Event Description
Join us for this one week Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) MicroCourse about the First Peoples Principles of Learning, which represent common elements in the varied teaching and learning approaches relevant to Indigenous communities.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Identify and familiarize themselves with the First Peoples Principles of Learning
- Apply the First Peoples Principles of Learning to their course development and delivery
Course Logistics
Time commitment: 6–8 hours
Format: Asynchronous
While most of the learning will happen asynchronously, we will offer an optional synchronous session on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 3:30–4:30 p.m. PST.
Registration is now closed.
This notice is to inform you that this session will be recorded, archived, and shared with course registrants.
About the Facilitators
Your FLO Facilitators will be Connie Strayer and Robyn Grebliunas.
Connie Strayer (she/her) is Métis and German. With gratitude, she acknowledges the Qualicum and Snaw-naw-as First Nations on whose ancestral lands she lives, works, and plays. Connie is an educational developer and Indigenous relationship specialist, as well as a regular collaborator with BCcampus. Through a student-centred and decolonized approach, she strives to create systemic change within post-secondary spaces and increase mental health literacy and skills for educators, students, and community members. Connie has had the honour of working under the teachings of many Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and colleagues in many of B.C.’s First Nations communities; these relationships and teachings have influenced her approach to education.
Robyn Grebliunas (she/her) is Métis and Lithuanian. With appreciation, she acknowledges the Okanagan and Syilx First Nations on whose ancestral lands she lives, works, and plays. Robyn specializes in Indigenous adult education and communication and she is grateful for her many years of working in public and private Indigenous post-secondary education. Robyn has a master’s degree in professional communications, with research focused on creating relationship efficacy in the digital realm. She is passionate about creating online education learning experiences for adult learners, and her educational philosophy combines traditional grassroots learning with two-way and strength-based learning. Robyn has had the honour of working under the teachings of many Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers in many First Nations communities in B.C. and Alberta; this opportunity has greatly influenced her approach to education.
About the Event
As artificial intelligence and algorithmic tools become increasingly embedded in educational technologies, such as plagiarism detection systems and adaptive learning platforms, faculty must grapple with both their potential and their pitfalls. While these tools promise efficiency and personalization, they can also reproduce and amplify biases. These biases can influence everything from automated grading and learning analytics to recruitment and admissions processes, often invisibly. This workshop will continue the conversation on algorithmic literacy where we will critically evaluate how algorithmic systems work, whose values they encode, and how they impact diverse learners. Participants will explore how algorithmic bias manifests in educational settings, examine the structural inequities it reinforces, and consider strategies to mitigate harm. 
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize how biases are perpetrated by algorithmic systems and educational technologies
- Identify which student groups are most affected by these biases
- Apply principles of algorithmic literacy to evaluate and use educational technologies more equitably
- Develop practical approaches to supporting students who may be disproportionately impacted
Register Now!
This notice is to inform you that this session may be recorded, archived, and shared after the event.
About the Facilitator
Britt Dzioba (she/her) is a Learning and Teaching Advisor with BCcampus where she works to support educators grow their digital skill sets through resource development. Britt holds a master of education from the University of British Columbia, where her graduate research focused on digital literacy education in community-based programs. Currently, her research interests are developing digital literacies among educators, supporting neurodiversity in higher education, and emergent educational technologies.
About the Event
This session invites educators to reframe play as a powerful, culturally responsive practice: one that fosters identity building, learner voice, and belonging across diverse learning environments. Participants will explore practical strategies for embedding culturally responsive play, loose-parts play, and identity-affirming play pedagogy.
This session is designed for educators, facilitators, instructional designers, and professional development leaders working across education, post-secondary settings, and community-based learning environments.
Participants will:
- Identify how a culturally responsive pedagogy of play can amplify learner voice
- Foster identity-building and strengthen relationships with diverse families and children
- Explore the role of loose-parts play and identity-affirming play as culturally sustaining, inclusive teaching tools
Register Now!
This notice is to inform you that this session may be recorded, archived, and shared after the event.
About the Facilitator
Kamini Kamdar (she/her) is a PhD candidate whose research focuses on culturally responsive pedagogy, newcomer families, and children in early childhood settings, educational policy, and family engagement. She brings experience as an early childhood educator and researcher with a passion for bridging theory and practice to create inclusive and meaningful learning spaces. Her intention is for participants to reflect on how culturally responsive approaches to play can deepen belonging and representation in educational contexts.
About the Session
This FLO (Facilitating Learning Online) MicroCourse invites educators from any discipline to envision and frame their teaching in relation to climate emergency. Together, we will explore three practical models of climate change education emphasizing justice, hope, and decolonial perspectives: Climate-Kind Pedagogy, The Hope Wheel, and the Care-Know-Do Framework.
