By Laura Viselli, Senior Manager Research and Foresight
May 2026 marks the fifth-year anniversary of eCampusOntario’s research and foresight team. As the only organization in Canada with full-time foresight practitioners, we’re always on the lookout for what’s next.
In the last 5 years, our Research and Foresight team has:
- Authored more than 30 strategic foresight tools; trends, artifacts, scenarios, primary research reports, serious games, toolkits and more.
- Created a proprietary system for finding and tracking signals and building trends through a combination of artificial intelligence technologies and human expertise.
- Supported over 10+ emerging foresight professionals through work integrated learning opportunities.
- Involved foresight in every function of eCampusOntario to embed foresight best practices and approaches in strategy and program development decisions.
- Designed and launched an introductory foresight and horizon scanning micro-credential built for professionals of any discipline, seeking to develop research skills to improve long-term thinking, strategy design, and planning.
To celebrate our anniversary, we invested $23,580 into building foresight capacity in the sector.
With a new academic year in full swing in Fall 2025, Ontario postsecondary institutions were navigating a complex and rapidly shifting landscape.
Changes in international student enrolment combined with an increasingly uncertain socio-political climate were creating significant pressures. Leaders, educators, and faculty were grappling with how to respond to immediate challenges and to what may come next.
eCampusOntario staff were meeting member institutions throughout the province to discover how eCampusOntario could further their digital transformation and institutional resilience. It was within this context that a clear theme began to emerge: a growing appetite for strategic thinking.
Recognizing this shift, eCampusOntario’s Research and Foresight team saw a notable rise in interest in the Strategic Foresight: Identifying Signals of Change micro-credential.
The timing was no coincidence. What was once considered a forward-looking skillset had quickly become essential, and postsecondary institutions needed tools to help them anticipate change, adapt quickly, and plan with confidence.
In response, eCampusOntario created the Strategic Foresight Learning Voucher program to provide eligible learners the opportunity to complete the Strategic Foresight: Identifying Signals of Change Micro-credential at no cost.
This micro-credential equipped learners with knowledge and tools to enact flexible, futures focused, decision making, while furthering creativity and critical thinking skills. Designed to support skills development for the first stage of a strategic foresight process, horizon scanning, Strategic foresight can help address immediate and short-term challenges, while articulating long-term visions for systems level evolution.
The Program
Eligible learners were employed at an eCampusOntario member institution and able to complete all course requirements from January to March 20th 2026, including 7 weekly, 1-hour virtual meetings with an instructor, all coursework, and a final assessment.
Participation in this program was determined through a lottery process; every person who met the eligibility criteria entered. Spaces were reserved for staff at Indigenous Institutes and staff from Bilingual and Francophone institutions. The application was open for four weeks, and the program was marketed through eCampusOntario’s social media channels and email newsletter, and through member engagement events.
Demand exceeded our targets with over 80 applications received. Applicants shared that they applied in the Strategic Foresight Learning Voucher Program for a variety of reasons, included bringing their learning back to their departments, program, or institutions; learning from others in the community; learning new skills to prepare for the future such as change management, adaptability, and futures thinking; engaging in or continuing to engage in futures-based work and decision-making; and supporting their work, including supporting students and program development.
The Impact
43 learners participated in the program from 28 different institutions in French and English.
In their final projects learners used foresight to explore the futures of following topics:
- Financial aid and financing higher education
- Applied research in colleges
- Prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR)
- Not-for-credit programming and Work Integrated Learning
- Retaining skilled immigrants and international students in Canada
- Open education in a Francophone context
- Urban agriculture
- Student Retention
- Sustainability of polytechnics
- Artificial Intelligence
- …and Indigeneity
- …and assessment
- … and the future of higher education
- …and Continuing Education
And many more!
Learner’s shared praise for:
- Facilitators’ teaching, discernment, and clarity
- Volume of course content
- Micro-credential structure
- Resources and templates
After the course, learners shared that:
“Some modules surprised me with the number of tools, frameworks, and steps involved, challenging my initial assumption that I already knew where I tended to gather information or how I typically formed insights. Overall, the course was much more demanding—and ultimately more rewarding—than I initially anticipated.”
Jennifer Larson, Director of Academic Strategic Initiatives, Humber Polytechnic
“Entering this micro-credential, I expected practical tools for anticipating change, but I didn’t expect how much the work would challenge my own thinking patterns.”
“I also learned that foresight is most effective when it becomes an ongoing practice, done as a team rather than a one-time solo activity. Developing simple systems for scanning and, ideally, collaborating with others helps maintain diverse perspectives and prevents premature conclusions.”
Allan MacKenzie, Assistant Professor, Leadership & Management
W Booth School of Engineering Practice & Technology
McMaster University
“What I’m reflecting on as the course comes to a close, is just how rich, and doable, foresight work can be. Having done a Master’s and a PhD, sometimes I can feel an early resistance to doing (more) research; and, a well-worn groove as to one ‘type’ of research. The inquiring and data-collecting asked for by eCampusOntario around strategic foresight, however, was holistic, un-rigid, and compiled over time.”
Dr. Deena Kara Shaffer
Founder, Awakened Learning Adjunct Faculty,
Toronto Metropolitan University
The Strategic Foresight Learning Voucher program brought innovation and future‑focused thinking to postsecondary institutions by teaching higher education staff how to identify signals, anticipate disruptions, and scope emerging priorities. This program, inclusive of dedicated weekly time with a foresight practitioner, the micro-credential content, and the community of learners, gave participants tools to make sense of, and be comfortable navigating, uncertainty.
When foresight becomes part of an institution’s culture, responding to change becomes an opportunity to unlock flexibility, innovation, and long‑term growth. Micro‑credentials empower educators to stay current and confident by rapidly building practical, future‑ready skills they can apply immediately in their teaching, leadership, and curriculum design, without the time commitment of traditional programs. Together, this approach to change will build Ontario’s postsecondary sector to support the future of learning and work.
