The Digital Governance Council brings together leaders from public, private, academic, and not-for-profit sectors to collaborate on solutions to Canada’s most urgent digital priorities, such as protecting data sovereignty and fostering homegrown innovation and talent development.

“UM is committed to being a Canadian leader in digital and providing an outstanding teaching, learning, and research environment,” says Mark Torchia, Vice-Provost, Learning, Analytics, and Academic Infrastructure. “The digital landscape is moving quickly and we know if we provide key tools and information to faculty, staff, and students, we can meet this moment in an innovative and responsible way.”

UM’s approach to responsible digital innovation aligns with priorities in MomentUM: Leading change together, UM’s 2024–2029 strategic plan. Through the Digital Governance Council, we strengthen the digital systems that support ethical innovation and knowledge sharing across communities.

Because UM is a research-intensive university with learning as its central mission, it’s appropriate to explore the opportunities AI can offer. Our community can benefit in many ways, including enhancing teaching, accessibility, elevating research capacity, optimizing business processes and providing individualized student-centered learning. There are also risks that need consideration, including security, academic integrity, inaccurate or misleading information, resource use and bias towards systematically disadvantaged and marginalized groups.

In 2024, UM established a Committee on Artificial Intelligence to study these opportunities and risks, and then to develop guiding principles for exploration. The Committee reviewed guidelines and documentation from post-secondary institutions around the world before developing the principles listed below that are specific to UM.

What is AI

AI is not a single technology, but a way of using computers and machines to simulate human learning, understanding, problem-solving, creativity and more. It includes machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision and generative AI (genAI).

In higher education, genAI is a primary focus. These tools can create—or generate—their own content such as text, code, images, and videos.

Guiding Principles

When using AI at UM, faculty, students and staff should follow these guidelines:

Intellectual Integrity
Intellectual integrity is core to UM. Faculty, students and staff are expected to uphold the highest academic standards and trust. Such standards must also be maintained in the context of the use of AI. Ultimately, intellectual integrity fosters a culture of honesty, fairness, and respect for knowledge.

Human-Centered Approach
Human relationships are essential in the context of higher education; therefore, a human-centred approach to the use of AI at UM is also critical. AI should augment human capabilities, not replace them. AI should provide opportunities to foster collaboration and innovation. Human characteristics of ethical considerations, trust and transparency are crucial for effective and responsible use of AI. Ultimately, it is humans that guide the use of AI towards meaningful and beneficial outcomes.

Responsible Behaviour
Faculty, students and staff at UM are responsible for their behaviour related to AI. This behaviour should include prioritizing ethical use, integrity and transparency in the development, refinement and use of AI. It is crucial to maintain human oversight of AI systems to optimize beneficial outcomes and prevent misuse.

AI Literacy and Training
The core mission of UM is education and, as such, UM has the responsibility to foster the development of AI literacy within its community. In this way, users, and those impacted by AI, have the necessary skills to make informed choices about the responsible use of AI and the impact of AI in their academic journey, careers and lives.

Privacy and Data Security
UM must ensure that appropriate risk assessments and operational controls are implemented so that our UM data (including that of faculty, students and staff) is not compromised, that privacy is maintained for our user community, and that intellectual property is protected.

Intellectual Property and Copyright
UM supports and defends the principles and legislation related to the protection of intellectual property of its faculty, students and staff. Use of copyrighted materials with AI systems must be done in accordance with the Copyright Act or by permission of the rights holders. UM commits to monitoring the evolving standards related to protection of intellectual property as it relates to the use of AI and informing UM faculty, students and staff about changing requirements.

Environment and Sustainability
UM seeks to be a leader in campus sustainability and demonstrates its leadership through integration of sustainability principles into its strategic plans and operations. The infrastructure that supports AI systems can be electricity and water intensive. UM will seek to preferentially select enterprise AI systems from providers that not only minimize energy requirements but also prioritize sustainability practices.

Accessibility and Fairness
UM commits to ensuring that, where AI is required for teaching and learning, there are no barriers for student access to systems resulting from disability, socio-economic disadvantage, or other factors related to systematically disadvantaged and marginalized groups. In addition, UM will continue to assess any enterprise AI systems to ensure that such AI software does not unfairly discriminate against individuals or groups.

Risk and its Mitigation
UM recognizes there are internal and external risks associated with the use of AI and seeks to eliminate or optimally reduce harms. These risks include but are not limited to exposure of personal or institution data to third parties, copyright infringement and loss of reputation resulting from processes or decisions that rely on AI. UM will continue to review enterprise AI systems within the context of data governance and UM governing documents to minimize risk to faculty, students, and staff.

Next steps

Over the next few months, an online hub for AI will be developed as a space for community members to find practical tips, resources, and training opportunities. Stay tuned to UM Today for updates.

