Program - Day Two
Program
Day Two — Charting the course
Wednesday, February 4
Through collaborative workshops and interactive labs, participants can engage directly with existing practices, tools and pathways and even develop a blueprint for improving learner mobility at their own institution.
By facilitating opportunities for participants to work together — exploring new digital tools or creating ready-to-use pathways and programs — the day will identify administrative efficiencies that help institutions save time and resources. The February 4 workshops are intended to accelerate the implementation of transfer and learner mobility practices, making the day not just a professional development experience for participants, but a productive investment for institutions.
Featured speaker
Audrey Rochette, Assistant Vice President, Indigenous Initiatives, York University
Audrey is Anishinaabe from Waabadowgang-Whitesand First Nation and has held roles at University of Toronto, Sheridan College, George Brown Polytechnic, City of Toronto, Indspire, and imagineNATIVE. Having built a career on forging relationships rooted in reciprocity, Audrey has led implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action, overseen Indigenization measures as part of institutional strategic plans and, at George Brown, created an Indigenous Education Strategy.
Audrey’s graduate research focused on decolonizing museums through Indigenous voices, language and ceremony. She currently sits on several committees in different sectors, committed to reconciliation work. She is the daughter of a residential school survivor and says that her family centres her and that together they are deeply committed to reconciliation: “This is a lifelong journey. The Seven Grandfather Teachings guide me and while I’m still learning, I am a resource for this thriving community."
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Breakfast and registration
Ballroom
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Opening address: Audrey Rochette, York University
Ballroom
9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Break
9:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Concurrent workshops
Please note that some workshops today are full-day events, combining morning and afternoon time slots.
This workshop is full.
Experience Matters: Unlocking Occupational and Professional Programs Through PLAR – Part One
Terrace (West)
Tricia Bonner and Neil Kerby, Loyalist College
9:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
This is the first half of a full-day workshop. Are you looking to streamline credentialing and recognize employee skills at scale? Join us for a hands-on workshop focused on designing a bulk PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition) process when working with industry partners. Using the bulk PLAR for Personal Support Workers framework, this session features interactive activities, practical templates and collaborative planning. Participants will work with real tools — checklists, rubrics, decision trees — and leave with a draft framework ready to adapt for their organization. Whether you're in HR, education or workforce strategy, this workshop offers a practical path to scalable recognition of prior learning.
Participants will:
- learn the components and workflow of a bulk PLAR process
- apply hands-on tools — such as program maps, templates, and decision trees — to assess prior learning at scale
- co-create a draft bulk PLAR framework that can be piloted or adapted for future use
Transfer Partnerships and Capacity-Building with Accredited Engineering Programs – Part One
Max Ullrich and Brian Frank, Queen’s University, Darryl Danelon, University of Windsor, Jeffrey Harris, York University
St. Lawrence
9:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
This is the first half of a full-day workshop. This workshop will bring together sending and receiving institutions to strengthen engineering technology to accredited engineering transfer pathways. Facilitators will share information about past ONCAT projects and the engineering transfer landscape in Canada. We will cover such topics as working with an accrediting body, implementing a new admission process, opportunities for sending institutions and visioning for the future.
Participants will:
- assess their institution’s current transfer processes
- explore insights from existing engineering transfer pathways
- discuss navigating CEAB accreditation criteria
- share strategies for building stronger partnerships and more efficient pathways
- consider future provincial collaboration
Equitable Access for Military-Connected Learners: Is Your Institution Ready? – Part One
Terrace (East)
Suzette Brémault-Phillips, Donald Moore, Alex Petruk and Suzanne Triance-Wright, Canadian Military, Veteran and Family Connected Campus Consortium (CMVF3C)
9:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
This is the first half of a full-day workshop. In this workshop, members of the Canadian Military, Veteran and Family Connected Campus Consortium (CMVF3C) share best practices and tools that postsecondary institutions can use to create equitable access for military members, veterans and their families. CMVF3C helps postsecondary institutions welcome, retain and support the success of military-connected learners by recognizing their service and understanding their unique experiences, adjustments, strengths and needs. CMVF3C focuses on facilitating not only the academic success of Canadian Armed Forces members and their families but supporting their well-being. By the end of this workshop, participants will have a set of recommendations to bring back to their own institutions as well as ready-to-implement templates for tools, policies and resources.
Participants will learn to:
- assess their own institution's readiness to support military-connected learners
- design campus policies and practices that support these learners and connect them to a supportive network
- create academic strategies, services and resources that address the unique experiences and circumstances of military-connected learners
Empowering Your Institution: ONCAT Tools and Services in Practice
Ballroom
Leah Bernardo-Ciddio, Sienna Stock and Andrew Wilson, ONCAT
9:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Make the most of ONCAT's tools and services in this 2.5-hour interactive workshop. We’ll start with a dynamic “speed networking” session and the chance to glean insights from ONTransfer.ca that is specific to student inquiries about your institution. This data reveals what students are looking for and how your institution can better support mobility.
Participants will also rotate through breakout groups with ONCAT experts to run curriculum analyses using AI, look up existing course equivalencies, develop practical strategies for integrating ONCAT tools into your workflow and make connections with partner institutions. This is your opportunity to turn data into decisions, strengthen student mobility across Ontario and take proactive steps to add course equivalencies that create lasting value for future students.
Participants will:
- explore ONTCS for course equivalencies
- analyze curriculum and outcomes with PathwAI
- apply hands-on strategies to support assessment decision-making
- review insights from student mobility data
- learn how to access and use your institution's tailored reports
Bring your laptop and course outlines (digital or physical) to maximize hands-on engagement.
