Subject knowledge alone isn’t enough. To succeed, students also need confidence, context and skills rarely taught.

Nicole Campbell is on a mission to address this gap, known as the – “hidden curriculum”.

Early in her career as a professor in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University, Nicole noticed her students were smart about their subject areas and completing their work. But she could sense something was preventing them from reaching their full potential.  

“When I started to dig deeper, I noticed these foundational hurdles students needed to overcome to achieve their academic goals,” says Nicole.

She observed a range of challenges, including time management, prioritization and interpersonal issues, as well as gaps in understanding academic norms and expectations. What professors might take for granted, like how to format a paper or what an acronym means, became roadblocks that added extra stress and anxiety for students.

Nicole could relate.  

“Things did not come easy to me as a student. When I reflect on my past, I often think about what I wish instructors had taught me just to make some of those navigations a little bit easier.”

So she decided to take action. With a grant from eCampus Ontario Virtual Learning Strategy, Nicole and a team of specialists developed a digital toolkit for students and educators.

Launched in 2022, the toolkit is called Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum (UTHC). Open and accessible to all, it’s a website with separate paths for learners and educators each with five domains: executive function, communications, critical thinking, inter- and intrapersonal and social accountability. Across all the domains, 54 skills are outlined, with lessons on how learners can master the skills and how educators can integrate them into curriculum.  

“These skills matter in the classroom and well after graduation,” says Nicole.

Three years after launch, Nicole is thrilled to see UTHC making a real difference in her classes, her colleagues' classes and beyond Western.  

“I find it really interesting how many educators want to be engaged in this work. When I first started, I was a bit of a lone wolf. But recently, I've been invited to give workshops and presentations at different institutions, and it's been so refreshing to see the level of interest. The site is being used all over the world in a variety of contexts. While it was initially designed for post-secondary education, I’ve seen considerable interest from secondary schools across Canada as well.”

And she believes UTHC can have a powerful impact on learners’ confidence.  

“Students often confide in me about their goals and aspirations and sometimes seek out additional support or mentorship to achieve them. It’s rewarding to get an email after a few years have passed, where students share how these skills have impacted them, how they've applied them, and most importantly, how they've helped them stand out from their peers and achieve their goals.”