UM’s approach to responsible digital innovation aligns with priorities in MomentUM: Leading change together, UM’s 2024–2029 strategic plan. Through the Digital Governance Council, we strengthen the digital systems that support ethical innovation and knowledge sharing across communities.

This is a key focus of UM’s digital strategy as the university makes advances towards creating a digital environment that is responsive and accessible to learners, instructors  and support staff of all abilities.

When we make accessibility the universal approach, everyone benefits – regardless of whether they have a disability or not.

Consider: a non-native English speaker who uses captions to understand video content, or a user with unstable internet who connects via on low-bandwidth websites, or a busy employee who saves time using Copilot to organize their meeting notes.

Digital tools offer some of the most intuitive ways to improve equitable access. Here are some of ones currently available to UM students and employees.

Learning without barriers

Available to all current students, Student Accessibility Services should be the first point of contact for any student with a disability.

They offer accommodation plans tailored to each student, but some of the common requests involve exams, note taking and assistive technologies. This is where digital tools can play an invaluable role, giving students free access to software and apps that can help them succeed in the classroom.

For example, a student who is not a visual learner or has a reading disability could benefit from audio formats of textbooks or reading software to support comprehension, attention and focus.

Artificial intelligence (AI), when used appropriately, can also be a useful tool to help students stay organized and prepare for tests. Some of the apps recommended by the SAS are JamWorks, Quizlet, and OneNote, which can include AI-assisted notetaking capabilities, customized accessibility profiles (e.g. for ADHD or vision impaired users), and the secured capacity to summarize lectures and create action plans from them.

Teaching for all learners

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning supports faculty with integrating accessible practices into courses. Yuja-Panorama is a multi-faceted tool available to all employees. This tool can analyze current course material, generate reports that flag accessibility concerns and make recommendations to improve them.

For those looking to refine their approach or build accessibility into new materials, The Centre offers hands-on training using UM Learn and other UM-supported tools to develop content with accessible design principles in mind. These workshops happen regularly and are led by staff trained in universal design – a learning philosophy that aims to reduce barriers so all students can engage in meaningful learning. Faculty can also request individual support through accessible course design coaching.

Communicating equitably

In our daily work at the university, all of us will communicate and share information with others and there are a variety of tools available to help us do this in ways that are accessible to everyone.

All employees have access to M365 which includes apps with speech-to-text features for dictating and transcribing, virtual assistance with organizing meeting notes and creating accessible documents. Training on these tools is offered regularly through Learning and Organizational Development.

For those who share information on the university’s website or intranet, there are resources outlining best practices for formatting content, including images and links, in accessible ways.

SiteImprove is a website monitoring tool that UM content authors can use on a regular basis to identify and update their site to meet accessibility standards. Since it was adopted by the university in 2024, umanitoba.ca has increased its accessibility score by 37 per cent.

This article is part of the university’s ongoing efforts to develop our shared UM digital future, as part of the university’s digital strategy. Those interested in learning more about digital technology in the education environment can check out the following resources:   

Workshops at The Centre
Manitoba Flexible Learning Hub 
LOD Courses: practical, hands-on training for M365, accessibility tools and more.  
Digital Community of Practice: a forum to promote best practices and build common capabilities across UM in digital technology.  
Power Platform Community of Practice: a place for citizen developers using Microsoft’s Power Platform suite of tools to come together and share ideas, projects, and best practices.

UM’s approach to responsible digital innovation aligns with priorities in MomentUM: Leading change together, UM’s 2024–2029 strategic plan. Through the Digital Governance Council, we strengthen the digital systems that support ethical innovation and knowledge sharing across communities.

 That’s the advice Colleen Webb, Senior Team Lead – Development and Consultation, at The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning has for faculty who’d like to enhance their teaching with technology. 

“Enhance” is a word that Webb is clear to use while emphasizing the fact that technology is a tool that plays a supportive role in education. 

During the pandemic, technology became a necessity as educators had to find ways to incorporate it when in-person learning was not an option. Those circumstances sparked a curiosity that continues today. 

“Now that instructors have had the chance to use technologies and are comfortable with it, many want to take their teaching with technology to the next level,” explains Sol Chu, Team Lead – Learning Technologies and Solutions at The Centre, who consults on UM’s learning management system as part of his role. “We’re getting more requests from instructors for analytics from UM Learn so they can see how students are actually doing in their class. ‘Where are the students not meeting the minimum grade? Where am I not reaching the students?’ They’re trying to connect the dots and then create the relationships between the content they’re teaching and where students are feeling disconnected.” 

 The pervasiveness of generative AI has also made its way into the classroom, with some faculty using it to help students understand foundational mathematical concepts or practice their communication skills as future healthcare professionals. Exploring other tools, the College of Nursing has integrated virtual reality into its training to build confidence and competence. 

Synchronous tools have also become popular with the return to in-person learning, explains Jonathan Kennedy, Team Lead – Flexible Learning Support, The Centre. 

