Future Early Childhood Educators are discovering new ways to keep children learning and engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to Niagara College’s new Virtual Preschool.

A free website recently launched by the College’s Early Childhood Education program, NC Virtual Preschool is an innovative project for about 100 second-year students. When it became apparent that their program placements – which are typically in kindergarten classes or childcare centres – would not take place during Fall term, faculty began to explore new options.

“NC Virtual Preschool is an innovative solution by our ECE program team, including faculty and support staff contributors, who wanted to ensure that our students meet their learning objectives during the COVID-19, with a need to switch to remote learning,” said Carol Philips, associate dean, Community Services. “At the same time, it presents an opportunity for students to apply their skills in new ways and connect with children virtually.”

ECE program coordinator and professor Angela Hayes said that as students apply their skills to create modules and learning activities for NC Virtual Preschool, they are also responding to an existing need in the community. She noted that there is an increased need for support from parents who may be home more often with their children during the pandemic. The new Virtual Preschool may be a particularly valuable resource for children who aren’t attending in-person daycare or kindergarten during the pandemic, as well as the parents who find themselves working from home and may not be able to access childcare.

“While exploring new ways for our students to apply their skills and connect with children, we wanted to do something uplifting and supportive for the community during COVID-19,” said Hayes. “Many of our faculty are not putting their kids in daycare and working remotely at this time, and we thought there was a need to support that.”

Whether it’s counting and adding with Paige, marching to the beat of unusual instruments with Grace, making sun catchers with Megan, exploring sinking or floating with Rupinder, users can ‘meet’ the ECE students via video and engage in a variety of quality early learning activities posted to the site. New activities are added each week in various experience areas including language/literacy, fine motor/ sensory, math, music and/or movement, creative art, dramatic play, science and nature, or field trips.

Hands-on virtual experience

For NC students who may not have an opportunity to interact with children and colleagues in the classroom, NC Virtual Preschool opens doors to a virtual community. If they were completing their typical placements in-person at a preschool or kindergarten classroom, the ECE students would learn about the children they interact with, along with their development stages and interests. For virtual preschool, ECE student students were provided with a sample ‘class’ of junior and senior preschoolers to create different activity modules for – representing a variety of preschool age groups, home situations and interests. ECE students record videos of themselves engaging in activities they have created. After they are submitted to faculty and graded, activities are uploaded to the Virtual Preschool website where they become a resource for children and their parents who can access them free, anytime.

Alexandria Craddock

ECE students value the opportunity to participate in NC Virtual Preschool this Fall term. Second-year ECE student Alexandria Craddock noted that her participation in NC Virtual Preschool is taking her outside of her comfort zone, as she creates online content for people to view – which isn’t something she would typically do.

“I have enjoyed creating the content knowing children can access it from the comfort of their homes during these uncertain times. One of my goals for this year was to be more open to online learning,” she said. “I also love that I am sharing this online experience with children that I am creating activities for; it has really encouraged me to make the activities as fun and as inviting as possible.”

Craddock noted that it has been difficult to not be able to interact with preschool children in person during her placement but she believes the virtual preschool offers students a silver lining. “That is the reality of COVID, and this experience has given me the opportunity to look at how I can interact with the children in different and new ways while helping them learn something new,” she said.

Hunter Carroll

Hunter Carroll, who is also in her second year of the program, also misses working directly with children since the onset of COVID-19 but is happy that she is gaining experience through NC Virtual Preschool.

“The main thing we are taught in this program is to follow the children’s lead. This is much harder to do when there are no children to follow,” said Carroll. “However, when working with kids, you have to be flexible. Children are going to surprise you and do things that you don’t expect so you have to be able to adapt – and that is what we are doing through this Virtual Preschool.”

The NC Virtual Preschool website is available to the public and free for all users. View NC Virtual Preschool here.

Niagara College offers more than 150 diploma, bachelor degree and advanced level programs; as well as more than 600 credit, vocational and general interest Part-Time Studies courses. Areas of specialization include food and wine sciences, advanced technology, media, applied health and community safety, supported by unique learning enterprises in food, wine, beer, distilling, horticulture and esthetics. For more information, visit niagaracollege.ca.

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Media inquiries, please contact:

Michael Wales
Manager, Communications
Cell: 905-328-4101
[email protected]

Julie Greco
Communications Consultant
Cell: 905-328-2532
[email protected]

The awards keep pouring in for the Niagara College Teaching Brewery, which scored three honours at the recent Ontario Brewing Awards.

The Teaching Brewery walked away with a trio of medals for its student-made beers, including:

• Gold for Beer 101 Bock in the Amber Malty European Lager category;
• Silver for Beer 101 Strong in the Strong British Ale category; and
• Silver for Beer 101 Saison in the Strong Belgian Ale category.

“Our Teaching Brewery’s repeat success at the Ontario Brewing Awards and elsewhere shows how Niagara College is a leader in training the best and brightest in the province’s and country’s brewing industry,” said Steve Gill, general manager of NC’s Learning Enterprises. “Another testament to the Teaching Brewery’s leadership is the number of Niagara graduates who medalled at these awards for beers produced at their own breweries and for others in Ontario.”

