A new course launching this month at Dal offers participants an opportunity to earn a micro-credential in inclusive communications strategies while learning from one of Canada's leading authorities on the topic.
Dal’s Faculty of Open Learning and Career Development has partnered with Toronto-based Camille Dundas, an in-demand anti-racism consultant whose keynotes and workshops have helped Google, KPMG, The Conference Board of Canada and other major clients reframe difficult conversations around equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA).
“There are a lot of different training options on this topic for organizations, so it was important to me that I design a course that’s focused on getting employees to start using the same playbook when they’re talking about EDIA issues,” says Dundas, who is also co-founder and editor-in-chief of ByBlacks.com — a leading online magazine about Black issues.
“I hear from a lot of leaders who are overwhelmed by the topic and this course brings people to the beginning by showing them how to use EDIA topics to introduce meaningful cultural change.”
Designed to reflect Canadian content and history, the online course — Foundations of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace — will walk participants through real-life scenarios that may challenge their understanding and, in the process, give them the opportunity to earn a microcredential in Inclusive Communication Strategies from Dal.
Conversations that stick
Dundas, who was named one of the Top 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women by 100ABCWomen this year, shows teams how to get EDIA conversations to stick and generate discussion long after the course is done.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with Camille on a course that’s focused on helping and supporting people to change the ways they think and act, rather than on them earning a high grade,” says Erin Careless, program director of adult learning with Open Learning. “It’s a strategic priority of the university and of the Faculty to be a voice and an educator in a difficult and important conversation that spreads across our nation and our world.”
For Dundas, the course, along with the Q&A sessions and the knowledge bank of materials, provide some of the language and the tools that people can use and then pay that learning forward.
“My hope is for people to come away from this course with the skills, capacity and confidence to engage in challenging conversations with their families, peers and friends and make some intentional changes in their lives and in their workplaces.”
To get more information on how to enrol your team in this training, please contact Kim Stewart at kim.stewart@dal.ca or to learn more about this course, click here.