Through interactive videos, reflective discussions, and a live networking conversation, participants will consider how these models can inspire transformative learning in their unique teaching contexts. Participants will leave the course with concrete ideas for bringing climate conversations, action, and hopeful engagement into their classrooms.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Describe three climate education models and their core features.
- Assess how each model could be adapted for use in their own teaching.
- Create a personalized action plan for integrating climate-responsive teaching strategies into a course (i.e. an assignment, lessons, outcomes).
Course Logistics
Time commitment: 6-8 hours
Format: Asynchronous
While most of the learning will happen asynchronously, we will offer an optional synchronous session on Thursday, January 15, 2026, 2:00–3:00 p.m. PST.
Register Now!
This session will be recorded, archived, and shared with course registrants.
About the Facilitator
Lauren Anstey (she/her/hers) is an Educational Developer who works at College of the Rockies as a Teaching and Learning Specialist. Lauren was born on Treaty 29 Territory, where her ancestors of Irish, Belgian, and Scottish heritage were farmers for many generations. To her professional work, Lauren offers experience in curriculum design and authentic inquiry learning, holding a PhD in Curriculum Theory from Queen’s University. Recently, her research interests have been directed at how learning can be transformational for students in preparing for a rapidly changing future. Lauren lives in Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis in ʔa·kisk̓aqǂiʔit.
We’re excited to introduce the GenAI Teaching Lounge: an informal, virtual space where educators can gather over a hot drink to explore teaching ideas with Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Curious about using AI tools to support assessment design? Wondering how to centralize student voices when integrating AI into coursework? Or simply want to share your own stories and tea with others? The Lounge is your space to ask questions, exchange ideas, and learn with colleagues.
No lectures, no recordings—just conversation, connection, and curiosity. Join us for a 45-minute drop-in session designed to generate practical takeaways and strengthen our teaching community.
Sessions
Sessions will be held from 2:00–2:45 p.m. PT:
- October 21, 2025
- November 25, 2025
- January 13, 2026
- February 17, 2026
- March 10, 2026
Register Now!
This session will not be recorded.
Hosts
Gwen Nguyen (she/her) is a Learning + Teaching Advisor at BCcampus supporting the adaptation and evolution of teaching and learning practices in post-secondary education through collaboration, innovation, and digital technologies. Gwen worked as a learning experience designer at the University of Victoria (UVic), supporting educators with developing and delivering face-to-face, hybrid and online courses. She has also worked as a university lecturer and researcher at UVic and the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in Japan. Gwen holds a PhD in education studies and an MA in applied linguistics. Recently, Gwen has cultivated a keen interest in pedagogical strategies that ethically and creatively incorporate AI into teaching and learning.
Britt Dzioba (she/her) is a Learning + Teaching Advisor at BCcampus where she works to support educators in developing their digital skills through resource development. As a neurodivergent educator, she is passionate about helping faculty create more inclusive learning environments that support neurodivergent students. Britt holds a Master of Education from the University of British Columbia, specializing in adult learning. Her graduate research focused on digital literacy education in community-based programs.
Helena Prins (she/her) is a Learning + Teaching Advisor at BCcampus, where she coordinates the Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) portfolio. She began her career as a high school teacher in South Africa. Over the past 20 years, she has taught students of all ages and stages on four continents. A golden thread throughout her career has been breaking down barriers to learning. Prior to joining BCcampus in 2020, she worked as a career learning and development advisor at Royal Roads University.
Event Description
How can we facilitate maximally accessible online learning environments while recognizing that some learners will experience access barriers where other learners experience access supports? Access friction can pose challenges to implementing access and demonstrates there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach (Glossary, Access Anthology: Reflections on Disability Art and Culture, Gallery TPW, 2023, p. 66).
During this Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) MicroCourse, learners will have the opportunity to explore effective methods for navigating what some disability communities call access friction. Through problem-based learning, participants will develop inclusive, non-hierarchical ways of anticipating, navigating, and responding to access friction by drafting statements for their course syllabi that detail their planned approach.
Participants also will review each other’s draft statements, allowing them to:
- Identify frequently encountered sources of access friction (Example: cameras on to facilitate lip-reading versus cameras off to support mental health needs)
- Craft student-centered approaches to navigating access friction in online environments
- Provide constructive peer review for syllabus accessibility statements using online asynchronous annotation tools
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Recognize what constitutes access friction in online learning
- Practice effective methods for mitigating access friction in flexible and inclusive ways
Course Logistics
Time commitment: Six to eight hours
Format: Asynchronous
While most of the learning will happen asynchronously, we will offer an optional synchronous session on Thursday, January 22, 2026, 10:00–11:00 a.m. PST.
