FUSION Skills Development Fund

Are you passionate about empowering students with future-ready skills? Teaching and Learning Services is excited to offer the FUSION Skills Development Fund — an initiative that supports instructors with integrating one or more FUSION skill development modules into their courses.

These modules are designed to help students build essential transferable skills such as creativity, constructive dialogue, digital literacy, innovation and well-being. Through funding from Employment and Social Development Canada, this initiative provides both financial and instructional support to enhance student learning and growth.

1. What is FUSION?

2. Funding

3. TLS Support

4. Eligibility

5. Sharing Results

6. Application Deadline

7. How to Apply

What is FUSION?

The FUSION skill development program features inclusive and innovative learning modules that foster development of 21^st century skills. While “skills” are sometimes viewed as vocational or narrowly focused on employability, they are also essential for academic success and personal development. They help students manage complex academic tasks, work effectively in teams, communicate ideas clearly and adapt to new challenges. These skills are foundational for thriving in university, building resilience and engaging meaningfully in society.

Each FUSION module is interactive and built on sound experiential learning principles. The modules take students approximately four hours to complete and come with an accompanying workbook. Modules can be used to enhance skills development within any subject area and are relevant to all students no matter where they are in their degree completion. The TLS FUSION team can support implementation into any course in a variety of ways.

Funding

The value of the fund is $2,000 per instructor (funding is available for up to 15 instructors). A maximum of one award per instructor is available for embedding at least one of FUSION’s newest modules into one or more courses.

Faculty members may choose to either receive the funds as direct financial compensation, which will be taxed as salary income, or have the funds deposited into an Enterprise account, jointly administered by the participant and TLS. All funds must be spent by March 31, 2026.
Contract instructors are only eligible for direct financial compensation, which will be taxed as salary income.

The funds may be used to:

Compensate instructors for their own work involved in embedding one or more FUSION modules into one or more courses
Hire a student to work on embedding one or more FUSION modules into one or more courses
Purchase tools and/or equipment

TLS Support

In addition to monetary support, applicants can consult with a FUSION specialist to explore how the module(s) can fit into their course. The FUSION specialist will help identify existing course activities that align with the module(s) and help determine when student interaction with the module(s) will be most meaningful.

Eligibility

Instructors and faculty members are eligible to apply and a letter of support from your department head is not required.

Contract instructors teaching a course in the winter 2026 term are also eligible to apply. A letter from your department confirming your winter 2026 teaching contract is required.

To be eligible for the fund, you must embed one or more of the newer FUSION modules — Creativity, Constructive Dialogue, Digital Literacy, Innovation and Well-being — and agree to the acknowledgment of understanding. Instructors who have embedded a FUSION module into their course before can apply, however they must be planning to embed a module that they have not used previously to be eligible for the fund.

We will evaluate projects based on the following criteria:

Your commitment to using the module in your course
Your proposed plan for including it in your course

One of the aims of the FUSION project is to build awareness and capacity around skills development at Carleton. To support this aspect, all FUSION Skills Development Fund recipients are expected to share back the results of their project with the Carleton teaching and learning community. You will be expected to:

Report on student completion of the module using a provided template.
Complete a case report about your experience with FUSION using a provided template. This will be synthesized into a vignette case study to be posted on FUSION’s website. You will have the opportunity to review the content prior to posting.
Participate in the FUSION community of practice meetings during the initiative. Two one-hour meetings will be held in the winter term, and you will be expected to attend one of these online meetings.

Application Deadline

The deadline to apply for the fund was Monday, Nov. 24, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Applications are no longer being accepted.

How to Apply

Applications for this fund are now closed.

If you are interested in using FUSION resources, join the FUSION Facilitator Portal to explore the modules and receive updates on new offerings.