our institution progresses to meet the needs of the fourth industrial revolution—automation and the integration of artificial intelligence—the need for our faculty to be digitally competent grows. This was accelerated in March of this year when the organization had to quickly pivot, and did so successfully due of the impact of physical distancing restrictions resulting from COVID-19.

DIGITAL COMPETENCY: REMOTE LEARNING AS THE NEW NORMAL

Digital competency is a cornerstone of the 21st century. Advancing our goal of maximizing educational access to as many learners as possible—as well as increasing engagement of and choice for learners wishing to study and improve their lives while living in our communities—Northern College will continue to support innovative educational delivery methods and frameworks that build internal capacity and curriculum to better create authentic and impactful learning experiences, including those online.

For further growth moving forward, this past year saw the introduction of a faculty digital competency selfassessment tool which provides a base-line for assessing the comfort level and effectiveness of digital competency. This was implemented as it has become increasingly important for our faculty to have digital competency in a world where everyone and everything, it seems, has gone online.

The introduction of this tool expands the continued legacy of Northern as a leader in digital spaces with rich learning experiences delivered through online presentation of our diverse curriculum. Recognizing we are a learning organization, self-assessment tools like these allow for growth and development of those closest to our learners—our esteemed faculty.

TRANSFER AGREEMENTS: WORKING TOGETHER FOR STUDENT MOBILITY

Accessible education extends well beyond the walls and classrooms of Northern. Providing further opportunities for accessibility in education, we continue to look beyond our campuses to make education work for students across the province. To this end, the College collaborated with other post-secondary institutions in Ontario’s North this past year to provide students with the ability to transfer their credentials from one institution to another—without the need to backtrack and retake courses already completed.

On March 13, 2020, in Sault Ste. Marie, the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) celebrated the signing of the Northern Business Fundamentals Co-Registration MOU at Algoma University. The MOU involves Northern College working with a wide array of partner institutions, including Algoma, Laurentian, Lakehead, and Nipissing universities, along with Cambrian, Canadore, Collège Boréal, Confederation, and Sault College. With Ross Romano, the Minister of Colleges and Universities in attendance to congratulate ONCAT, and all the northern colleges and universities working together, the event addressed the need to foster greater student mobility in communities across Ontario with regard to post-secondary education.

Thanks to this innovative and much-needed Memorandum of Understanding, students will now have the opportunity to seamlessly experience the learning environments, opportunities, academic supports, and services offered by both a university and a college, with this new level of mobility providing additional skills and learning opportunities for the marketplace.