I suspect many people across Canada are wondering about that, given all the storms and cooler weather. We have expectations about spring that are being disrupted by climate change, just as the pandemic disrupted education systems across the world. 

Not all disruptions are negative and in many ways, the pandemic has merely hit ‘fast forward’ on changes that were already taking place; or if not, need to. Despite the fact that our Belgian Exchange students did not have a so-called typical experience, I think they caught a glimpse of how as educators, we need to continually learn, evolve, and adapt as circumstances change. I’m interested to hear their reflections when they are back home and create a video of final thoughts on their experiences of their time here. 

Thinking of ‘disruption,’ I’ve been trying to get my head out of my usual way of considering all things intercultural, and apply what I’m learning about Indigenization and Indigenous approaches to being, learning, and doing, to interculturalization. I had a useful conversation with our Office of Global Engagement about my most recent version of an intercultural journey to engage faculty, and this latest iteration has now been passed to our Indigenous Learning Facilitator for consideration. Next week we have our next Truth and Reconciliation Dialogue, the theme of which is decolonization. I know this conversation will be rich and enlightening, as have been the previous Dialogues. 

And now I have the idea of ‘disruption’ being also a potentially positive force, I plan to take some time to reflect on other areas of my work that could be usefully disrupted. As Ronnie Screwvala says, 

The online education space, especially in higher education, is ripe for disruption.