NEWS RELEASE
MPP VINCENT KE
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The Ontario government is supporting 20 innovative virtual learning projects at Seneca to help provide students with more choice and access to high-quality post-secondary education and retraining opportunities.
“These projects will help ensure our post-secondary institutions have the tools they need to create great curriculum online,” said Vincent Ke, MPP for Don Valley North. “By increasing virtual course offerings, we’re helping the next generation of workers, innovators, researchers, and leaders develop the skills and training they need to succeed in their careers, when and where they need it most.”
The projects are part of the province’s virtual learning strategy, announced last December, and support key priority areas that include creating or adapting digital content, equipping faculty and students with skills and resources to teach and learn online and identifying educational technologies to support online courses and programs. Seneca will lead seven projects and is collaborating on 13 more.
Projects include:
- Providing learners with additional training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to work with suicidal clients; Seneca, in partnership with Centennial College, is creating and developing a virtual gaming simulation that gives learners across the province the opportunity to make complex decisions when working with suicidal clients in a safe learning environment.
- Supporting international students and newcomers to Canada who are English language learners; Seneca, in partnership with Humber College, is developing four microcredentials for educators to support English language learners in post-secondary courses. These microcredentials will emphasize essential strategies for educators to support language development through written communication, oral interaction, presentations, reading course materials and understanding lectures.
The province is investing more than $70 million to implement Ontario’s virtual learning strategy, including $21.4 million announced in the 2021 Ontario Budget, Ontario’s Action Plan: Protecting People’s Health and Our Economy.
“Ensuring that Ontario’s post-secondary institutions offer responsive and flexible digital courses and programs will help students build the skills and competencies they need to be competitive in today’s economy,” said Ross Romano, minister of colleges and universities. “Our virtual learning strategy is aimed at creating a platform that will allow all post-secondary institutions to compete in the new and necessary environment of learning from home.”
The Ontario government is transforming virtual learning across the province by supporting nearly 400 innovative projects at colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes.
“Seneca is delighted to partner with post-secondary institutions across Ontario to build our collective inventory of digital content,” said Seneca president David Agnew. “This investment from the Ontario government will help us create new, flexible virtual teaching and learning options for our students and professors.”
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