2. The Program
• The Universities Without Walls (UWW) is
funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health
Research (CIHR) Strategic Initiative in Health
Research grant (STIHR)
• UWW is a national, interdisciplinary learning
network connecting academics, community
members, and policy makers. It is linked to
the CIHR Centre for REACH in HIV/AIDS
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3. Mission Statement
• To develop a new generation of HIV
researchers across Canada who are
highly skilled in interdisciplinary HIV
research
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4. Recruitment Strategy
We strive to
– Attract the best
– Focus on graduate students with interest in HIV
interdisciplinary research
– Recruit across disciplines
– Include community students working in policy,
clinical or community environments
– Reflect the epidemic (e.g., populations,
regionally)
– Build capacity across the country
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5. Structure
– UWW is the training arm of the CIHR
Centre for REACH in HIV/AIDS
– Governed by the Centre Directors and
the REACH/UWW Executive Committee
– Guided by The UWW Education
Committee: a pan-Canadian,
interdisciplinary group of academics,
community persons, and students
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7. Pedagogical Objectives
Enhance students’ knowledge of:
1. HIV theory and research methods in their own
discipline/area of community work, and at least
one other discipline/area of community work
2. HIV prevention, care, treatment and support
services, including the services provided by the
network of community-based HIV organizations
3. Population health, health services and
community-based research, ethics and
knowledge translation and exchange
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8. Pedagogical Objectives
Enhance students’ skills in:
1. Using various perspectives and methods to
approach HIV research questions, problems,
contexts and communities while firmly standing
within their own disciplines
2. Preparing basic ‘tools of the research trade’ such
as academic and community oriented
presentations, abstract submissions, manuscripts
for peer-review, and grant applications
3. Integrating research knowledge into theory,
evaluation, policy, and practice (KTE)
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9. Enhancing Students’ Capacity:
• To be independent, problem solvers who learn by
doing (John Dewey’s problem-solving)
• To be public intellectuals, engaged with
communities in moving theory forward into
reflection, dialogue, and action (Paulo Freire’s
praxis)
• To be global citizens who merge studying and new
knowledge into personal life and the workplace
• To be thinkers able to adopt both the macro-
social and the local perspectives
• To be interdisciplinary collaborators
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11. 2009 – 2011 Activities Overview
• Online sessions every two weeks with guest
speakers and skills building sessions
• Fellows are placed in Community Service Learning
(CSL) sites or with academic mentors in programs
of research; individualized attention
• Learning Institute design and implemented at end
of training with academics and local CBO partners
• Fellows are supported in one interdisciplinary
collaborative component (in 2010, a public World
Café: “Antiretrovirals as HIV Prevention: Medicating
Risk?”)
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12. Measuring Success
Short-term:
• Number of applications; Number of students who
complete program
• Evaluative Instruments used
– Pre-and post training surveys (Qs from funder and
pedagogical Qs);
– Student assessments of Learning Institute(s);
– Community Service Learning Plan (and CSL mentor
assessments), and
– Learning Portfolio; Surveys completed by contributors to
UWW (e.g. reviewers, speakers, liaisons)
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13. Measuring Success
• Medium-term: Pre- and post-UWW program
surveys to assess students capacity to work
across academic disciplines, apply ethics,
and function effectively in academic, policy
and community environments (e.g.
participation in REACH programs of
research); collaborations amongst Fellow
alumni.
