As the Niagara region prepares to host the nation for the 2021 Canada Summer Games, officials at Brock University are developing funding opportunities to help instructors redesign courses so students can benefit from Games-related community involvement.

A new stream of Brock’s Teaching and Learning Innovation Grants is intended to enhance student learning by offering faculty members one-time funding to develop innovative ways to incorporate Canada Games content and community projects into Brock courses.

While the initiative will have an impact in the current time frame, helping faculty members investigate new ways to enhance courses and re-align them with community-minded aspects of the Games, it will also have a longer-term legacy, as any new pedagogies that are developed would be available for use for community events well beyond the 2021 Games.

Funded by the University’s Provost and Vice President-Academic, the program sets aside $50,000, from which faculty members can apply for up to $3,000.

Grants would support a range of initiatives, including:

• creating student placement or service learning opportunities related to the Games;
• or situations in which students work with community organizations on topics linked to the Games (i.e., creating physical education content for schools linked to the Games);
• or creating content about the Games to support learning in the class (i.e., interactive online module about the history of the Games).

While the Canada Summer Games is an athletics event, the funding opportunity applies to far more than to sport programs at Brock. Sport Management Associate Professor Julie Stevens, a Special Advisor to the Brock President for the Canada Games, said instructors across all academic disciplines are expected to pursue this opportunity to engage in a diverse variety of Games-related curricular projects.

“We expect a lot of different types of proposals from all disciplines,” said Stevens. “There is a broad scope of how instructors might connect with Canada Games subject matter, based on each instructor’s teaching philosophy and the learning objectives of their course.”

Madelyn Law, Associate Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning who is also the Chair of Brock’s Canada Games Curricular Subcommittee, said the new initiative supports the University’s Institutional Strategic Plan, whose priorities include emphasizing high-quality programs and engaging campus experiences that meet students’ needs.

“This grant opportunity is a great way to provide faculty with funds to refresh or try something new in an existing course,” said Law. “Brock’s Centre for Pedagogical Innovation (CPI) is able to help these ideas come to fruition, and support faculty in thinking about new ways to engage students and support their learning.”

For more information on Teaching and Learning Innovation Grants, go to the CPI website.