Registration Coming Soon
This notice is to inform you that this session will be recorded, archived, and shared with course registrants. By participating in this session, you acknowledge that your participation in this session will be recorded and the recording will be made available to other course participants.
About the Facilitator
Stefan Sunandan Honisch (he/him) is a disabled researcher, educator, and musician. He is a sessional instructor in Theatre Studies, and a Scholar-in-Residence at St. John’s College, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Musqueam Nation, on which the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus is situated. Honisch has also previously worked for the B.C. Public Service Agency’s Learning Centre.
About the Session
Join us for an exciting Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) session about a news literacy framework for educators and students. In these information-challenged times, this workshop will introduce the concept and benefits of including news literacy (e.g. Ashley, 2020) as a crucial element in the post-secondary teaching and learning environment. We will explore the news literacy framework, discuss why it is essential to 21st-century post-secondary learning and teaching, and provide an orientation to a new open education resource, a news literacy toolkit.
The session will be of interest to professors, librarians, and other educators who support student learning. It aims to give participants the knowledge and skills to better understand and engage with today’s complex media environment. By the end of the workshop, participants will:
- Be able to define and explain the concept of news literacy and its importance in the current media landscape
- Understand how the presence of bias in news reporting affects the representation of events
- Learn strategies to curate a diverse and balanced news diet, avoiding echo chambers and ensuring exposure to multiple perspectives.
Register Now!
This session may be recorded, archived, and shared after the event.
About the Facilitator
Justin Harrison has over 20 years’ professional experience as an academic research librarian and holds the position of Engagement & Learning Librarian at the University of Victoria Libraries. He is also a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria, focusing on media literacy, news literacy, and their intersections with civic engagement and political polarization.
About the Panel
GenAI is now part of the everyday reality of post-secondary education. Educators across B.C. are navigating a mix of curiosity, concern, as well as fatigue as they decide how, or whether, to engage with these tools in their work to support teaching and learning. This panel brings together sector leaders, educators, and researchers to explore how we might move beyond simple “ban or embrace” narratives towards rethinking teaching and learning with GenAI with particular focus on human-centred approaches and open pedagogy.
This panel will be moderated by Helena Prins, an Advisor on the Learning + Teaching team.
Registration Coming Soon
This notice is to inform you that this session may be recorded, archived, and shared after the event.
About the Facilitators
Gwen Nguyen is a Learning + Teaching Advisor with BCcampus. Gwen holds a PhD in education studies from the University of Victoria and a MA in applied linguistics from Saint Michael’s College. Recently, Gwen has developed a keen interest in exploring pedagogical approaches that ethically and creatively integrate AI into teaching and learning. Gwen comes to this panel to set the stage, bringing a GenAI-literacy-in-teaching lens grounded in her work at BCcampus, where she has been observing the tension between resistance and reimaging education while developing support channels for educators, including the open access BCcampus GenAI in Teaching and Learning Toolkit and related initiatives.
Dr. Neil Fassina took on the role of President at Okanagan College in April 2021, inspired by the college’s reputation for transforming lives and communities. Dr. Fassina earned his PhD in Management from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto and holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of Calgary. He is recognized as a Fellow Chartered Professional in Human Resources (FCPHR) and a Chartered Director (ICD.D) through the Institute of Chartered Directors. He has contributed to numerous refereed articles, co-authored a Canadian Human Resource Management textbook and enjoys speaking about the future of education and its role in economic and social development. Before joining Okanagan College, Neil served as President of Athabasca University from 2016 to 2021. His previous roles include Provost and Vice President Academic at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and Dean of the JR Shaw School of Business and School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. Throughout his academic career, he has taught at the University of Toronto, the University of Calgary, the University of Manitoba, and in executive education programs.
Elizabeth Childs is a professor in the School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University. She has worked in government, industry, and academia and consulted nationally and internationally. She is interested in the design, creation, and implementation of flexible learning environments that incorporate the affordances of technologies and provide learners with increased access, choice, flexibility, and opportunities. Dr. Childs’ research interests include online and blended learning, open education and open pedagogy, online learning communities and digital habitats, socio-emotional learning and immersive professional development, design thinking, and participatory design approaches.
Sharon Stein is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Professor of Climate Complexity and Coloniality in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. She is the author of Unsettling the University: Confronting the Colonial Foundations of US Higher Education, and a co-founder of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Arts/Research Collective. She is focused on an inquiry about the possibilities of earth-aligned AI for education – that is, AI that can help scaffold a transition from reductionist, anthropocentric learning toward relational intelligence and planetary responsibility.