This is the 11th medal for NC’s Beer 101 Strong and the second year in a row that it’s been a Top 3 finisher at the Ontario Brewing Awards. The repeat accolades, handed out in a virtual ceremony, attest not only to the quality of beer produced by the Teaching Brewery but to the quality of training the country’s future brewmasters are receiving, said NC Brewmaster professor Jon Downing.

“It’s great that we get recognized for what students are doing. Every time we win, it’s a different group of students that wins. That validates what we’re doing at the brewery,” said Downing. “Our standards are high; head brewer George Eagleson’s training of students is awesome, and our beers — people like them.”

This is the first time the Teaching Brewery entered its Beer 101 Saison in a competition. The recipe has been a work in progress for the past five years, Downing noted. While it occasionally appeared on Teaching Brewery store shelves as a seasonal beer done in the style of a rustic Belgian farmhouse ale, it never gained the traction of other one-off suds made by students until now.

Downing credits Eagleson’s tenacity at perfecting a recipe that produced consistent results in the classroom, which isn’t always the case with this style of beer. With Lead Brewer Brad Barta’s guidance, and bottled under the Beer 101 label, the saison has become one of the Teaching Brewery’s big sellers. And now it’s an award winner.

The gold medal for Beer 101 Bock follows a silver medal finish at the Canadian Brewing Awards in September.

The award-winning beers are sold in 473-millilitre cans and are available for purchase at the Wine Visitor + Education Centre located at the College’s Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

A full list of Ontario Brewing Award winners is available online. For details visit ontariobrewingawards.ca.

As Global Entrepreneurship Week kicks off Monday, Nov. 16, students from Niagara College’s School of Business and Management are gearing up to spend the next five days helping local business owners become more sustainable.

More than 130 students from various programs will participate in the inaugural NCSustainability Hackathon, which runs until Friday, Nov. 20. Twenty-six teams of students will pore over case studies from five entrepreneurial ventures – based in Niagara and the GTA – in an effort to discover sustainable business solutions that create shared value and focus on the three P’s of sustainability: people, planet and profit in a COVID-19 era

The teams, made up of second- and third-year students, have until November 20 to collaborate virtually on ideas and submit their proposals to a judging panel made up of College business faculty. Their analysis of their assigned businesses will be reviewed and two winners will be chosen to present their ideas to the entrepreneurs at a later date. 

“Students need to come up with ideas of how, in a time COVID, these organizations can reach out sustainably and improve their actions in the marketplace to strengthen their business,” said Cammie Jaquays, professor of Business, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, and NC Sustainability Hackathon co-organizer. “The hackathon is about looking at where we are in the world right now, the challenges entrepreneurs face, and what sustainable solutions can be found to survive – and thrive.”

The NC Sustainability Hackathon is an experiential learning initiative inspired by the $5 Challenge held in March 2020 when teams of students were given $5 in seed money and five days to grow it as much as possible in a financial or social venture. The goal of the hackathon, which is an intensive, collaborative academic event, is to nurture entrepreneurship among students and take their skills and know-how into the community.

“Students get experiential learning, confidence, teamwork, applications of entrepreneurship, and the application of what they’re learning in the classroom,” said Jaquays. 

The businesses involved in the NC Sustainability Hackathon include a brewery, bakery, food artisan, cannabis store, and pet fostering not-for-profit that helps vulnerable Niagarans. The businesses were chosen as case studies for the competition because of their reputations for making community and social responsibility priorities in their business plans. 

Winners of the hackathon will be announced online at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20.

The Niagara College School of Business and Management prepares students for a wide variety of industries, from accounting to marketing, human resources, international business, and more. Diploma, certificate and two four-year degree programs are taught by professors with significant expertise in their field and reflect NC’s commitment to providing students with hands-on learning opportunities through internships and placement opportunities. In addition, students have access to academic pathways and can challenge for industry certifications that align with their program of study post-graduation.

Niagara College offers more than 150 diploma, bachelor degree and advanced level programs; as well as more than 600 credit, vocational and general interest Part-Time Studies courses. Areas of specialization include food and wine sciences, advanced technology, media, applied health and community safety, supported by unique learning enterprises in food, wine, beer, distilling, horticulture and esthetics. For more information, visit niagaracollege.ca.

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Media inquiries, please contact:

Michael Wales
Manager, Communications
Cell: 905-328-4101
[email protected]

Julie Greco
Communications Consultant
Cell: 905-328-2532
[email protected]

Prospective students and their families can discover what Niagara College has to offer, explore its trailblazing programs and state-of-the-art campuses, and speak to current staff and students – all from the comfort and safety of home this fall.

On Saturday, November 21, Niagara College will host its Fall Virtual Open House. This live, interactive online event – which will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – is an opportunity for future students to learn about NC’s innovative programs, facilities and services, along with a chance to win a $2,000 credit towards their NC tuition (for Fall 2021, Winter 2021, or Spring 2022).

