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Recordings and transcripts available from past meetings: B.C. Open Education Community (Playlist)
About the Series
In a time marked by polarization, uncertainty, and rapid change, kindness may be one of the most important guidelines for navigating our work as educators. This April, join our Learning and Teaching team for a four-week book club exploring A Pedagogy of Kindness by Catherine J. Denial. Denial defines a pedagogy of kindness as, “about attending to justice, believing people, and believing in people. It’s a discipline.” The author wrote this book hoping that, “together we can create bright new spaces, rooted in compassion, in which all of us engaged in teaching and learning will thrive.” The book club aims to emulate that space as we read and reflect together.
Schedule & Topics
The book club will meet weekly on Tuesdays, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m PT for synchronous online discussions. Each session will focus on one section of the book:
- April 7, Week 1: Kindness toward the Self
- April 14, Week 2: Kindness and the Syllabus
- April 21, Week 3: Kindness and Assessment
- April 28, Week 4: Kindness in the Classroom
In addition to our live sessions, participants are invited to engage asynchronously through our Moodle site. Discussion prompts will mirror those used in the synchronous sessions, offering flexible ways to participate and reflect. Asynchronous participation is optional.
Who Should Join?
Any post-secondary educator who has already read the book, or would like to read it, is warmly invited. Whether you are new to the idea of a pedagogy of kindness or already exploring compassionate teaching practices, this book club offers a collegial space for reflection, dialogue, and shared learning. Join our team (and invite YOUR team) as we consider how kindness, justice, and belief in one another can shape bright new spaces for teaching and learning.
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This event will not be recorded.
About the Facilitator
Your facilitator for these discussions will be Helena Prins, Advisor, Learning & Teaching, BCcampus.
BCcampus is a proud member of the Sunflower Hidden Disabilities initiative. If you have a hidden disability that might affect your participation, you can download a virtual sunflower background to indicate that you may need a helping hand, understanding, or more time. If you require any support or have any questions, email sunflower@bccampus.ca
The British Columbia Open Education Community (BCOEC) welcomes members from the post-secondary sector in British Columbia and the Yukon. This community convenes monthly in virtual gatherings, fostering an environment for sharing insights, providing support, and engaging in discussions about the challenges, best practices, and current issues within open education.
Register now!
Recordings and transcripts available from past meetings: B.C. Open Education Community (Playlist)
About the Session
This technically-oriented session introduces offline Gen AI and highlights reasons one might choose it over commercial options like ChatGPT or Gemini. We will discuss the limitations of these offline options, showcase applications to run models locally on your computer, recommend local Gen AI models depending on the objective, and examine pedagogical considerations.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Understand the advantages of using offline Gen AI versus commercial online options
- Consider the limitations of hardware and local models
- Choose local Gen AI models based on their specific objective
- Identify applications used to run offline Gen AI
Registration Coming Soon
This session may be recorded, archived, and shared after the event.
About the Facilitators
Dr. Elizabeth Childs is Professor and Program Head of the MA in Learning and Technology program in the School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University. She holds a PhD in Educational Technology from the University of Calgary. Elizabeth is interested in the design, creation, and implementation of flexible learning environments incorporating the affordances of information and communication technology and provide learners with increased choice, flexibility, and opportunities. Dr. Childs’ research interests include open educational practices; creation of, and engagement in, online learning communities and digital habitats; design thinking and maker pedagogy; and models for training and professional development.
Harper Friedman is a Coordinator of Open Education at BCcampus. With a background in computer science, Harper is able to combine his technical knowledge with his experience in open education. Since the boom in Gen AI, he has been exploring ways to harness this technology while staying aligned with values of accessibility, equity, environmentalism, and agency.
BCcampus is a proud member of the Sunflower Hidden Disabilities initiative. If you have a hidden disability that might affect your participation, you can download a virtual sunflower background to indicate that you may need a helping hand, understanding, or more time. If you require any support or have any questions, email sunflower@bccampus.ca
About the Session
This FLO MicroCourse uses a design sprint approach to help educators redesign a single assessment into AI-resilient versions. Here, AI-resilient means assessments structured so students cannot fully outsource the work to GenAI without engaging in critical thinking, decision-making, and authentic learning. The MicroCourse follows a five-step sprint approach: understand & empathize, define & frame, ideate & create, prototype & refine, and rest & pitch. Participants will apply spring methods such as “build to think” prototyping, and structured peer-reviewed testing.
Over five days, educators will complete guided asynchronous sprint work, supported by two synchronous sessions designed to build community, strengthen collaboration, and facilitate open peer feedback.
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify AI-related vulnerabilities in assessment tasks and clarify the learning outcomes the assessments are intended to measure. Apply sprint methods to ground assessment decisions in learner needs and real-world learning contexts.
- Generate and prioritize multiple redesign options that support meaningful learning.
- Prototype an AI-resilient assessment and refine it through structured, constructive peer feedback.
- Publish the redesigned assessment as an OER contribution to an AI-resilient assessment bank that supports teaching and learning.
