Sara Cumming’s Resarch Team Wins Mobilize Seed Fund Grant
In May 2024, faculty member Sara Cumming and her research team were awarded the Mobilize Seed Fund ($30,000) for their research project “Understanding Canadian Culture as a Life Skill”. This research was a continuation of the (2021-2024) College Community Social Innovation Fund NSERC-CCSIF funded Life Skills Project.
The Life Skills Project was the third iteration of the Community Ideas Factory. Bringing together expertise from across the faculties at Sheridan with 15 not-for-profit partners, the project built a client-centric, EDI-informed, virtual and applied life skills curriculum for vulnerable populations experiencing homelessness in Halton and the surrounding areas. Principal Investigator Dr. Sara Cumming (FHASS), Front-line lead Leah Burton (MSW), and co-investigators Dr.’s Julianne DiSanto (FACHS), Brandon McFarlane (PSB), Humaira Siddiqui (SPARK), and Professor Mark Shufflebottom (FAAD) worked with 26 Sheridan students to bring this project to life.
Once the research was completed and analyzed, and the curriculum was built, 12 Life Skills modules were sent back to the community partners for the testing phase. Vulnerable individuals involved with each of the not-for-profits completed pre and post-tests for the modules and filled out open-ended surveys to provide feedback. The modules increased users knowledge in each of the areas; in some cases there was more than a 50% increase in scores between the pre and post-tests (see the final report here). The qualitative feedback alerted that in some cases new immigrants found the material started above their level of need. Because one of the founding principles of this project was to ensure that there was an inclusive design, Principal Investigator Dr. Sara Cumming and co-investigator Dr. Julianne DiSanto joined forces with Andrea Seepersad of SPARK and not-for-profit Halton Multicultural Council to propose “Understanding Canadian Culture as a Life Skill” project.
With the help of two International Student Research Assistants from Sheridan, the research began in May with an environmental scan of the most common issues that new immigrants face while trying to settle in Canada. Throughout the Spring and Summer months three focus groups were held with clients of Halton Multicultural Council (an organization designed to help newcomers settle and integrate into a welcoming community) and with International Students at Sheridan College (two separate focus groups were held to accommodate school schedules). After the research was analyzed, it was determined that 9 of the 12 original Life Skills Modules needed to be updated to be more useful to newcomers.
Topics such as ‘intercultural communication’, ‘parenting norms’, ‘how to enrol children in school’, ‘finding medical experts’, ‘how do I avoid scams’, ‘women having their own bank accounts’, ‘understanding exchange rates when shopping’, ‘dealing with culture shock’, ‘navigating transportation systems including obtaining a drivers licence’, ‘understanding transferable skills and communicating work experience’ and ‘finding culturally appropriate ingredients’ are in development by the research team. As the curriculum is developed under the leadership of Andrea Seepersad, a team is designing and importing visually pleasing material that meets universal design principles into the Learning Management System for the Life Skills Curriculum.
All of the modules will be released in January and shared across the original 15 not-for-profit partners (Halton Multicultural Council was an original partner as well as the lead partner in the “Understanding Canadian Culture as a Life Skill” project.
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