Future-focused program delivery

The University of Calgary has released its plan, Unstoppable, to keep its Eyes High ambitions to be a great research university at the heart of a resilient community.

One of the big ideas within this plan is a bold approach to education and credentials that will see more modes of delivery (online, in-person, etc.) and more ability to personalize your programming through the expansion of modularization, microcredentials and stackable certificates.

Modularization breaks courses into their components, allowing foundational content to be shared among many classes. The benefits are significant: they allow students to move quickly (or even skip) content covered in another class they’ve taken and allow faculty to share a common core – letting them focus on their areas of expertise.

Microcredentialing and stackable certificates allow students to receive a certification or diploma for an individual course or smaller cluster of courses. These certificates can be acquired on their own or combined into a four-year degree.

Neither modularization nor microcredentialing is new at the University of Calgary. Many faculties of the University – supported by the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning – have begun to implement these approaches. This plan will expand on what these faculties have built and more aggressively roll out these methods across the university’s programs through an expansion of faculty training and resources available.

• Modularize current credentials and ensure future credential development is modularized – creating a more personalized learning/education journey for students​

• Identify programs that have high potential for online ​learning, experiential learning, modularization (stackable ​and standalone certificates)​

• Expand existing supports for rapid program development ​with a focus on expanding certificates (stackable, stand-alone, undergraduate and graduate)​

• Incentivize development of certificate programs​

• Track and curate experiential learning (EL) through an ​Experiential Learning & Skills Record​

• Develop, formalize partnerships for EL

• Program review (determine programs to discontinue, maintain or grow and set enrolment targets)

  • Refine program evaluation criteria​

  • Rigorous evaluation of programs against criteria​

  • Program decisions​

  • For continuing programs, confirm enrolment targets for next three years – focusing growth in graduate programming and upskilling/reskilling programming​​

• Program development​

  • Identify high-priority areas to grow programming – aligned with four areas of academic focus and high scores on evaluation criteria ​
     

• Develop a long-term plan for program delivery through multiple modalities including face-to-face, blended and online programs​

  • Expand infrastructure and support for learning technologies. Assess possible mergers, acquisitions, or partnerships with online institutions and/or technology platforms​

  • Expand support for online teaching and curriculum design to support development of credentials for hybrid and online formats (instructional designers, technology specialists)​

  • Expand supports for student mentorship (career, WIL, EL), and academic supports for students with a focus on students in online certificates and programs​

• Assess potential to grow enrolment by offering additional programming in hybrid/online format on longer-term basis​