PD Opportunity for Teacher Candidates & Fac Ed Alumni

An exciting scholarship opportunity offered by AgScape to all Ontario Certified Teachers and Teacher Candidates.  

 

The Business of Food (BOF) is a comprehensive online platform developed by AgScape, that allows educators, post-secondary students, and agri-food businesses to enhance their knowledge and understanding of agriculture and food at their own pace, from any location. Its online format offers seamless, 24/7 access to professional development with relevant information that can be immediately used to enhance lesson plans and in-class learning for elementary and secondary students of all ages. 

The Business of Food is currently offered in two online courses BOF 101 and BOF 102. 

BOF 101 explores foundational topics in relation to agriculture and food, in particular, Local Food, Food Security, Food Safety, Business and Economics of Food, Climate Change and Environmental Initiatives.  

 

BOF 102 explores foundational topics in relation to agriculture and food, in particular, Careers in Agri-Food, Conventional and Organic Agriculture, Animal Health and Welfare, Agriculture in Canada, Biotechnology and Technology and Innovation. 

Here is information about the upcoming session of BOF: 

Session	Timeframe	Length	Registration Deadline
2021 Winter	February 8 - March 28	7 weeks	February 3 *Now Open*

This is a great opportunity for Teacher Candidates and Ontario Certified Teachers to enhance their pedagogy and connect with and learn from other educators around Ontario! Successful completion of the BOF courses also comes with a certificate, which can be added to any teaching portfolio.  

If any Teacher Candidates or Ontario Certified Teachers are interested in registering to receive the scholarship, they can visit the AgScape website (https://agscape.ca//bof-educators) or email Shaunna.MacQuarrie@agscape.ca to receive further information. 

Important Note:

This course is in no way meant to overload pre-service teachers - it has a generous timeline for completion, realistic requirements for success and is 100% online and done on your own time outside of regular classroom hours. 

The pre-service teachers who attended our fall 2020 session were able to create and share relevant lesson plans with each other - many of which were immediately used in their teaching placements. Each student that completed the course found the content very relevant to today's world - they loved the emphasis on local food and food security education - and all have subsequently signed up for the 102 course in order to further explore and grow their own understanding of our Canadian Ag Sector.