“Prior to the pandemic, our online platforms were primarily being used in an asynchronous manner, and that was really putting materials up and students would consume them later. Now, the big growth is around augmenting traditional methods with synchronous tools. Because we acquired some of these tools during the pandemic – Zoom, WebEx – there’s an expectation around a seamless end-to-end experience as opposed to separate tooling. To be able to arrive in one place and have it connected.”  

Kennedy sites engagement tools like Mentimeter and iClicker which can help guide instruction in real-time based on students’ feedback.  

Professor (Ranjan) R. Sri Ranjan has been using synchronous technology in his classes for years and now teaches workshops through The Centre for faculty. His primary tool is an iPad, which he calls the “Swiss army knife of teaching technology” that helps transform his courses into a “smart classroom.” 

By connecting it to a data projector, he can turn any classroom on campus into a multimedia experience for students using a variety of third-party apps. The effect is a seamless integration that replaces several classroom technologies such as a slide projector, whiteboard, multimedia player and document camera. 

“My subject material covers irrigation systems, canals, dams and other structures. I use the Google Earth app to “fly” my students to different parts of the world to zoom in and show these different systems,” he explains.   

“I use an Apple Pencil digital stylus with the Notes Plus app as my whiteboard to draw in multiple colours and elaborate on the bullet points in the slides. These handwritten notes can be converted to text instantly and can also be electronically searched. The notes for the day can be exported as an image or PDF file and uploaded to the course website for access by students. There is also the ability to audio-record these notes within the Notes Plus app while the class is in progress.” 

As technology evolves, and instructors seek to engage with the technology for teaching, UM continues to support its use in the classroom. Webb anticipates faculty will continue to focus on using tools that are valuable in the context of their own teaching and learning environments, rather than adopting tools because they are trendy.  

Kennedy adds that with more learning interaction data becoming available, he expects this will support personalized learning journeys so educators can meet students where they are even more.  

This article is part of the university’s ongoing efforts to develop our shared UM digital future, as part of the university’s digital strategy. Those interested in learning more about digital technology in the education environment can check out the following resources:   

Workshops at The Centre
Manitoba Flexible Learning Hub 

LOD Courses: practical, hands-on training for M365, accessibility tools and more.  
Digital Community of Practice: a forum to promote best practices and build common capabilities across UM in digital technology.  
Power Platform Community of Practice: a place for citizen developers using Microsoft’s Power Platform suite of tools to come together and share ideas, projects, and best practices.  

UM’s approach to responsible digital innovation aligns with priorities in MomentUM: Leading change together, UM’s 2024–2029 strategic plan. Through the Digital Governance Council, we strengthen the digital systems that support ethical innovation and knowledge sharing across communities.

Each of us creates, uses, and owns data, but in the digital age this has only grown exponentially.  

As with any valuable resource it’s important to not only have plans in place to keep it safe, but also to ensure its quality, usability, and availability to those who need it.  

“Data governance is the strategic approach to maximizing the value of an organization’s data,” says Mario Lebar, UM’s Chief Information Officer. “Through data governance, everyone can know what data the institution has, where data is held, who has access to it, and whether it is of high quality. The governance framework provides the foundation for trust and the routine use of data analytics for evidence-based decision-making.” 

Establishing a new governance model is part of UM’s broader digital strategy, which is led by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic).   

 “UM data is an institutional asset maintained to support the university’s central mission of teaching, research, and service. To support effective and innovative strategies and operations, university data must be accessible, must correctly represent the information intended, and must easily integrate across university information systems,” says Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Provost and Vice-President (Academic). “The management, curation, and use of institutional data and institutional information are a shared responsibility, involving and affecting academic, research, and administrative stakeholders across the university.” 

A new governance model will also benefit these same stakeholders, giving faculty and staff better quality data, more cohesive processes for collecting data (with less duplication) and a greater ability to make data-informed decisions to enhance teaching, learning and working at UM. 

Some of the biggest challenges in managing data is its sheer volume, combined with its complexity and the multiple systems that exist to use, create and contain it.  

When created, UM’s new governance model will address all these factors. It will establish “the principles, roles, and responsibilities for a collaborative data governance program at the university,” says Hiebert-Murphy. “It will establish a governance structure to support UM in fulfilling our responsibility for ensuring the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of all our institutional data and institutional information, whether managed and residing on university information technology resources, stored on personal devices, managed by a third party or partner, or outsourced to a service provider.” 

Lebar, who is supporting the new model’s creation, says the current focus is on administrative data such as that found in human resources, finance and student information systems. In the future, it could also involve data from systems in facilities management, admissions and more.  

A thorough governance model will ensure the following elements are met: 

• Data Quality & Standards: to help bring about data accuracy, completeness, and consistency. 

• Roles & Responsibilities: to help manage the data including data trustees, data stewards and data guardians. This also includes the structure of the data governance committees that set direction and provide a clear accountability structure and support training and awareness programs. 

