Background
The purpose of AVA Online is to provide all trainees and team members with an accessible online resource for AVA’s training as per AVA’s objectives and guiding principles.
AVA Online is hosted on RISE (Raising Interdisciplinary Scientist Excellence), a Learning Management System (LMS). RISE will also be used by several other Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) Health Research Training Platforms (HRTP) as their online learning platform for their unique curriculums, but also as a repository of courses that can be accessed by all HRTPs, including AVA. The repository of material will be created in partnership with the many academic and community agency collaborator content creators. Trainees will also be engaged in content creation, drawing particularly from their experiential community internships.
Curriculum Overview
Based on the trainee’s needs, AVA Online can be completed one course at a time or as part of formal the AVA curriculum or programs (i.e., AVA badges, the AVA Triadic Mentorship, or the AVA Internship).
The AVA Online courses are organized into four “streams” built around AVA’s objectives and guiding principles. These are:
- Understanding the causes, consequences and neuroscience of gendered violence from a lifespan and intergenerational perspective;
- Understanding causes, consequences, and neuroscience of early adversities (more broadly than gendered violence forma lifespan and intergenerational perspective;
- Implementing or doing research in an applied context;
- Exploring topics related to equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA).
Courses
AVA Online courses are organized into three micro-credential/badge levels.
The first two levels (i.e., AVA Foundations and AVA Intermediate) are grounded in AVA’s objectives and guiding principles and form a core curriculum for AVA trainees. These two levels are comprised of a set of required courses that must be completed to earn an AVA Foundations (level one) and AVA Intermediate (level two) badge.
The third level (AVA Advanced) consists of special topic courses created by AVA team members or partners. AVA Advanced content is flexible with the aim of complementing AVA’s objectives and guiding principles, and this third level is developed based on trainee needs and team member expertise.
Scholars who complete AVA Foundations, AVA Intermediate, and a set number of AVA Advanced courses are eligible for an AVA Certificate.
AVA Online content will be developed and used to populate the RISE repository over time.
Have an idea for a course?
Team members may make requests for new content creation/additions that the AVA team will accommodate. Presentations and training at the annual RESOLVE/AVA virtual conference will also be reposited.
AVA Team Members are encouraged to provide content as a means to share their knowledge and experience! We welcome ideas about online course content and are delighted to offer AVA Online as a platform for knowledge mobilization.
Note:
AVA Online is mostly an asynchronous, continuous enrollment, and automated training platform. The platform is not designed for synchronous cohorts or to support intensive person-supported evaluation.
An exception is the AVA Webinar, which allows delivery of 1-hour of course content to a live audience of trainees, academics, community practitioners and experts with lived experience that will be recorded and made available on RISE as part of the AVA Online curriculum.
Get started with AVA Online!
Follow the instructions below on how to create an account on RISE and access AVA Online content!
Don’t see the instructions? That means you aren’t logged in! Log in here, or if you don’t have an account, create an account using our membership page. It’s FREE!
Additional Learning Opportunities
Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children (CREVAWC) Training (Western University)
*Please note that courses presented by CREVAWC cost $50 CAD (The regular fee is $200 CAD but the cost is subsidized by CREVAWC for this program)
Capability-based courses: Developing skills to recognize and respond to gender-based violence
- Family violence and coercive control dynamics – Foundational module
- Supporting and advocating for survivors who are navigating the criminal justice system
- Engaging men in conversation about family violence
- Managing risk and promoting safety with men who have behaved abusively
- Multi-Agency Case Review
Manitoba Association of Women’s Shelters’ offers the following as free courses to the public:
There are other courses that are offered by MAWS but require a fee, click here to view all their offered courses.
The Alliance of Canadian Research Centres on Gender-Based Violence provides free access to all their project briefs, and community practice webinar recordings on their website.
AVA Online Working Group
- Organize Raising Interdisciplinary Scientist Excellence (RISE) Training Platform contents, including courses into modules and submodules
- Develop process for adding/creating course content for the curriculum (e.g. invitations to AVA Team members)
- Develop guidelines for micro credentialling
- Review requests for new content/courses