FSC Community of Practice

Since 2019, Research Impact Canada has partnered with the Future Skills Centre to support knowledge mobilization and to help foster a network of innovative partners in the skills and workforce development sector. As part of this partnership RIC is helping to support a Community of Practice focused on the skills training and workforce development sector across the country.

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The Future Skills Community of Practice

Connecting a community of people who are helping Canadians gain the skills they need to thrive in a changing labour market

The term ‘Community of Practice’ (COP) refers to a community of people who share a common interest, have similar goals, and who come together to learn, share, and achieve individual and group objectives. As the world of work rapidly changes, many organizations across the country are working on improving skills development and training services to help Canadians transition.

The Future Skills Community of Practice is an active and growing network of 1400+ stakeholders in the skills development and training ecosystem who are working to help Canadians recognize the skills they need and how to get them. We invite researchers, non-governmental organizations, training services providers, and anyone interested in the future of work to join. 

COP OFFERINGS AND RESOURCES

The FSC Community of Practice (COP) enables participants to grow their networks, collaborate with peers from across the country, access practical tools and resources, and advance their learning. In-person and online activities have been developed to accommodate the requirements and preferences of participants.

In partnership with FSC, Research Impact Canada is supporting the CoP by co-organizing offerings in the following areas:

People to PEOPLE

Meet people across the country who are preparing Canadians for the future of work, and participate in peer learning and exchange.

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People to KNOWLEDGE

Access curated products, case studies, and tools with actionable insights and innovative practices.

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People to LEARNING

Learn from experts, access learning supports, and participate in professional development opportunities on relevant and timely topics.

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EVALUATION & INCLUSION

CoP Refresh: Evaluation Framework

Measuring progress.

The evaluation framework is meant to be dynamic and flexible to allow for iterative testing and redesign of activities. Four overarching questions will guide the evaluation of FSC CoP refresh activities.

These questions aim to explore the extent to which project activities make progress towards FSC’s goal of fostering a pan-Canadian network of skills training and workforce development stakeholders, and to gather findings that can support continuous improvement.

Disclaimer: This report was initially an internal-facing working document and it was last updated on January 2023.

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CoP Refresh: DEI Action Plan

Enriching our growing community.

A thriving Community of Practice encompasses people of different experiences, knowledge and places. Fostering a community rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ensures that all community members are welcomed and engaged.

A DEI plan for The Future Skill Centre’s (FSC) Community of Practice (CoP) can create an inclusive community that connects people, knowledge and opportunities across Canada.

Disclaimer: This report was initially an internal-facing working document and it was last updated on August 2023.

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Conversations 2 Community is our monthly newsletter and the best way to stay up to date on upcoming events, innovative programs, news and resources to support your organization. We cover a broad range of topics impacting skills training and workforce development practitioners and the future of work. Sign Up and Connect with Us!

Members of our Community of Practice have the opportunity to share their experiences in the sector in our monthly editions of ‘In Conversation With…‘ Access the Community of Practice’s ‘In Conversation With…’ editions here.

Connecting People to People

Meet people across the country who are preparing Canadians for the future of work, and participate in peer learning and exchange.

 

Conversations to Connections (C2C) was an initiative designed to directly engage with stakeholders across the Canadian skills and workforce development sector. The experiences and voices of nearly 300 professionals representing organizations in every province and territory of the country have been compiled into a several resources including actionable recommendations that can serve to drive practical changes across the sector:

PLGs provide an opportunity for you to connect with and learn from similar people and organisations across diverse sectors and industries. These sessions will focus on themes that have emerged across our network as common interests and challenges.

We’ve run a number of peer Learning Groups to date. Resources from these groups can be found below.

PLG Resources:

See more under our ‘Past Event Resources’ section.

Cohorts of Engagement was a pilot project designed to bring together a group of practitioners/frontline staff working in the same sector to discuss common issues in their line of work. Through a series of scheduled sessions, the cohort would meet to work on a road mapping exercise, which culmulated with an invited guest speaker to address their common challenges at the end. The group also interacted asynchronously online in a LinkedIn group through thoughtful discussion prompts.

