BUSU's GA Student Representative Team pictured from left to right: BUSU VPEA Mark Chrabalowski, Tarini Nair, Sophia Carnovale, Maram Abu-Alhaija, Sunita Bhalla, Avinder Saini, Olivia Gillespie, BUSU VPUA Carleigh Charlton, and BUSU Policy Writer Isabella McLaughlin.
Hi Badgers! My name is Isabella McLaughlin and, as the Policy Writer at BUSU, I am back for another post-OUSA General Assembly (GA) recap! This last March I had the privilege of attending my fourth GA as a BUSU delegate and also had the opportunity to co-author my third OUSA Policy Paper.
The process of co-authoring the Tech Enabled Learning paper with Mark, BUSU VPEA, and student leaders from the Ontario Tech University Students Union started back in August with initial research. We then continued throughout the fall and winter with many draft reviews and edits, and ultimately implemented the first round of delegate feedback before GA. During the conference the authorship team and I had the ability to directly talk with delegates representing the interest of their university’s student population to ensure our policy aligned with the most current developments in the ever-changing realm of digital learning. After these breakout room sessions, the authorship team would move into re-writes immediately incorporating the feedback shared with us.
After the last break out session and author re-write meeting, the final pre-plenary versions of the papers were ready for the last, more formal review, through official amendment submission for plenary. With plenary acting as the final chance to make any changes to the policy papers before they are voted on in the hopes of passing to be published as part of OUSA’s official policy library, it is a much more regulated format than the prior breakrooms. Each proposed change is submitted as an amendment that can be spoken on, or debated, by other delegates and will ultimately be voted on to determine whether it is incorporated. Sometime these changes can be relatively minor, with small word edits or additions, and sometimes it can be bigger alternations such as adding new policy points in a section. As an author, during plenary discussion on our paper, we often have the role of talking to suggested changes if delegates have questions around our views of the proposed alterations or how we see it affecting a section overall if it is more substantial change.
During this plenary discussion, there was a lot of productive discourse around pertinent topics in the digital learning landscape and how to best support student access to, and regulation of, new technological innovation. After moving through each amendment, I am happy to report our paper was passed and that this Tech Enabled Learning Paper will be joining OUSA’s Policy Library. Overall, this past GA was an amazing opportunity to work with student leaders from across Ontario’s post-secondary institutions and represent undergraduate students’ interest through this important policy work.
If you’re interested in learning more about OUSA’s policy, or the organization as a whole you can visit their website (www.ousa.ca) and if you are interested in getting involved in the next GA, keep an eye out on BUSU’s social media for when delegate applications open.
Check out the Fall 2024 OUSA GA Wrap Up from Isabella here.