Jessica Rizk, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate at the Conference Board of Canada. A former K–12 teacher and current post-secondary educator, she leads national research on education, workforce development, and AI literacy, focusing on how institutions and educators can adapt to an AI-enabled future. Her work bridges research, policy, and practice, bringing a perspective centered on equity, innovation, and preparing learners for the evolving demands of work and education.
About the Sessions
In this FLO (Facilitating Learning Online) Pod (Practices of Online Development), we will consider the impact of AI on education through a lens of relationality, asking questions such as:
- How might AI-use affect our relationships?
- How might it change the ways we connect with, and relate to, other people or to other living or non-living entities around us?
- What kinds of relationships might we form with AI tools, and how does that differ for those who choose not to use them?
- How might engagement with AI shape how we see ourselves, our capabilities, and our agency in the world?
Join us for a three-part series of exploratory conversations on AI and relationships, each with a different focus:
- February 11, 2026: Human-to-human
- February 25, 2026: Human-to-technology/AI
- March 11, 2026: Human-to-self.
Through guided prompting, thought-provoking questions, and short activities, we will reflect on and share ideas about AI’s impact on relationships. We will play with the idea of the cyborg, acknowledge the potential breakdown of rigid boundaries between human, non-human and machine, and the implications for education.
Each conversation will take place two weeks apart, with opportunities to stay engaged asynchronously between sessions. These sessions will raise more questions than provide definitive answers and are an opportunity to reflect on human and non-human relationality through choices of whether, and how, to use AI in education.
Registration Coming Soon
This event will not be recorded.
About the Facilitators
Christina Hendricks is a Professor of Teaching in Philosophy and the Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at the University of British Columbia. She participated in generating institutional guidelines on generative AI in teaching and learning, and has contributed to some resources for faculty on generative AI. Over the last year she has begun to explore various topics under the broad umbrella of AI and relationships, and is looking forward to discussing these early ideas with participants in this FLO Pod.
Dani Dilkes is an Educational Developer and academic researcher whose work focuses on inclusion in higher education, complexity, and exploring socio-material entanglements and their impact on social experience. She leads the generative AI programming at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Western University, approaching this through a complexity lens. She developed the Domains of AI-Awareness Framework, which acknowledges the affective or emotional nature of generative AI discourse and is excited to further explore this relational impact in conversation with others in this FLO Pod.
We’re excited to introduce the GenAI Teaching Lounge: an informal, virtual space where educators can gather over a hot drink to explore teaching ideas with Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Curious about using AI tools to support assessment design? Wondering how to centralize student voices when integrating AI into coursework? Or simply want to share your own stories and tea with others? The Lounge is your space to ask questions, exchange ideas, and learn with colleagues.
No lectures, no recordings—just conversation, connection, and curiosity. Join us for a 45-minute drop-in session designed to generate practical takeaways and strengthen our teaching community.
Sessions
Sessions will be held from 2:00–2:45 p.m. PT:
- October 21, 2025
- November 25, 2025
- January 13, 2026
- February 17, 2026
- March 10, 2026
Register Now!
This session will not be recorded.
Hosts
Gwen Nguyen (she/her) is a Learning + Teaching Advisor at BCcampus supporting the adaptation and evolution of teaching and learning practices in post-secondary education through collaboration, innovation, and digital technologies. Gwen worked as a learning experience designer at the University of Victoria (UVic), supporting educators with developing and delivering face-to-face, hybrid and online courses. She has also worked as a university lecturer and researcher at UVic and the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in Japan. Gwen holds a PhD in education studies and an MA in applied linguistics. Recently, Gwen has cultivated a keen interest in pedagogical strategies that ethically and creatively incorporate AI into teaching and learning.
Britt Dzioba (she/her) is a Learning + Teaching Advisor at BCcampus where she works to support educators in developing their digital skills through resource development. As a neurodivergent educator, she is passionate about helping faculty create more inclusive learning environments that support neurodivergent students. Britt holds a Master of Education from the University of British Columbia, specializing in adult learning. Her graduate research focused on digital literacy education in community-based programs.
Helena Prins (she/her) is a Learning + Teaching Advisor at BCcampus, where she coordinates the Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) portfolio. She began her career as a high school teacher in South Africa. Over the past 20 years, she has taught students of all ages and stages on four continents. A golden thread throughout her career has been breaking down barriers to learning. Prior to joining BCcampus in 2020, she worked as a career learning and development advisor at Royal Roads University.