• Policies & Procedures: for data lifecycle management, documentation requirements, change management processes and retention and archival policies. 

• Metadata Management: including developing a data dictionary, data lineage tracking, business glossary and technical metadata. 

• Data Architecture: which includes development of an institutional data model, data storage, data integration and data warehousing. 

• Compliance & Risk: including regulatory compliance, risk assessment, audit trails and reporting requirements. 

 To fulfill the requirements of a new data governance model, UM has created a Data Governance Steering Committee which will begin meeting in late November 2024 and will share future updates on policies and procedures with the UM community.  

This article is part of the university’s ongoing efforts to develop our shared UM digital future, as part of the university’s digital strategy. Those interested in learning more about digital technology in the education environment can check out the following resources: 

LOD Courses: practical, hands-on training for M365, accessibility tools and more. 
Digital Community of Practice: a forum to promote best practices and build common capabilities across UM in digital technology. 
Power Platform Community of Practice: a place for citizen developers using Microsoft’s Power Platform suite of tools to come together and share ideas, projects, and best practices. 
Digital Content Maintenance Training: for users responsible for managing content on University of Manitoba digital properties.
Office Hours website help: regular access to expert guidance on digital work, specifically for umanitoba.ca, UM Today and UM Intranet. 

 Although academic integrity is an important consideration, institutions like UM are also evaluating the benefits AI can bring to expanding learning capabilities, sparking creativity, improving productivity and so much more. 

When AI is used safely and ethically it can create better post-secondary experiences for learners, educators and staff. 

Enhancing teaching and learning

Brenda Stoesz acknowledges it can be cognitively demanding for educators to understand how they want to incorporate AI, if at all. She’s the Research Lead for the Science of Teaching and Learning at UM’s The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. 

 “A lot of people are thinking genAI (generative AI) is going to be used to cheat on the final assessment. But what about using it for just a general learning activity in the class to support the learning experience, and modeling or showing how one might use these tools in ethical ways in the classroom?” Stoesz says. 

“Educators really have to understand what the goals of their courses and programs are. If genAI can help take some of the workload off students in areas that are not necessarily the expectation for or outcome of the course, then finding a way to incorporate the technology might be a good idea. For example, a learning outcome of a lot of courses is not “by the end of the course, a student will be able to brainstorm”. And so then perhaps it makes sense for students to feel comfortable using different technologies to help them get past the thing that could prevent them from getting to the actual outcome.”

She highlights a recent discussion with faculty about requiring students to have skills in debating where it can be difficult to have opportunities to practice. “Bringing in generative AI or a chat bot of some kind and setting it up to practice debating skills might be a great learning opportunity.”

Xinli Wang, an instructor in the Department of Mathematics, has used AI to help students understand foundational mathematical concepts and appropriately use mathematical symbols and language. She asked students to revise a flawed mathematical proof generated by ChatGPT, followed by group discussion and review. By the end of the course, students had developed the skills required to use the tools effectively and identify errors appropriately.

Ensuring AI tools are used properly is something that resonates with Tess Poulton, a second-year law student. Her exposure to AI has happened mostly outside the classroom: while doing research with one of her professors, Dr. Katie Szilagyi (an expert in law and technology), and while working at a law firm over the summer where she had access to paid legal resources with AI capabilities that could help with legal research and writing.

All of this has made her realise the importance of developing the right skills first so AI tools can be used appropriately.

“Even though law school is a program with a direct career after it, it’s still about learning the law … with the goal of developing legal minds,” she says. “I think it’s more important to develop critical thinking skills and to emphasize mind development, like needing to figure out how to problem solve and to work your way through different resources. Because if you’re able to do that, you’re going to be able to use these AI models after you finish law school when you’re working.”

Cross-campus benefits

Proper training and digital literacy is key when using AI and will be at the forefront of any UM strategies.

Currently IST, in collaboration with the Provost’s office, is running a pilot project on M365 CoPilot to explore and assess its potential as an innovative and empowering tool for faculty, staff and administrators. Before gaining access, participants completed two training courses that introduced them to the concepts and principles of the technology and how to use it responsibly and ethically. 

The majority of participants are using Copilot for content generation and refinement (such as Word, PowerPoint), document and email summarization, and data analysis and manipulation (such as Excel). Copilot has a variety of features, including using simple prompts to create presentations, analysing trends across Excel files, and creating meeting notes and action items in real time.  

 The initiative is part of UM’s broader digital strategy, which now includes a university-wide task force that is identifying the value and risks associated with AI as well as what tools can be most beneficial. 

In the coming months, The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning will launch generative AI training modules for educators in UM Learn.

