Background:
Budget 2009 committed $1.5M over two years to support the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO) to undertake the development of a Web site (Pan-Canadian Information Centre) to showcase foreign credential recognition activities underway across Canada.
The objective of this initiative is to provide a one stop shop (i.e. a Web-based platform) of FCR initiatives. This will give Canadian organizations the opportunity to leverage and capitalize on promising practices across Canada to advance their own FCR needs.
As a first step in developing this initiative, the FCRO organized a workshop held in Ottawa on June 23, 2009 with key stakeholders to solicit their views and input to:
- determine the scope of a FCR Pan-Canadian Information Centre;
- explore how to best harness Web-based technology to share information; and,
- examine ways for partner/stakeholder engagement.
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1. Scope
To set the stage for a discussion on the scope of the Information Centre, Elizabeth McIsaac and Kevin McLellan from the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) presented the work undertaken by TRIEC on an employers' best practices Web site http://www.triec.ca/. In part, the presentation highlighted the work undertaken to build the framework, leverage the Web site, and the best practices for online sharing.
A wide variety of views were voiced in terms of the needs, gaps, spectrum of content and type of material that could be included on the Information Centre. Based on the lessons learned by TRIEC and the feedback received from participants, it was recommended that the FCRO:
- manage expectations by clearly articulating, through outreach and marketing, the benefits of the Information Centre;
- ensure the content reflects the needs of stakeholders;
- determine the breath and depth of the content (this could potentially include credential recognition, qualifications recognition, bridging programs and language assessment); and,
- clarify who are the intended users of the Pan-Canadian Information Centre (the audience could potentially include all of: employers, regulatory bodies, all levels of government, immigrant service agencies, sector councils, assessment agencies, post-secondary institutions, and possibly others). Participants suggested it may be preferable to start with one or a few of these in the initial stages of developing the Centre.
In addition, the following issues were expressed by participants about the proposed Web site:
- be user-friendly;
- showcase existing initiatives;
- offer a single access point to projects, tools and other FCR-related information;
- use a standard or consistent classification of information;
- encouraging cross-fertilization of material;
- enable users to search and easily find information; and,
- provide opportunities for improved networking.
Given the wide scope and broad range of possible users, participants supported a phased development and implementation approach for the Information Centre.
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2. Functionality
To set the stage for a discussion of online approaches to best practices, Nik Nanos and Pierre Killeen from Nanos Research presented Web functionality employed by existing Web sites that feature information on best practices.
Pierre highlighted some examples and possibilities for a Web 2.0 approach, in which the on-line resources of the Centre are presented in formats that are more interactive. These include comment feature, to enable users to add their experiences with the tools and resources in the Centre, contact information on each practice and log-in function by which users can join an on-line community of practice.
Participants strongly endorsed the use of interactive elements as part of the Information Centre and suggested using the materials in the "library" of the Web site to drive communications and interaction among users, and to create communities of practice. Other examples of elements that participants indicated that could be considered include:
- template: Creating a standard input form to facilitate the collection and dissemination of stakeholders' FCR initiatives
- reviews: Providing the opportunity for those who use materials from the Centre to comment on them, how effective they are, the kinds of conditions under which they have been used and with what results;
- ratings: A simpler version of reviewing is to allow users to rate the usefulness of the materials. Some participants cautioned that this approach may over-simplify very important substantive content;
- question-and-answer section where users can post questions about issues they are dealing with and seek advice or suggestions from others in the network of Centre users;
- e-mail lists: Users could register for various e-mail lists to share information, be informed of events and publications, ask each other questions;
- Webinars: Web-based seminars could be offered to users to demonstrate how to use some of the resources in the Centre, share emerging practices before they have been documented; and,
- social media: networks such as Twitter and Facebook can also be used to share information among specific groups of users.
In order to create a user-friendly design, the Web site will need to be easy to navigate, with a clear, uncluttered and simple visual design to facilitate easy communication and information sharing.
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3. Stakeholder Engagement
An objective of the workshop was to explore ways to engage stakeholders. Throughout the day participants re-iterated the need to be engaged in the development of the Information Centre. This will also enable FCRO to advance new partnerships and to enhance new synergies that were initiated at the workshop.
The FCRO will keep stakeholders informed of the on-going work of the Web site through user requirement consultations, progress reporting, and focus testing in order to ensure the right level of engagement in moving the Information Centre forward.
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Recurring Themes of the Workshop
Recurring themes emerged during the workshop which could guide the development of the Pan- Canadian Information Centre. These included:
- provide multiple routes to access materials on the website (e.g. by topic, by sector, by stage of integration, etc.);
- define the criteria to determine what information may be posted;
- enable the participation of multiple contributors: gather practices and tools from many organizations in the targeted sectors;
- pursue a segmented and integrated approach: different elements of the website, the marketing plan, etc. would be designed to meet the needs of different sectors (sectoral councils, regulatory bodies, immigrant serving organizations, etc.), while still encouraging cross-fertilization among sectors;
- ensure the Information Centre is interactive and that users can contribute, comment and/or connect with one another; and,
- solicit continuous feedback, evaluation and improvement.
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Next Steps
- Conduct an environmental scan of Canadian and international approaches to sharing best practices and explore how existing Internet technology may be leveraged to deliver the Information Centre;
- Develop initial user requirements that are based on the feedback received at the June 23 workshop; and,
- Continue stakeholder engagement in the development of the Web site.
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Conclusion
The FCRO thanks all participants for their time and input, and will keep them engaged on future developments.