Two different cohorts ran simultaneously during pilot – the first group was Connecting Local Immigration Partnerships and Newcomer Services and the second group was Connecting Literacy and Basic Skills and Adult Education Organizations. 

Here are the road mapping exercises that were conducted:

Connecting People to Knowledge

Access curated products, case studies, and tools with actionable insights and innovative practices.

Insight Bytes are short, engaging pieces of online content that summarize key findings from the Future Skills Centre reports. The goal is to give skills and employment service practitioners access to emerging data in the workforce development sector and promote evidence-based decision making and use of data in organizational practices.

Some examples are linked below:

Data Bytes are short, engaging pieces of online content that discuss new and interesting topics in the world of data. Created by the Regional Analytics Laboratory at Memorial University, the purpose of the Bytes is to encourage skills and employment service practitioners to think about data from different perspectives and to promote evidence-based decision making and use of data in organizational practices.

Some examples can be found below.

Water Cooler Chats are posts highlighting current or topical issues and conversations which aim to promote and connect people to knowledge by linking to aligned FSC research or projects

 

Connecting People to Learning

Learn from experts, access learning supports, and participate in professional development opportunities on relevant and timely topics.

 

As part of our ‘People to Learning’ offerings, Research Impact Canada has hosted a number of workshops. View them under our ‘Past Event Resources’ section.

On August 18, 2022, Future Skills Centre hosted a virtual panel event via Zoom, called Bridging the School-to-Work Transition to explore the experiences of students and young adults navigating the postpandemic workforce. Over 200 people attended the panel to hear how skills training and guidance services are supporting learners and how the skills ecosystem can advance to better serve youth through educational and training systems.

As part of the event, RIC piloted a 30-minute postpanel networking reception with three breakout rooms, each facilitated by a moderator and a panelist for Q&A, discussion, and networking. A recording of the event can be found below.

On October 6, 2022, we piloted the User Centric Design in the Skills Ecosystem Roundtable. The roundtable reflected on emerging learnings in user centric design with a small group of experts and Future Skills Centre projects. The discussion moved beyond buzz words of participatory design, co-creation, and inclusive design to generate tangible insights relevant to policymakers and practitioners.

The event touched on:

  • Best practices for removing barriers to participatory design for end-users
  • How to amplify voices of the communities being served to ensure agency and ownership
  • Different pathways to holistically including users’ voices when scaling for impact, including scaling in ‘depth’ to prioritize building deep, meaningful relationships with users.

Upcoming Events

Past Event Resources

Innovating for Impact: Evaluation and Learning in Canada’s Skills Ecosystem

On February 19, 2025, the FSC Community of Practice, in collaboration with Research Impact Canada and Blueprint, hosted a peer learning group on “Innovating for Impact: Evaluation and Learning in Canada’s Skills Ecosystem.” In this session, we discussed myths and misconceptions about evaluation and showcased practical evaluation tools and resources that participants can use in their […]

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Empowering Youth in Canada: Navigating Career Prospects and Well-Being

On October 31, 2024, the FSC Community of Practice, in collaboration with Research Impact Canada and ELITE Program for Black Youth at the University of Alberta, hosted a peer learning group on “Empowering Youth in Canada: Navigating Career Prospects and Well-Being.” In this session, we discussed how to close workforce disparities among youth by equipping […]

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Empowering Canada’s Workforce for a Sustainable Future

On September 13, 2024, the FSC Community of Practice, in collaboration with Research Impact Canada and Smart Prosperity Institute, hosted a peer learning group “Empowering Canada’s Workforce for a Sustainable Future.” This session focused on the skills and knowledge needed to equip Canada’s workforce to thrive in the transition towards a net-zero economy. The goal […]

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Leveraging Newcomer Talent to Empower Canada’s Workforce

On August 28, 2024, the FSC Community of Practice, in collaboration with Research Impact Canada and Immigrant Employment Council of BC, hosted a peer learning group on “Leveraging Newcomer Talent to Empower Canada’s Workforce.” This session focused on how organizations can support the integration of newcomers into the Canadian workforce and examined the impact on […]

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Elevate Your Career with AI (Webinar)