Those interested in learning more about digital technology in the education environment can check out the following resources:

• (Webinar) The AI Horizon of Higher Education: emergent tools and policy considerations
• The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning – Artificial Intelligence
• (LOD course) M365: Teams – Collaborating with Colleagues
• (LOD course) M365: Dictate & Transcribe
• (LOD course) Adobe Checking for Accessibility
• Digital Community of Practice: a forum to promote best practices and build common capabilities across UM in digital technology.
• Power Platform Community of Practice: a place for citizen developers using Microsoft’s Power Platform suite of tools to come together and share ideas, projects, and best practices.
• Digital Content Maintenance Training: for users responsible for managing content on University of Manitoba digital properties.
• Office Hours website help: regular access to expert guidance on digital work, specifically for umanitoba.ca, UM Today and UM Intranet.

Whether it’s phishing scams, fake job postings, phony calls from family asking for money, or fake requests from large organizations aiming to trick you into revealing credit card or banking information, learning how to protect yourself is vital.

Critical thinking can be your best defense.

Stay informed

“The best mindset these days is one of skepticism,” says David Treble, Manager of Information Security and Compliance with IST.

In his job he comes upon many different scams that people may encounter at work or at home.

They usually take place through email or a phone call. Most of us are familiar with scams that try to trick us into giving up our passwords, but more recently MFA (Multi Factor Authentication) codes are also being targeted, he says.

“We have also seen a rise in fake job postings which typically lead to a phony job offer,” says Treble. “Then the scammer will ask the ‘new employee’ to cash a cheque or transfer money to a third party and the check will bounce.”

Another type of popular fraud is called a “business email compromise”. These scams involve “phony invoices the scammer hopes will be paid, fake emails from a boss or superior asking to purchase gift cards and attempts by bad actors to change payroll deposit information to a different bank account,” he says.

People can be targeted with these scams in their personal lives too.

These variations include phony calls from family or grandchildren asking for money, fake requests from large organizations like Revenue Canada, PayPal, or Amazon, or fake notifications of a fine from law enforcement. Then there are the fake requests for payment for a package delivery from Canada Post or other courier services.

Scammers rely on several factors when working:

• People are naturally trusting,
• People want to help others or not get in trouble with law enforcement or their boss,
• If something sounds urgent, people don’t want to miss out, or lose access to accounts.

“All these things are expected by scammers and they tailor their tactics to prey on these traits,” says Treble.

In the end, it’s a numbers game, and scammers rely on coincidence.

Take a supposed text from Canada Post about payment for a package, as an example. “Thousands of packages are mailed each day, and the scammers know that if they contact 10,000 people there are going to be dozens who had just mailed something and will think the text is real,” says Treble. “Scammers only need to be right once to win.”

Look out for red flags

Treble recommends treating any requests for payment or financial transactions that come through email, phone call or text message as suspicious, until you verify it by contacting the organization through a known number listed on their website or other legitimate correspondence you have.

“Do not call the phone number that is provided to you through that first contact,” he says. “A scammer will just provide you a fake number that is part of the scam.”

“If it is someone claiming to be a friend or family member, consider calling another family member, call that person back on a number you know is their own, and ignore the caller’s plea for urgency, secrecy or pressure to do something quickly,” he says.

“Especially if they tell you that this is a secret, or they try to tell you they are embarrassed and don’t want anyone to know, these are all red flags that the call may be a scam.”

Treble also says that calls from your bank, Revenue Canada or the police should be verified first. “It may sound extreme, but everyone receives constant scam calls or texts regularly, so let unknown numbers go to voice mail. Even if it is a number you recognize, be cautious as call display numbers can be forged.”

Keeping information secure

Judy Dandurand, Access and Privacy Officer, says that treating information appropriately has a significant role to play in keeping data secure too.

“Employees should only have access to information that is required to do their jobs,” she says. “Open access to information poses a significant security risk.”

It’s also important to know what information you have in your unit, as “many privacy breaches are a result of employees not knowing what information they are responsible for in their holdings,” says Dandurand. She also says to only keep information for as long as there is a legitimate business need. The Access and Privacy Office can help provide guidelines on how long to store information.

Even how you share your documents at work can have an impact on security. “When emailing confidential documents, consider sending via a link to OneDrive. This will strengthen your security as only individuals who have permission to open a document can,” says Dandurand.

If your work is in the realm of research, Noël Galuschik from the Office of Research Security, has some additional tips.

In her role as Research Officer, Cannabis and Research Security, she says it’s important for researchers to consider the following:

• Who has access?
• What do they have access to?
• How long do they have access to it?

“I encourage everyone (PIs to summer students) to have a baseline level of cybersecurity awareness. The Government of Canada has a short course titled Cyber Security for Researchers available to anyone to take,” says Galuschik. “Encrypting computers, laptops and storage solutions are great ways to keep data secure and minimize risks.”

If researchers have questions, the Office of Research Security Intranet page and the IST Information Security and Compliance site provide further information.

Social media and data security

Dandurand says she often sees behaviours that people do in their personal lives that raise concerns about privacy, and therefore security.