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14. Measuring Success
• Long-term: Number of students who go on to
careers in HIV or related areas; any increase in
research capacity in underserved communities
and regions; Number of students successful in
getting grants; Number of
conference/community presentations, posters
and papers (attributable to the UWW program)
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15. Measuring Satisfaction
General aspects of the UWW program
• Success
– Adequate number of contact hours with students (but would
want more in-person at beginning and end of program)
– Adequate group size
– Additional invitations to HIV research related events
– Timely and clear communication with UWW staff
– Useful UWW Fellowship Plan
• Improvements
- Improve IT platforms
- Offer HIV research content on francophone
populations/issues across Canada
- Expand the range of disciplines (e.g. biomedical)
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16. UWW Online Sessions
• Synchronous
• Multimedia
• A bit of TV experience
• Recorded
• Involves speakers, discussants
• Skills sessions (e.g. mock grant review) and
theoretical sessions (e.g. lecture style)
• Includes some exercises (using chat feature)
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17. Measuring Satisfaction
• Success
– Online schedule convenient; good attendance
– Speakers material found relevant and engaging
– Reading relevant
• Challenges
– Sessions delivered more efficiently
– IT support must be adequate (eliminated costly
teleconference, students use headsets and broadcast
themselves via webcam
– Accompanying SharePoint website difficult easier to
access and use
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18. Summer Learning Institute (SLI)
Objectives
• To provide an intensive face-to-face number of
contact hours to UWW Fellows, faculty and
associated community hence creating
opportunities to network
• To offer additional areas of content in HIV research
not covered in online sessions
• To offer an opportunity/venue to implement the
collaborative component of the UWW Fellowship
• To provide opportunities to participate in HIV
research related events in the region where the SLI
takes place
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19. • Started with one faculty development day to review relevant
educational frameworks to train researchers as public
intellectuals/teachers/interdisciplinary investigators – We
obtained a CIHR MPD to fund this event
• Each morning during HOPE, the UWW Fellows joined 60
participants from health policy, health service organizations,
and health/HIV research academics to learn about health
programs evaluation
• Each afternoon, independently, the UWW fellows supported by
UWW faculty led UWW colloquia on HIV research, attended
1guided visit to 9 Circles (HIV CBO in Winnipeg); they led the
colloquia.
Summer Learning Institute (SLI)
2010 HOPE Overview
Health of Populations Evaluation (HOPE) Learning Institute Winnipeg June 13th to 18th 2010
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21. Measuring Success: SLI
Success:
– Informal networking, positive group dynamics
– Flexible schedule when possible
– Opportunity to connect with persons in local CBOs
– Great cohesion was promoted by ‘away’ location (and
the bus!)
Improvements
– Decrease intensity of daily schedule
– Increase informal time
– Increase visits to community places
– Increase contact time with faculty
– Better match of readings to colloquia/presentations
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23. Measuring SLI Success
Success:
– By working together, they learned new ways of thinking
about HIV from interdisciplinarity points of view
– Chose the World Café format and implemented it
– Faced the challenge to negotiate roles and tasks with each
other, acquired community development skills to negotiate
with community site/persons
Improvements
– Needed more time to develop partnership with community
partner on the ground (at SLI region)
– Wanted predetermined roles and responsibilities at the
start; a better balance between hand-holding and self-
initiative
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24. UWW Community Service Learning (CSL)
• We send in advance a Community Service Learning
Profile to potential CSL sites/mentors to match UWW
fellows with HIV research related work across Canada.
• Students and CSL site representative(s) negotiate the CSL
tasks, time, expectations, learning outcomes and
deliverables together and to find mutually beneficial
conditions, time, energy, region of residence, etc. as
part of their learning
• Fellows fill out a Community Service Learning Plan as a
contract between the CSL site/mentor and the Fellow
• At the end of term, the Manager, CSL
mentor/representative and Fellow conduct a formative
evaluation of the Fellow’s goals and the CSL site’s goals
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25. Measuring Short Term Success
Community Service Learning (CSL)
• Success
– CSL Plan was useful
– Obtained skills, knowledge, and experience (this supports
gains reported in survey)
– Negotiated with CSL contact person directly (acquired skill)
– Connected Fellows with CBRFs
• Improvements
– Start early
– Ensure the CSL is at appropriate stage for Fellow to come in
– Interview with CSL site contact person at beginning and end
– Refine long-term measurement of the impact of CSL
– Some criticism of whether fellows help or hinder the
activities of non-profit organizations
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26. Measuring Success
from the UWW Team Perspective
• Success: the UWW Training Program
– Involves persons living with HIV meaningfully
– Involves academics not in health or HIV field
– Maintains a network and feeds into others
– Balances academic and community values and expectations
(e.g. increased publication and funding, engagement with
communities, self-efficacy as educators, GIPA, etc.)
– gives academic students and exceptional community
members’ applications ‘a fair shake’ to get ‘the right mix’ in
the application process
– Keeps UWW education committee activities flexible, one in
person annual meeting, quarterly reports and ad hoc sub-
committee work
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27. Measuring Success
from the UWW Team Perspective
• Challenges
- To provide content and perspective on HIV research that is
Canadian francophone and on francophone communities in
Canada
- To meet the items required in CIHR/STIR evaluation (figure out
how they fit with what really happens in the training)
- To expand the range of disciplines (e.g. biomedical, clinical)
- To engage all co-investigators who signed originally,
sustainability
- To offer incentives for academics to participate in activities
that may not count towards tenure
- To balance the budgetary requirements of the funder with the
emerging needs of the program (activities we offer may not
necessarily be eligible costs)
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