The webinar The Age of Disruption: Reimagining the Work of Faculty and Instructors in an Age of Rapid Change by Stephen Murgatroyd (2026b) could not have come at a more relevant moment for me. As department coordinator for the Digital Design and Development program area at North Island College (NIC), I have just been tasked with leading an expedited reimagining of our programs. This is work that I am not entirely sure I am qualified to do.
The context is stark. NIC is facing an $8.4 million deficit alongside federal restrictions on international students and declining domestic enrolment (Zeidler, M., 2026). In February 2026, the Board of Governors approved the suspension of six of our seven Digital Design and Development credentials (North Island College, 2026). Since April 10th, we have entered a second phase: faculty have until May 25th to reimagine the delivery of two of the suspended programs. While final decisions sit with the executive, the responsibility to generate solutions now rests with us.
Murgatroyd (2026b) describes this broader moment as one in which institutional leadership is “fragmented and fractured” leaving faculty to become “the big engines of change ». At NIC, direction given to faculty is high-level and broad: we are encouraged to consider shorter, stackable credentials, predictable cohort models, and alternative delivery formats that broaden our geographic reach while satisfying the face-to-face needs of international students. Programs must align with labour market trends and strong graduation rates must ensue. The detailed work of researching exactly what our programs should become—what to teach, how to teach it, and why—has been handed to faculty.
This is where my discomfort and responsibility intersect. I transitioned from industry to teaching in 2018 and only stepped into a coordinator role in late 2025. While I have developed confidence in teaching and learning practices, leading a high-stakes, time-constrained redesign of multiple programs feels like a different order of challenge. At the same time, faculty are navigating layoffs, uncertainty, and a loss of trust in leadership. Asking them to be creative and forward-looking under these conditions is no small task.
There is also a risk, as Murgatroyd (2026a) notes, of slipping into “innovation theatre,” where institutions develop new strategic directions, pilot projects, and adopt new technologies without meaningful transformation (p. 7). We are asked to rethink programs, but not the broader institutional conditions that shape them such as, for example, the province-wide increase of administrative bloat in higher education (Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, 2026).
In some ways, our program area is well positioned as Digital Design and Development programs inherently align with labour market needs and emphasize applied skills as called for in NIC’s provincial mandate letter (Kang, 2025). However, this alignment also raises questions. Our students, who are often career changers, are less interested in credentials than in quickly gaining employable skills. At the same time, MOOCs and artificial intelligence are reshaping how those skills can be acquired (Peasley, 2026). It would be easy to respond by doubling down on short-term, job-ready training.
Murgatroyd (2026b), however, pushes in a different direction. He argues for a focus on “evergreen” human capabilities—critical thinking, creativity, and adaptability—alongside more immersive and human-centred learning experiences. This leaves me with a tension that will likely define the coming weeks: how to lead a redesign that satisfies institutional pressures for efficiency and employability while preserving the deeper educational value that makes our programs meaningful and future-resistant. It is also pushing me to rethink my role, from as an individual problem-solver to someone responsible for helping a discouraged team create the conditions where meaningful questions can be asked.
Murgatroyd’s work does not provide a roadmap, but it does offer reassurance that this uncertainty is not unique to NIC. If anything, it suggests that feeling unprepared may be an appropriate response to a moment that requires genuine rethinking under pressure.
Footnote: This reflection is intentionally more personal than traditional academic writing. It was developed from iterated long-form drafts then refined into a final version with the assistance of AI to improve language and concision.
References
Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC. (2026, March 6). BC Post-Secondary Education Sustainability / Modernization Review. https://fpse.ca/news/fpse-final-submission-pse-review/
Kang, A. (2025, June 10). Mandate Letters – Post-Secondary Institutions [letter]. Government of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/post-secondary-education/institution-resources-administration/mandate-letters/docs/mandate-north-island-college.pdf
Murgatroyd, S. (2026a, March 11). Faculty agency in the interregnum: Rethinking academic work in the age of artificial intelligence and platform learning [Working draft]. University of Alberta. https://teachonline.ca/wp-content/uploads/Faculty-Agency-in-the-Interregnum.pdf
Murgatroyd, S. (2026b, March 11). The Age of Disruption: Reimagining the work of faculty and instructors in an age of rapid change [Webinar]. TeachOnline.ca. https://teachonline.ca/webinars/age-of-disruption-reimagining-work-of-faculty-and-instructors-age-of-rapid-change/
North Island College. (2026, February 5). Board of Governors approves suspension of six credentials. https://www.nic.bc.ca/about/news/stories/program-suspensions-board.html
Peasley, S. (2026, April 7). Safeguarding academic integrity [Applied research project presentation]. Royal Roads University. https://bit.ly/PeaselyMALATVS2026
Zeidler, M. (2026, March 12). North Island College faces $8.4M deficit amid enrolment pressures. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/north-island-college-deficit-9.7125072
Hi Claire,
Very interesting reflection you make, and I think I can empathize. As you know, I worked at LaSalle College Vancouver, and as the new IRCC rules came into place in 2024/2025, LaSalle suffered an enormous reduction in the number of students. They used to have about 700 new students starting each quarter, but now the number is about 100, if they are lucky. I worked closely with the Art and Design Program Director, and management also expected creativity and innovation from her, while laying staff and instructors off, and cutting costs everywhere. I really hope the situation improves, since it’s been difficult to everyone.
Thanks Claire for your honest reflection.
The tension you described between meeting institutional pressures and preserving meaningful learning really stood out to me.
It made me think about something similar in my own teaching context, particularly in software development. There’s always pressure to focus on job-ready skills and short-term outcomes, but at the same time, habits like structured problem-solving and writing clean, maintainable code are harder to develop consistently.
Here at BCIT, we’re not spared from this either. We’ve had courses cut in my department as well.
With how quickly things are changing, especially with AI, it feels like those tensions are only getting stronger, while at the same time we’re expected to make clear decisions about program direction.