People often share too much information on social media, she says, without recognizing the potential consequences.

“Less is best! Limit the information you provide on social media sites – you never know how others will use that information,” she says.

“Sharing sensitive information of friends, family or especially children with no thought to how it may impact them,” is not advised says Dandurand. “Your information may result in another person’s privacy being breached or you may be targeted and exploited by criminals for a fraudulent purpose.”

“Check your privacy settings on social media platforms and web browsers to control how and with whom your information is being shared.”

She also recommends caution when doing online or social media quizzes. “Don’t share the name of your first-grade teacher, your first pet, your first car on any Facebook survey or contest. These questions are commonly used to change forgotten passwords.”

Quick tips for digital security

So, what can you do to protect yourself?

• Treat requests for account, financial or personal information with extreme caution.
• Create unique and complex passwords for different accounts.
• Be careful with what you share on social media or with strangers.
• Check your bank statements and PayPal accounts regularly for suspicious charges.
• Review recent logins monthly if your account has that feature.
• Use Multi-Factor Authentication if it is available.
• Stay informed on common scams.
• Check your privacy settings regularly to ensure you know what information is being collected and who it may be shared with.
• Don’t be afraid to ask why personal information is being requested and how it will be used.

In addition to information from IST and the Access and Privacy Office, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the Insurance Bureau of Canada have excellent resources for learning more about how to stay safe. The federal government’s Get Cyber Safe public awareness campaign also has tips on protecting yourself online.

The university is currently making ongoing efforts in support of its digital strategy and this article highlights how everyone has a role to play in digital security. Faculty and staff who are interested in engaging in discussions about digital best practices, technology and trends are invited to join the Digital Community of Practice.   

Additionally, the Accessibility for Manitobans Act Information and Communication standard comes into force on May 1, and focuses on ensuring barrier-free communication and access to information digitally, in print or through interaction with technology or people. 

That’s why UM is committed to accessibility not only in its physical spaces, but also in its digital spaces.  

“People with disabilities are part of our community,” says Tina Chen, vice-provost (equity). “To counter ableism, we need to always assume people with disabilities are present. Universal and accessible design starts from this principle.” 

Chen continues “Universal and accessible design benefit us all right now – including providing for different preferred learning and work styles – while recognizing that people’s needs change over time and that, as disability activists such as Sherri Torjman remind us, the experience of disability is intrinsic to the human condition.” 

Designing for everyone 

“Accessibility aims to create an equal experience for all users of a website or tool,” says Lonnie Smetana, architecture practice lead in IST planning and governance and a member of the web accessibility project team. 

“Designing for people with varying levels of abilities results in designs that benefit people universally,” he says. “There are hidden audiences for features that would initially seem to be for a specific group of people only. An example is someone who has English as an additional language. They might use captions on a video to help them understand the content and improve their language skills.” 

“Accessibility means that people using a website or digital tool are empowered to accomplish tasks independently and will not be frustrated by barriers of a poorly designed or implemented system,” says Smetana.
 

Centering the user experience 

Sarah Kroeker, accessibility coordinator in Student Accessibility Services, agrees.

She cautions to avoid thinking about digital accessibility as only about hearing or seeing content through assistive technologies like closed captioning, described video, or compatibility with screen-reading software – although these are important starting points.

“Accessibility in digital spaces is largely about the user experience and logical paths to essential information,” she says.  

Kroeker gives the example of accessibility in a physical space to help illustrate: 

“Imagine a building that has multiple floors and an individual needs to get to the top floor. There are stairs and elevators, so this building is technically accessible. However, the stairs and elevators terminate on each floor; the rider must exit and change stairwells or elevators to continue going to the top. This is an obvious flaw in design and creates many opportunities for getting lost, stuck, or giving up completely,” she says. “This can be a problem when designing digital tools without thinking about diverse users.”

“When accessibility is effective, students and other end users find the information they are looking for and can act on their own terms,” continues Kroeker. 

However, she cautions that not everyone has access to digital technology.  

“Having digital access is a privilege that can be out of reach for many people, even university students,” says Kroeker. 

“Information must still be available in analogue formats or through face-to-face interactions. For example, having only QR codes at transit stops means that people without cellphones or access to data plans do not have reliable transit data when they are waiting for a ride.” 

Universal design for learning 

Johnathan Bevan is an educational developer at the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. One of his roles is researching and helping faculty and instructors implement universal design for learning, a design philosophy that aims to reduce barriers so all learners can engage in meaningful learning.  

“There can be a temptation to make an accessibility checklist and try and paint all access concerns with a broad brush,” he says. “It needs to be understood that accessibility and accessible design are relational acts. They cannot be meaningfully enacted without the input of those experiencing the barriers.” 

“Universal Design for Learning is an infinite game. There is no destination where we will arrive and say “ah, yes. Everything is accessible now,” continues Bevan. “Universal design for learning is a process in which we must actively engage, to the best of our abilities, in every space we operate within.” 

