January! The start of a new calendar year! A time of new year’s resolutions and new beginnings…or so we all hoped. The latest variant of COVID-19, Omicron, has added some new twists and turns to our visions of renewal. And yet, there is much opportunity to reimagine, create, and drive forward our individual and collective visions of the future.
As lifelong learners, most of us already have habits that will serve us well in times of uncertainty. We set goals and targets for ourselves, and we make the effort to understand what we do not know to fill those knowledge gaps. We learn how to navigate new systems of learning and teaching, of communication and work. We acquire new perspectives and insights, sometimes having to unlearn or discard prior assumptions, ideas, and habits along the way. This kind of adaptation leads to greater resilience as well as personal and professional growth. It allows us to identify and benefit from the opportunities that the pandemic has created.
So rather than retreating into isolation and our respective bubbles, how can we best seize this moment in history and the collective talent at the McGill School of Continuing Studies (and elsewhere) to improve our world? Each one of you will surely have a different answer or approach to realizing a future that is sustainable and that allows you to rise above the fears and worries of the pandemic.
For the School of Continuing Studies, one answer is a new organizational structure that seeks to break down barriers and historic silos between academic disciplines, and across the School so that we can join forces and address more effectively the needs of the many diverse learners, communities, and partners we serve. We seek to center ourselves around our core mission and mandate of academic excellence and innovation in support of inclusive adult education and lifelong learning. Building on a framework of five multi-disciplinary academic domains, robust student success, and digital learning expertise, as well as a collaborative team of faculty members, instructors, and staff, the School of Continuing Studies will forge learning pathways for our community.
Focused on current and future issues in Adaptive and Integrated Learning, Administration and Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship, Strategic and Global Communication, and Technology and Innovation, we will help shape a workforce that is prepared to build a healthy and productive future for all. The pandemic has disrupted life as we know it, but it also has given us new perspectives and opportunities to learn from it and strengthen our society in original and creative ways.
Let us seize this new beginning. In the words of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
Wishing all a healthy, productive, and creative 2022!