SickKids needed a home base for the academic hospital’s extensive teaching and inter-professional learning activities; a central education centre that could help break down silos, share and improve teaching practices and offer joint training opportunities.
I was engaged to provide strategic planning, business planning and ultimately implementation support to help develop and launch the SickKids Learning Institute.
Over a two-year period and after extensive engagement, discussion and debate, a business plan and strategy emerged that excited the discipline leaders and the hospital. We launched the SickKids Learning Institute as a formal academic pillar of the hospital.
Today the Institute is a collaborative network of educators dedicated to strengthening the integration of research, care and education. It creates innovative approaches to education, curriculum development and cross-disciplinary evaluative methods. It’s home to a state-of-the-art learning space, facilities and tools. The Institute has attracted increased institutional commitment to the education role and ultimately SickKids Foundation donor support.
The below image captures the strategies established as the Institute was forming. They served to guide and ground the effort as our vision became a reality.