ONTARIO, February 22, 2021 – Kenjgewin Teg joins OntarioLearn! Located on Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island, ON), Kenjgewin Teg provides Indigenous, culturally relevant, community-based access and lifelong learning for adult postsecondary students.
“We are extremely excited to share this good news about Kenjgewin Teg’s recently approved new membership with OntarioLearn which will begin April 1, 2021”, said Stephanie Roy, President. “With transitions in higher learning moving toward blended and hybrid approaches that includes the reality of virtual learning environments, membership with OntarioLearn will provide our learners who enjoy an independent, online way of learning many more opportunities as they explore their learning journeys”.
First founded in 1995 in response to the need to make high-quality online education available to as many learners as possible, OntarioLearn realized that if pooling of resources occurred, individual colleges would be able to extend their reach, offering online courses and programs to students who would not otherwise have access to them. In 2021, all 24 of Ontario’s publicly funded colleges work together as members of OntarioLearn to offer learners easy access to a wide variety of high-quality courses, programs and services online. Kenjgewin Teg is the first Indigenous Institute to join OntarioLearn. OntarioLearn is very pleased to be welcoming Kenjgewin Teg to be part of its collaborative consortium.
While access to OntarioLearn’s inventory of nearly 1,500 shared courses and 650 programs online using a seat-sharing model will have immediate benefits for Kenjgewin Teg’s learners, there are also future benefits that may arise for all of OntarioLearn’s members too. Stephanie shared that, “Kenjgewin Teg is currently undergoing the required phases and stages of the Indigenous Advanced Education and Skills Council’s quality assurance process in 2021 and we will soon be in a position to offer our own credentials; this means our Indigenous, or Anishinabek worldview-based courses or programs may also soon be available to OntarioLearn members someday in the future as well”.
Susan Savoie Graham, Executive Director of OntarioLearn shared that with nine Indigenous Institutes across Ontario, “We look forward to both working with and learning from our newest member, Kenjgewin Teg; we also look forward to welcoming more Indigenous Institutes in the future”.
OntarioLearn is a virtual organization, managing infrastructure and operations to provide learners with a seamless experience across their online courses offered by their member colleges and Indigenous Institutes. With enrolment in courses offered through OntarioLearn exceeding 100,000 annually, we look forward to welcoming Kenjgewin Teg learners to participate with this diverse group of online learners across the province. Our current OntarioLearn members also look forward to the unique courses and programs that Kenjgewin Teg will bring forward and share with the consortium.
Kenjgewin Teg is located on Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island, ON) and is a member of the Indigenous Institutes Consortium in Ontario providing Indigenous culturally relevant community-based access and lifelong learning for adult Indigenous and non-Indigenous post-secondary students.
For more information on this announcement, please contact:
Beverley Roy, Director of Quality Assurance
beverleyroy@kenjgewinteg.ca
Susan Savoie Graham, Executive Director
susan@ontariolearn.com