What to expect
This is not an “off the side of your desk” learning opportunity. To get the most out of this learning experience, we recommend participants dedicate at least six to eight hours over the week. Participants should come prepared with one assessment (or a set of course assessment activities) to redesign. The sprint model requires iterative work, collaboration, and active participation in giving and receiving peer feedback.
While most of the learning will happen asynchronously, we are offering two optional synchronous sessions:
- Monday, April 27, 2026, 2:00–3:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Registration Coming Soon
This session will be recorded, archived, and shared with course registrants.
About the Facilitators
Your FLO Facilitators for this session will be Drs. Gwen Nguyen and Helena Prins.
BCcampus is a proud member of the Sunflower Hidden Disabilities initiative. If you have a hidden disability that might affect your participation, you can download a virtual sunflower background to indicate that you may need a helping hand, understanding, or more time. If you require any support or have any questions, email sunflower@bccampus.ca
About the Session
Are you interested in open pedagogy and teaching practices supporting social justice? Join this webinar to learn from a study examining faculty experience using open pedagogy to support social justice in their online classes.
While open pedagogy is often assumed to support social justice, this is not always the case. This webinar will provide insights on how faculty members at a B.C. post-secondary institution conceptualize social justice and how they put it into practice. Participants will also learn about a social justice-informed model of open pedagogy.
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This session will be recorded, archived, and shared.
About the Facilitator
Melissa Ashman is an instructor of applied communications, public relations, and entrepreneurial leadership at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. An advocate for all things open, she has adapted and created open textbooks, developed and used open pedagogy assignments and practices, and completed research on open education. In 2025, she completed her doctor of education in distance education from Athabasca University. Her dissertation examined the intersection of open pedagogy, social justice, and online classes.
BCcampus is a proud member of the Sunflower Hidden Disabilities initiative. If you have a hidden disability that might affect your participation, you can download a virtual sunflower background to indicate that you may need a helping hand, understanding, or more time. If you require any support or have any questions, email sunflower@bccampus.ca
About the Session
Lee Sentes will share his recent experience integrating offline AI use into a graduate tourism course at Royal Roads University. In this initial experiment, students used offline AI to get guidance on assignment deliverables without having the AI complete the work for them. The AI essentially acts as a study tutor, with the instructor exercising significant control over how it responds.
Is it perfect? No – but it’s promising. The set up is surprisingly easy, and students who used it effectively suggest further exploration of this approach is justified.
Registration Coming Soon
This session may be recorded, archived, and shared after the event.
About the Facilitators
Lee Sentes is an Associate Faculty member at Royal Roads University and is regularly contracted to instruct a variety of courses within the Leadership, Global Leadership, Business and Commerce, and Tourism programs. Many of the courses he teaches focus on organizational development, communication, leadership, social enterprise, and design thinking. Lee is a skilled facilitator and has worked with a variety of government ministries and not-for-profit organizations focused on both the domestic service delivery and international development arenas. His consulting through Development Action and Doing Good for Nothing has focused on not-for-profits and social enterprise organizations, including various medical support agencies on Vancouver Island. He can be found on LinkedIn.
Dr. Elizabeth Childs is Professor and Program Head of the MA in Learning and Technology program in the School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University. She holds a PhD in Educational Technology from the University of Calgary. Elizabeth is interested in the design, creation, and implementation of flexible learning environments incorporating the affordances of information and communication technology and providing learners with increased choice, flexibility, and opportunities. Her research interests include open educational practices; creation of, and engagement in, online learning communities and digital habitats; design thinking and maker pedagogy; and models for training and professional development.
BCcampus is a proud member of the Sunflower Hidden Disabilities initiative. If you have a hidden disability that might affect your participation, you can download a virtual sunflower background to indicate that you may need a helping hand, understanding, or more time. If you require any support or have any questions, email sunflower@bccampus.ca
The British Columbia Open Education Community (BCOEC) welcomes members from the post-secondary sector in British Columbia and the Yukon. This community convenes monthly in virtual gatherings, fostering an environment for sharing insights, providing support, and engaging in discussions about the challenges, best practices, and current issues within open education.
Register now!
Recordings and transcripts available from past meetings: B.C. Open Education Community (Playlist)
About the Workshop
The changing landscape of post-secondary in B.C. is forcing institutions to alter their approach to learning design and delivery, as well as student support. Increasingly, we are asked to leverage technology to meet these new demands. In addition, we recognize the need to demonstrate the value of our work in providing ed-tech support and solutions to our institutions. Meeting these demands requires collaboration, co-creation, and creativity.
Registration Coming Soon
This session may be recorded, archived, and shared after the event.
Helpful Links
The British Columbia Open Education Community (BCOEC) welcomes members from the post-secondary sector in British Columbia and the Yukon. This community convenes monthly in virtual gatherings, fostering an environment for sharing insights, providing support, and engaging in discussions about the challenges, best practices, and current issues within open education. This meeting will not be recorded.
Register now!
Recordings and transcripts from past meetings (June 2024 to June 2025): B.C. Open Education Community (Playlist)