“Although current circumstances prevent us from welcoming visitors to our campuses in person during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are looking forward to giving our future students and their families a warm ‘NC virtual welcome’ on November 21,” said NC president Sean Kennedy. “For those preparing to embark on this important chapter of their educational journey, NC’s Virtual Open House is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to connect with our students, staff and faculty, and find out firsthand why the Niagara College experience is truly like no other.”

NC’s Fall Virtual Open House offers an inside look at the College’s Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake campuses, with 360-degree views of the grounds and facilities. Through virtual narrated tours, future students can walk the vineyards and gardens, and get a sneak peek inside labs, classrooms, learning enterprises, student centres, eateries, athletic facilities, residences and more.

Visitors who attend the interactive event will have access to:

• Live information sessions about College programs, and a question-and-answer period with NC team members (including current students) on the day of the event;
• Recorded information sessions with panels of NC experts discussing available student services and supports;
• Engaging information about the College’s schools and programs, including curated YouTube playlists of video sessions with NC staff, faculty and students;
• Registration for one-on-one virtual visits and virtual college exploration sessions – booked for a date and time that works for prospective students; and
• Direct contact information for the College’s recruitment team members in regions across Ontario and beyond.

Registration is required for the event and is now underway. Attendees are encouraged to log in prior to November 21 to review Virtual Open House content, including schedules for live information sessions. In addition to a chance to win a $2,000 tuition credit, those who register before Thursday, November 19 at 11:59 p.m. will be eligible for a chance to win one of 10 $100 Amazon gift cards.

Visit niagaracollege.ca/openhouse for more information and to register. Recorded content from the event will be available on the Virtual Open House website for one month following the event.

Niagara College offers more than 150 diploma, bachelor degree and advanced level programs; as well as more than 600 credit, vocational and general interest Part-Time Studies courses. Areas of specialization include food and wine sciences, advanced technology, media, applied health and community safety, supported by unique learning enterprises in food, wine, beer, distilling, horticulture and esthetics. For more information visit niagaracollege.ca.

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Media inquiries, please contact:

Michael Wales
Manager, Communications
Cell: 905-328-4101
[email protected]

Julie Greco
Communications Consultant
Cell: 905-328-2532
[email protected]

November is Indigenous Awareness Month and a variety of activities are planned for students, staff and faculty to celebrate and connect.

Indigenous Education has a roster of events planned to raise awareness of the diverse Indigenous student body in hopes of building a stronger relationship within – from Tea Talks with Elaine Berwald, On the Land with Dave Labbe, a month-long book club on Indian Horse, weekly fireside chats with an Indigenous Counsellor, a Rock Your Mocs social media activity, a Netflicks Watch Party, and more.

“Indigenous Awareness Month continues to be a month of celebration and this year it was critical for us to create events both virtually and in-person that connected us once again,” said Ashley Buck, Indigenous student success leader. “We placed the student at the centre of our circle and began to build a partnership with the community and other on-campus departments to engage in Indigenous knowledge and culture. Indigenous Awareness Month has the power to bring us back together again and that will have a positive impact on the health of our NC community. “

Fireside Chats with an Indigenous Counsellor

Nov. 9, 16, 23, 30, 7-9 p.m.

Join the conversation as this series journeys through a blend of critical perspectives and old Indigenous philosophies. Presented by Indigenous counsellor, Stephanie Stephens, the Fireside Chat series seeks the resurgence of old Indigenous ways of knowing and being though post-modern-ish Indigenous discourse engaging Niagara College students and community members in healing and wellness through cultural continuity.

Everyone welcome. The series will continue every Monday until Dec. 14.

The event will be held via Zoom. To register visit: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkfu2hrzkoHNLAX1GhlFQPo25gU0UX8sG?fbclid=IwAR3TpeQWzfBn_FcXYbyEwnf7-45Ezhkr28U7U2rD08nYzp5gTQWXZoOfB8o

On the Land with Dave Labbe

November 10, 1 p.m.

Niagara-on-the-Lake campus, Indigenous Garden (outdoor)

Join elder Dave Labbe for a welcoming circle at the Indigenous Garden to celebrate Indigenous Awareness Month. Dress warm, wear your mask, bring a friend.

For more information, contact Indigenous Education at [email protected]

Tea Talks with Elaine Berwald

November 16, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Join the conversation about Indigenous ways of knowing, sharing and celebrating through stories. This is an open conversation and all are welcome to join. Please register and use the Zoom link below:

https://zoom.us/j/94520651222?pwd=a2lpbHg0MU1tckU3ZTBEbXpuSWJYUT09

(Meeting ID: 945 2065 1222; Passcode: dQZ87j).

Indigenous Awareness Month Events

For a full list of events organized for Indigenous Awareness Month and further details on each activity, view the online calendar at niagaracollege.ca/indigenouseducation