Tried & Tested: Designing Strategies to Support First-Year Transfer Students
Ballroom Centre
Erin Stewart Eves and Sylvia Moorthy, Trent University
9:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Are you looking for fresh ideas for helping new transfer students adapt to your institution? Join us in identifying effective strategies that help new transfer students find their way at a new institution. We will include an overview of Trent’s approach from outreach to engagement to evaluation. Our strategy includes targeted communications, dedicated academic advising, social and academic programming for students and an annual transfer student experience survey.
Participants can expect:
- crowdsourcing of ideas and practices from other institutions
- brainstorming with colleagues from across the sector
- tangible strategies and models participants can take to their home institution
- a clear understanding of the resources required to make these strategies work
12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Concurrent workshops
This workshop is full.
Experience Matters: Unlocking Occupational and Professional Programs Through PLAR – Part Two
Terrace (West)
Tricia Bonner and Neil Kerby, Loyalist College
1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
This is the second half of a full-day workshop. Are you looking to streamline credentialing and recognize employee skills at scale? Join us for a hands-on workshop focused on designing a bulk PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition) process when working with industry partners. Using the bulk PLAR for Personal Support Workers framework, this session features interactive activities, practical templates and collaborative planning. Participants will work with real tools — checklists, rubrics, decision trees — and leave with a draft framework ready to adapt for their organization. Whether you're in HR, education or workforce strategy, this workshop offers a practical path to scalable recognition of prior learning.
Participants will:
- learn the components and workflow of a bulk PLAR process
- apply hands-on tools — such as program maps, templates, and decision trees — to assess prior learning at scale
- co-create a draft bulk PLAR framework that can be piloted or adapted for future use
Transfer Partnerships and Capacity-Building with Accredited Engineering Programs – Part Two
St. Lawrence
Max Ullrich and Brian Frank, Queen’s University, Darryl Danelon, University of Windsor, Jeffrey Harris, York University
1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
This is the second half of a full-day workshop. This workshop will bring together sending and receiving institutions to strengthen engineering technology to accredited engineering transfer pathways. Facilitators will share information about past ONCAT projects and the engineering transfer landscape in Canada. We will cover such topics as working with an accrediting body, implementing a new admission process, opportunities for sending institutions and visioning for the future.
Participants will:
- assess their institution’s current transfer processes
- explore insights from existing engineering transfer pathways
- discuss navigating CEAB accreditation criteria
- share strategies for building stronger partnerships and more efficient pathways
- consider future provincial collaboration
Equitable Access for Military-Connected Learners: Is Your Institution Ready? – Part Two
Terrace (East)
Suzette Brémault-Phillips, Donald Moore, Alex Petruk and Suzanne Triance-Wright, Canadian Military, Veteran and Family Connected Campus Consortium (CMVF3C)
1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
This is the second half of a full-day workshop. In this workshop, members of the Canadian Military, Veteran and Family Connected Campus Consortium (CMVF3C) share best practices and tools that postsecondary institutions can use to create equitable access for military members, veterans and their families. CMVF3C helps postsecondary institutions welcome, retain and support the success of military-connected learners by recognizing their service and understanding their unique experiences, adjustments, strengths and needs. CMVF3C focuses on facilitating not only the academic success of Canadian Armed Forces members and their families but supporting their well-being. By the end of this workshop, participants will have a set of recommendations to bring back to their own institutions as well as ready-to-implement templates for tools, policies and resources.
Participants will learn to:
- assess their own institution's readiness to support military-connected learners
- design campus policies and practices that support these learners and connect them to a supportive network
- create academic strategies, services and resources that address the unique experiences and circumstances of military-connected learners
Walking Together: Mobility Pathways for Indigenous Learners
University Room
Facilitated by Marsha Josephs, Executive Director, Indigenous Institutes Consortium
1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
ONCAT invites Indigenous postsecondary educators, leaders from Indigenous Institutes and allies to a 2.5‑hour sharing circle/round table. Together, we will reflect on where we stand today in supporting mobility for Indigenous learners, envision the future we want to create and name how we want to get there. This gathering will honour the paths that have been cleared, celebrate Indigenous learners and educators and create space to co‑design practical next steps to advance recognition, pathways, course sharing and partnerships across the sector. Let’s continue the path to sustainable, community-driven solutions for a stronger and more equitable learner mobility system.
Participants will:
- articulate a future of seamless mobility for Indigenous learners
- share effective practices for course sharing across Indigenous Institutes and other institutions
- create an action plan for leveraging ONCAT tools for course- and credit-sharing
- explore approaches to equivalencies and credit recognition for learners moving to and from Indigenous Institutes
Empowering Your Institution: ONCAT Tools and Services in Practice
Ballroom
Leah Bernardo-Ciddio, Sienna Stock and Andrew Wilson, ONCAT
1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Make the most of ONCAT's tools and services in this 2.5-hour interactive workshop. We’ll start with a dynamic “speed networking” session and the chance to glean insights from ONTransfer.ca that is specific to student inquiries about your institution. This data reveals what students are looking for and how your institution can better support mobility.
Participants will also rotate through breakout groups with ONCAT experts to run curriculum analyses using AI, look up existing course equivalencies, develop practical strategies for integrating ONCAT tools into your workflow and make connections with partner institutions. This is your opportunity to turn data into decisions, strengthen student mobility across Ontario and take proactive steps to add course equivalencies that create lasting value for future students.
Participants will:
- explore ONTCS for course equivalencies
- analyze curriculum and outcomes with PathwAI
- apply hands-on strategies to support assessment decision-making
- review insights from student mobility data
- learn how to access and use your institution's tailored reports
Bring your laptop and course outlines (digital or physical) to maximize hands-on engagement.
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Closing remarks