Experiences Canada

Experiences Canada is a national registered charity that helps young Canadians to explore their country through reciprocal exchanges, forums, conferences and other opportunities to travel and connect with one another.

For 85 years, Experiences Canada has opened young people’s minds and involved them in a broader world. We offer transformative learning opportunities accessible to youth across Canada – creating fun, safe, memorable experiences that deepen their connection to their community and their country, enrich personal relationships, and build confidence and skills.

THE CHALLENGE

When the Covid-19 pandemic began, Experiences Canada was unable to provide their cross-country exchanges for youth, but they still wanted youth to be able to have the experience of meeting others across the country and learning about other communities. They developed an exciting idea to create a virtual exchange program in the absence of in-person exchanges and were looking for assistance in moving their ideas to an online format.

In addition, the Group Organizer manual, which contains detailed information regarding the exchange program and roles and responsibilities, also needed to be shifted to the online learning environment for a more interactive experience for the Group Organizers.

THE SOLUTION

Experiences Canada provided shiftED Academy with scripts, photos, and other resources for both the Virtual Exchanges program and the online training program for Group Organizers.

Using those resources, along with customized graphics and themes, shiftED designed, developed, and published 78 videos with integrated voiceover in both English and French, creating a fun and exciting 6-module online program for youth as an alternative to in-person exchanges.

As well, shiftED used the latest strategies, techniques, and methodologies to modernize the Group Organizer training to an engaging 7-module on-demand course, in both English and French, consisting of a total of 142 videos.

THE RESULT

In early 2021, Experiences Canada launched This! Is Canada - Virtual Exchanges. Within one month the program was already involving thousands of teens from just under 100 communities from across the country through multi-media projects to share the stories of their communities with one another.

Since that project, shiftED has collaborated with Experiences Canada to create 6 more This! Is Canada modules and multiple module on-demand programs educating youth on both career choices and financial literacy.