Bevan facilitates the Accessible Course Design Coaching program and says the program is a good start for anyone not sure where to begin.

“Making efforts to design digital environments is essential. This is a moral imperative as well as legally required as of May 1, 2024,” says Bevan.  

“We should also be exploring who is visiting these spaces and who is being excluded. We should ask ourselves how we can better design our digital environments to be inclusive and inviting of a wider range of people.”
 

Accessibility features in digital tools 

Rob Wiebe, IT learning coordinator in IST, runs training sessions on the accessibility tools available in Microsoft and Adobe Acrobat. He says accessibility is important because it ensures everyone has equal access to information, regardless of their abilities and helps us reach a wider audience. 

It is easier to start with accessibility in mind than to remediate a document, he says.

“Accessibility tools in Microsoft and Adobe will help you identify some, but not all of the accessibility issues in a document. It is important to have a basic understanding of the components that make a document inaccessible,” says Wiebe, who notes you can sign up for courses through the Learning and Organizational Development registration site, by searching for the term “accessibility” to find the sessions.  

“Incorporating accessibility can benefit everyone, not just one audience, because it forces us to give more consideration to crafting a well-structured and easy-to-use document.” 

Smetana sums up the conversation on accessibility well. “Accessibility should not be viewed as a one-time effort to reach compliance with legislation. An important aspect of this project is to increase awareness of the different ways that people use our websites and services. With increased awareness, we can do a better job of accommodating the full range of abilities that people actually have.” 

Find more information on accessibility training as well as additional resources on the Accessibility Hub on the Intranet.

The university is currently making ongoing efforts in support of its digital strategy and this article highlights how accessibility in digital technology is improving our practices. Faculty and staff who are interested in engaging in discussions about digital best practices, technology and trends are invited to join the Digital Community of Practice.   

And a popular video game technology may provide the key to a realistic experience. 

“There is some literature describing how virtual reality (VR) is being used in the training of K-12 teachers, and that got me thinking about how we could support faculty in developing skills for teaching that are often difficult to practice until you get into the situation in your class,” says Brenda M. Stoesz, research lead for the science of teaching and learning. 

Stoesz is spearheading the development of an educator training program that uses VR to prepare instructors for challenging situations in different teaching and learning scenarios.  

“We want to give instructors an opportunity to practice what to do in a virtual reality space that doesn’t have any consequences, but still feels quite real and allows them to feel the stress response,” says Stoesz, “but then also practice doing it enough times that the stress response might be decreased so they can handle these situations in a better way.” 

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning currently facilitates workshops on what to do in various teaching and learning situations, but Stoesz is aiming to give faculty members an opportunity to practice these soft (or people) skills in a more realistic way. 

But how realistic is it? 

“Even if one thinks that VR is just for gaming and that the environment might feel a bit cartoony at times, it’s quite surprising… once you put on that headset you start to feel like you’re in a different place. Even though it’s not real, you do get the sensation of being immersed in an environment, and you slowly start to really interact with the environment like it is real.” 

Realtime Feedback 

While Stoesz says they already offer some practice-based workshops, the benefit of VR is that it allows one to practice using soft skills in these scenarios that unfold in real time and then to receive judgement-free feedback immediately after the scenario has played out. Scenarios can also be repeated until a skill has been mastered.  

“The biggest benefit is that feeling of being immersed to actually practice and then to get that real time feedback so that one can change their approach in order to get better at handling a situation when it arises.” 

Stoesz notes that the VR program leverages generative artificial intelligence to enhance the experience.  

While role-playing is another excellent way to practice soft skills, in a workshop setting, some people may feel self-conscious or anxious, says Stoesz, which can limit the effectiveness of soft skills training. 

“With the VR program we hope that some of that self-consciousness can be reduced, and that people can truly practice the way that they would practice in the real-world setting, without feeling the judgement from a human around them,” she says. 

Collaborative approach 

The first module the team is working on is about effective communication skills, specifically how to communicate with students in ways that are beneficial to both parties. Future modules will include negotiation and conflict management, and microaggressions in the teaching and learning context.  

Stoesz says she was inspired by the work done in the College of Nursing around VR and wanted to see how it could be incorporated into the training opportunities that are offered for faculty.   

The approach to developing these training modules has been, and will continue to be, collaborative. 

A wide variety of stakeholders from across the university have provided their perspectives on the training module, including representatives from Student Advocacy, Student Engagement and Success, the Faculty of Education, the Office of Human Rights and Conflict Management and the Department of Computer Science. Stoesz adds that having different perspectives from across the university strengthens the project.  

Feedback from participants will also inform the development of additional VR modules for UM faculty. 

At its core this is a professional development program for educators, but Stoesz’s team will also be gathering evidence to see that the program is engaging, increases confidence in teaching, and improves learning experiences for students. 

