UCC Partners with Ametros Learning

In 2018–2019, Associate Director of Information and Innovation Kathleen Peak, with the support of Sarah Barclay, ICT integrator and design teacher, proposed a project to the Principal’s Innovation Fund that focused on finding ways to automate routine tasks found in the College’s business offices. The original thinking behind the proposal was that colleagues at the College would be able to use their time more efficiently if using new and emerging technologies that support basic automation, thereby freeing them up to do work that they found more meaningful.

Through a series of empathy interviews based on the principles of design thinking, Peak discovered that many of the College’s employees didn’t actually require automation of certain tasks; instead, they felt they would benefit most and become more efficient overall if they could learn more about the features of the tools and systems already in place.

Peak says, “This led to the guiding question about how might we provide meaningful, in-house, on-demand, highly customizable, and trackable digital learning to our colleagues who not only need to learn our core digital systems but who want to be challenged in their learning and thinking.”

Enter Ametros Learning, a company that develops customized learning solutions to help users transition knowledge into practical skills. Their AI-powered practice-based learning modules help users master in-demand soft skills through interactive, simulated workplace scenarios. 

In other words, Amestros’s AI dialogic platform, being customized for UCC, will guide UCC staff through the many capabilities of using, for example, Google Sheets. But rather than providing users with step-by-step instructions on Google Sheets’ many functions and tools, the learning modules encourage users to complete specific tasks and learn by doing, guiding users on how to find the answers themselves using curiosity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. 

The collaboration is currently focusing on three areas, still in the development phase: 

Digital Literacy: Naming, Formatting, and Data Integrity with Google Sheets

Digital Literacy: Google Sheets – Introducing Formulas

Digital Literacy: Google Sheets – Next Level Formulas

The next phase will involve testing the program with a small group of non-teaching staff before expanding it to include a wider group of business office employees.

Using adaptive learning technology will help UCC staff become more efficient and successful in their roles. What’s more, the learning modules will inspire curiosity, focus on broader concepts and problem-solving, require deeper thinking and create confidence. It also, as Peak says, “empowers learners to own their learning — they aren’t given the exact instructions or how-to for a task; they need to do some of their own investigation and learning.”

As with many Principal’s Innovation Fund projects, the goals and mandates of this program have evolved since the project’s inception in 2018, and it will be exciting to see where this partnership leads us.