On December 6th, 2023, Research Impact Canada invited Danny Mirza, Lead Career Consultant at Coventry University, UK, to host a webinar in which he showcased AI tools that can be used to enhance productivity by automating tasks and creating efficient workflows. This interactive webinar provided an opportunity to learn about how to apply generative AI […]

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ChatGPT for Skills and Workforce Development Professionals (Webinar)

On November 16th, 2023, Research Impact Canada invited Danny Mirza, Lead Career Consultant at Coventry University, UK, to host a webinar in which he guided participants through the basics of using ChatGPT to automate tasks and improve client engagement and career readiness. This interactive webinar provided an opportunity to learn about how to apply generative […]

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A.I. and the Future of Work(force Development) (Webinar)

On October 18, 2023, from 1-2:30 pm ET, the FSC Community of Practice, in collaboration with Research Impact Canada and the Information Communications and Technology Council of Canada (ICTC), hosted AI and the Future of Work(force Development). This peer learning group event created for professionals to discuss the evolving role of career development practitioners in […]

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Data to Decisions: A Practical Guide for Finding and Using Labour Market Information (Webinar)

On August 9, 2023, in partnership with Regional Analytics Laboratory (RAnLab) from Memorial University, Research Impact Canada hosted a webinar to guide participants through the basics of finding and applying regional labour market information to support efforts in workforce development. This interactive webinar was an opportunity to learn how data models and analyses can be […]

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Digital Engagement Redefined: Innovations in the Workforce Development Landscape

On July 26, 2023, Research Impact Canada, in partnership with Magnet, hosted a peer learning group to discuss how organizations can embrace technology and digital infrastructure to improve workforce development efforts. Participants were invited to share their experiences working in the workforce development sector and the challenges and opportunities they see for leveraging digital tools. […]

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Ignite Series: Agriculture

On June 15, 2023 from 12-1:30pm ET, Research Impact Canada, in partnership with Future Skills Centre, hosted a free webinar that brought together industry leaders from across Canada’s agriculture sector to speak about their best practices, strategies, and innovative techniques in shaping the future of agriculture. Engaging PechaKucha-style presentations from top organizations, such as the […]

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Changing Lives, Building Careers: Motivational Interviewing in Workforce Development (Webinar)

On June 2, 2023 from 12-1pm ET, Research Impact Canada, in partnership with the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences and the Rideau-Ottawa Valley Learning Network, hosted a webinar that aimed to teach the basics of motivational interviewing and equipped the audience with practical guides and resources to help elicit and guide lasting change. […]

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Conversations to Connections: Insights and Perspectives from the Canadian Skills and Workforce Development Community

On May 11, 2023 at 12-1pm ET, Research Impact Canada’s Community Engagement Coordinator, Meghan Realesmith, hosted this free webinar on a forthcoming report, “Conversations to Connections: Insights and Perspectives from the Canadian Skills and Workforce Development Community.” ​​ Future Skills Center and Research Impact Canada had partnered on Conversations to Connections (C2C), an initiative designed […]

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Creating a Culture of Care: Addressing Mental Health in the Skills and Workforce Development Sector (Webinar)

In collaboration with Future Skills Centre, Research Impact Canada hosted their fourth webinar, Creating a Culture of Care: Addressing Mental Health in the Skills and Workforce Development Sector, as part of their Professional Development Toolbox Webinar Series. Our partner for this webinar was the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). Alexandra Petrisano, a National Workplace Mental […]

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Storytelling with purpose for impact (Webinar)

In collaboration with Future Skills Centre, Research Impact Canada hosted their third webinar, Storytelling with purpose for impact, as part of their Professional Development Toolbox Webinar Series. Research Impact Canada’s Bilingual Knowledge Mobilization Specialist, Elisabeth (Lis) Huang, hosted this free webinar on March 30th, 2023, at 12pm ET. Some of the key takeaways from this […]

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Using Evidence for Impact

On March 21, 2023, Research Impact Canada hosted a peer learning group on “Using Evidence for Impact.” This was a hot topic that our Future Skills Centre Community of Practice members wanted to learn more about. They wanted to know how to demonstrate impact when applying for grant funding, evaluating programs and projects, communicating with […]

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