“A research program exploring the impact of postsecondary educator VR training — and sharing the findings with faculty who are in a dual role of researcher and educator — is important, so that they can see that we are making sure we are providing an evidence-based professional development program,” says Stoesz. 

Information about the pilot VR Professional Development Program will be shared with the University of Manitoba community in February 2024 through The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. 

The university is currently making ongoing efforts in support of its digital strategy and this article highlights how digital technology is improving our practices. Faculty and staff who are interested in engaging in discussions about digital best practices, technology and trends are invited to join the Digital Community of Practice. 

Nicole Harder, associate professor in nursing and the Mindermar Professor in Human Simulation for the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, says one of the newer opportunities in simulation education is virtual reality, which provides opportunities to teach things like prioritization, problem solving and clinical decision-making skills.  

“We have a whole suite of learning opportunities, or simulation modalities, and it’s just about which is the right one for the skill that we’re trying to teach,” says Harder.  

An added benefit is that students don’t need to be in the same physical space to have the same learning outcome.  

Enhancing learning outcomes 

“We have two satellite sites at University College of the North, so Thompson and The Pas, and we’ve just worked with them to get virtual reality going for them,” says Harder. “So now we’re going to be able to put students from the Fort Garry site and the University College of the North sites in the same virtual reality room to work on a clinical case together, which previously we weren’t able to do.”  

The software allows up to four people to engage using headsets and upwards of 20 people as observers. People can log in from anywhere and watch what’s happening in a simulated emergency room, dentist’s office, or wherever the simulation has been designed to occur.  

“There are questions and learning objectives for the observers, so they are not observing just for the sake of watching,” explains Harder. “Then we debrief it all together to see how we’ve been able to achieve our learning outcomes.” 

Lawrence Gillman, associate professor in the Max Rady College of Medicine, is the director of the Clinical Learning and Simulation Program on the Bannatyne campus. 

He says VR is great for teaching how to deal with critical conversations and stressful situations. 

“When we do a medical emergency simulation, the focus is on the teamwork and the collaborative, non-technical skills – your leadership skills and your communication skills,” says Gillman. “The actual medical part of it is less important than the reality of just working together in a team and creating a stressful environment. That lends itself really well to VR because the look of things can be more realistic.” 

Not only is VR useful for teaching stressful situations, it can also be used to expand knowledge about diagnostic tools like ultrasounds.  

One of the issues with ultrasound is that it takes 3D anatomy and turns it into a 2D representation on a screen. It can then be hard to visualize how that 2D image corresponds to the structures in the body. 

“By seeing it in VR,” says Gillman, “you can show students what they’re actually seeing on a human body, on the model, and then show them the ultrasound image and they can put those two things together.” 

Gillman is also exploring opportunities to use VR as a surgical planning tool. He recently met with an anatomy company that can load CT scans into virtual reality and map out tumours and their relationships to important structures in a virtual space. 

“We’re talking to our cancer surgeons about whether this is something that would be of interest to them because it gives you another way of visualizing the involved structures in 3D space,” says Gillman.  

“The beauty of VR is we have the hardware, which works with multiple software platforms, so you can use it for multiple indications,” says Gillman. “Now we’re trying to figure out what those options are and who would be interested in them.” 

Interprofessional collaboration

Harder and Gillman are part of a community of practice in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences that is looking at expanding virtual reality into all the colleges: medicine, rehabilitation sciences, dentistry and pharmacy. 

“We have a project where we are going to be creating interprofessional simulations for all of the Rady disciplines,” Harder explains.  

“Here at the College of Nursing, we have a fairly robust VR program already. On Bannatyne they have a different structure,” she says. “We’re going to be creating a virtual reality ‘menu’ for the other colleges on Bannatyne and we are going to create a few that we think would work for all disciplines. 

“And then in early spring, we want to have a bit of a technology fair or a ‘show and tell’ to demonstrate all the different ways you can use both virtual reality, as well as artificial intelligence, in interprofessional and intra-professional learning situations,” says Harder.  

Learning together

Both Gillman and Harder are looking for partners in health sciences to explore how VR can be used in their programs. They are also interested in connecting with others in the university who are interested in VR.     

Harder says having clear learning outcomes is essential if VR is to be a meaningful addition to an educational program.    

“It has to be purposeful,” she says. “What are your objectives, why do you want to use this? And then think about if this is the right tool to do that.”   

She recommends people interested in exploring VR reach out to someone who has experience incorporating it into their curriculum, to find out what opportunities exist. 

“Let’s connect with other people who are using VR so we’re not reinventing the wheel all the time. Let’s share our experience, expertise and evaluation.” 

The university is currently making ongoing efforts to its digital strategy and this article highlights how digital technology is improving our practices. Faculty and staff who are interested in engaging in discussions about digital best practices, technology and trends are invited to join the Digital Community of Practice.