For many, summer is synonymous with taking time off, with travel, outdoor activities (weather permitting), beach, lake, mountain, or cottage holidays, or sitting in an outdoor café – in general a bit more relaxed pace of life. I often am asked whether I, as an academic, am “off for the summer”. As lovely as that might sound, learning and teaching do not take a summer holiday.
The rhythm may change – shifting perhaps to shorter learning experiences, non-credit professional development and enrichment courses, study abroad or experiential learning experiences – but lifelong and professional education continue even in summer. Moreover, many part-time adult learners and even “traditional” full-time students opt to continue their credit studies during the summer in order to stay on track to complete their programs in a timely fashion, perhaps even at an accelerated pace, to add key future-ready skills such as data science and machine learning, or an intensive language course for each term.
At the McGill School of Continuing Studies, we are proud to welcome students from all over the world, but also close to home in Montreal during these summer months. It is impressive to see how many individuals choose to learn during their own holidays, perhaps combining a travel experience with learning new subjects, skills, or languages. Take, for example, the School’s summer short programs, which have welcomed students from France to China, and many countries in between. Or the summer language and cultural immersions, which provide many students with intensive cross-cultural language acquisition in French or English while getting to know the city of Montreal and province of Quebec in Canada. For some this might lead to further study in Canada for a degree or certificate.
Others take advantage of the summertime to get a jump start on career prospects, such as our SEED Fellows, who are completing a professional development certificate in Productivity and Collaboration, i.e., 21st century skills, before embarking on further work-integrated learning and career development opportunities. For those considering a post-secondary education in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM), the STEM Foundations Certificate helps prepare the path for learners from many different backgrounds, from Indigenous communities to the United States and Mexico, among others.
Faculty and staff not engaged in summer programs spend the summertime busily preparing for the upcoming academic year. This is the time of year to refresh course outlines, readings, prepare lectures and assignments, finalize teaching contracts, admit, and register new students in fall programs. It is a time to clean out old files and emails, to reflect on what has been accomplished and remains to be done.
Many of us continue our informal learning, for example with summer lectures offered by the McGill Community for Lifelong Learning, any number of podcasts, videos, or by taking part in some of the many cultural offerings available in and around Montreal, and the surrounding areas. Whether you are reading a good summer romance novel or immersing yourself in the latest literature on generative AI, you are likely to learn something you did not know before or see the world in just a slightly different way. Learning never stops.