This winter, the University of Ottawa released Transformation 2030, its bold vision for the next ten years. It was designed as a road map for a university navigating a rapidly evolving world. Little did we know how quickly the world was about to change.
Mid-March, the pandemic became our reality. Once we knew the true dangers of COVID-19, uOttawa had to pivot quickly. Courses moved online, staff started working from home, and we needed to find a way to keep our campus running and our frontline workers safe. Thanks to the teamwork and dedication of our entire community, we have been able to successfully steer the ship.
In essence, the pandemic didn’t slow down our Transformation 2030 efforts – it helped speed them up. Six months after its launch, we checked in with Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs Jill Scott about our progress, and where we go from here.
How has our response to the pandemic moved us closer to our 2030 goals?
In March, we had to transform all of our courses to online and distance formats in a very short amount of time. That brought us a lot closer to our Transformation 2030 goal of becoming a more digital university.
In some ways, it was a very technical exercise – transforming the medium of the courses, choosing a platform, finding ways to connect with students. But in other ways, it has been an opportunity to sharpen our pedagogical skills.
Workshops, opportunities to consult and collaborate with the Teaching and Learning Support Service (TLSS) – all of it oriented towards enhancing the student learning experience and developing the skills and abilities of our professors.
For me, one of the key principles of good pedagogy is engaging students. When you’re not meeting with students face-to-face, you not only have to figure out how to get the material across, but also how to help students demonstrate their knowledge of that material or evaluate their competencies. That forces you to think about engagement in a whole new way. So, I would say, we’ve made important progress there.
Nobody was expecting a pandemic. Do we need to adjust Transformation 2030 to accommodate the current circumstances?
A plan like T2030 should be able to withstand any event that might happen. Fundamentally, our goals haven’t changed. They’re very high level.
The pandemic is certainly a curveball; it’s a bump in the road. But I think in terms of our mission, our purpose and our vision as an institution, it has sharpened our attention to what matters, what we care about and what we want for our students.
How do you plan for a future that is so uncertain?
We’ve been working with principles, two in particular, that have guided us throughout the process: safety and security, and continuity of university affairs, whether it be applied to teaching, research or administrative work.
The other two principles that we have to keep thinking about and taking seriously are flexibility; adapting to different circumstances that arise, and the notion of working with many different iterations. What I mean by that is, we don’t just plan once; we plan, and we keep planning, and we keep adjusting and readjusting, because we can’t foresee the future.
So, having multiple scenarios, different kinds of projections for everything, from the impact on our budget, to whether or not we’ll have in-person courses in the fall or winter, to be able to adjust and reintegrate more students onto the campus, in residences, cafeterias, libraries – it does boggle the mind when you get into the details.
Public Health guidelines keep changing and we’re adjusting to those changes as they come. The important thing is to continue to foster a rich campus life, while also being safe.
It’s early days in our 10-year plan, but are there any T2030 achievements from the past few months that you would like to highlight?
One of the things I am quite proud of is our climbing in the research rankings. We’ve done exceptionally well in both the Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings, as well as in their Impact Rankings, which is all about sustainable development. That’s great for T2030’s sustainability pillar.
I’d also like to highlight the work we’re doing in program revitalization. We have a number of exciting changes to our academic programs, and COVID, in fact, helped us do this because we had to quickly transform some of our research-based masters’ programs to course-based.
In the past, it has taken us months, even years, to make fundamental changes to programs. This time, we did it in the space of weeks. That’s quite remarkable!
I also want to highlight the amazing work on the website, which is part of our digital transformation, and part of our goals to enhance our reputation and external communications.
Another place where I think we’ve made remarkable progress very quickly is in infrastructure, in terms of preparing new building projects. It’s kind of amazing, actually, given the fact that we’re in the middle of a pandemic.
We all play a role in moving this strategy forward. Do you have tips on how people in the uOttawa community can become part of the change?
A plan that is as ambitious, and even audacious, as this one, becomes part of the fabric of the institution. It becomes part of our identity because it’s with us for such a long time. The best thing that can happen is that it folds into the woodwork.
I’ve noticed that the words we use in our plan’s pillars are starting to become part of our vocabulary. People talk about ‘agility, connection, impact, sustainability.’
The plan is very high level. There’s lots of opportunity to contribute beyond the specific actions that are there. So, one of the ways in which the uOttawa community can participate is by translating what these words or pillars mean for them and their area, and contributing to the interpretation of the plan and its goals.
The plan has to live in our imaginations; it needs to motivate us and hold us to account. We have to want to improve and enhance, then we need to track our progress and be honest with ourselves about where we need to do better, and where we need to put our specific time, attention, effort and resources.
Another aspect that’s important is to celebrate our successes and inspire people. That means we need to breathe life into it. We have to continue to animate the plan in new ways, but still align with our strategic priorities. T2030 is an exciting plan, and we’ve gotten off to a good start.