Our approach to innovation
Rooted in culture.
Wired for possibility.
Every improvement starts with people.
We listen to classrooms, learn from communities, and keep finding better ways to connect them. Automation and AI help a small team do more, while relationships and culture guide what we build.
The bigger picture
Built to grow.
Focused on the classroom.
Connected North, a program of TakingITGlobal, connects Kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms in northern and remote Indigenous communities with live, interactive learning. Students meet artists, experts, Knowledge Keepers and role models, accessing culturally relevant experiences and opportunities that may not be available locally.
From paper menus and phone calls
Teachers once explored a paper menu of sessions, with requests coordinated through phone calls and email. Our team worked through dates, availability, materials and follow-up by hand. As more schools joined, every new learning connection could bring another chain of administrative tasks.
To a platform that connects the pieces
Today, teachers can discover and request sessions online, providers can manage availability and respond directly, and shared workflows connect booking, supplies, invoicing and support. Automation handles repeatable steps, while AI helps us build and improve the tools around them.
How do we put more of every resource into the classroom?
That question guides our investment in technology. Our goal is to grow access without administrative costs growing at the same pace, directing more time, funding and expertise toward inspiring sessions, hands-on materials and support for educators. A platform helps a small team serve a growing network while preserving the personal relationships that make the program work.
01 / Growing together
More teachers taking the lead.
Self-directed booking is one way we see the platform becoming part of everyday practice. Teachers initiate more of their own learning connections, supported by providers and the Connected North team.
Self-directed share of bookings
A wider circle of participation
Between 2021–22 and 2025–26, the number of teachers associated with at least one self-directed booking grew from 214 to 1,047. Providers involved in those bookings grew from 186 to 405.
These are real learning connections moving through the platform. They help our team focus personal guidance and support where it is most needed.
How we measure self-directed booking
Source: Connected North platform records, extracted October 21, 2026. Each July–June school year includes sessions with status Booked or Completed, excluding providers flagged for exclusion from reports. “Self-directed” means the record’s “Self-Requested through Platform” field is true. Teachers and providers are distinct participants linked to those sessions; a group booking can include several teachers.
The current year is incomplete and includes future sessions already booked for 2026–27. Its share can change as the year progresses. A booking initiated through the platform may still receive staff support, so the remaining share is not a measure of all manual staff work.
| School year | Self-directed / total | Teachers in self-directed bookings | Providers in self-directed bookings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | 1,087 / 5,854 | 214 | 186 |
| 2022–23 | 2,138 / 6,663 | 463 | 253 |
| 2023–24 | 2,111 / 5,085 | 672 | 293 |
| 2024–25 | 3,283 / 6,711 | 811 | 334 |
| 2025–26 | 4,468 / 8,181 | 1,047 | 405 |
| 2026–27 (in progress) | 1,635 / 2,376 | 542 | 293 |
02 / Technology with a purpose
Less administration.
More human connection.
Over the years, we’ve built a connected set of tools around the classroom experience. Each improvement gives teachers, content providers and our team more room to focus on learning.
Booking that moves with you
Teachers can discover sessions and request times, while content providers can share availability and negotiate dates directly. With autobooking enabled, an accepted request can move into scheduling without another round of staff coordination.
Explore the learning platformFinding the curriculum connection
AI-assisted curriculum tools help the team find and review connections between learning expectations and session content. Work that once required searching and matching by hand can now begin with AI suggestions, with people reviewing the fit.
Big possibilities, easier to explore
The Future Pathways Navigator brings scholarships, career stories and course-planning resources together. AI can help adapt explanations for different ages and reading levels, making complex information more approachable as learners explore their next steps.
Visit Future Pathways NavigatorMore support around the lesson
Parent-letter downloads help teachers share what’s coming up. Our teacher AI Playground pilot explores lesson planning and classroom resources that reflect local learning goals and cultural context, with educator feedback shaping each iteration.
Time to share your expertise
Schedules, session details, automated invoices and payments help artists, Knowledge Keepers and experts spend less time on paperwork. To date, 22,509 provider invoices have been generated through our automatic payment program. Our average payment turnaround is within 24 business hours.
The details that make scale possible
Automated supply orders, shipping notifications and session-start monitoring help materials arrive and people connect. To date, 11,468 resource orders and shipments have been fulfilled or ordered, supporting hands-on learning across distances.
How we count invoices, payments and shipments
Source: current Connected North Airtable Payments and Shipments records, extracted October 21, 2026. The invoice total counts provider-linked records flagged for the automatic payment program with an accounting-system invoice ID. These confirmed invoice records date from November 2021; payment-request records without an invoice ID are excluded.
Payment turnaround is the mean number of calendar days from request submission to the recorded paid date, based on 22,447 paid invoices with valid dates. Sixty invoices without a paid date and two with a paid date before submission are excluded. Paid dates are recorded by day, so this is a calendar-date measure, not an exact count of elapsed or business hours, and it does not measure when funds reached a provider’s bank account.
The resource total counts shipment records with a Date Fulfilled/Ordered. It excludes requests with no fulfillment or order date. Each record is counted once; it can cover several items, and an order date does not confirm delivery. Shipment records extend back to September 2019, but that is not a verified automation launch date. The total describes orders and shipments coordinated through the system, rather than a count of fully automated transactions.
03 / A practice of continuous improvement
Listen. Build. Learn. Repeat.
Feedback becomes a prototype. A prototype becomes something people can try. What we learn shapes the next version. AI-assisted development helps us explore ideas and move working prototypes toward production, alongside testing and human review.
pull requests merged into production branches since January 2025
Behind that number are new capabilities, fixes, accessibility work and refinements to the tools people use every day.
- 2021–22
A platform for growing together
Teachers begin requesting sessions through the platform. The foundation is simple: make inspiring learning easier to find and organize.
- 2023–24
Less back-and-forth. More learning.
Mobile-friendly browsing, guided tours, direct date negotiation, provider resources, principal access, automated shipping notifications and autobooking make the platform more useful across the program.
- 2025
Better tools around every session
A refreshed provider dashboard, parent-letter downloads, provider renewal tools and shipping-label improvements help people prepare, communicate and manage the details.
- 2026
AI becomes part of the improvement toolkit
Curriculum alignment workflows, Indigenous knowledge frameworks and a teacher AI Playground pilot expand what the team can build and test with educators.
Explore the development history and what the counts mean
Source: the ConnectedNorth_Web repository and GitHub pull-request history, extracted October 21, 2026. A pull request (PR) is a proposed set of code changes. Production-branch PRs were merged into master or main; all merged PRs also include development and feature branches. Commits count all commits reachable from the production branch, including merge commits, grouped by committer year.
These counts show development activity. They are not counts of distinct features, deployments or measured improvements, and do not establish how much of the increase was caused by AI. The 2026 period is incomplete. Zero PRs in earlier years reflects the repository workflow, not an absence of development.
| Year | Commits | All merged PRs | Production-branch PRs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 105 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 406 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1,403 | 224 | 138 |
| 2024 | 1,899 | 380 | 269 |
| 2025 | 3,452 | 969 | 644 |
| 2026 (to Oct. 21) | 11,306 | 2,380 | 1,759 |
04 / What brings technology to life
Culture is at the centre
of the whole experience.
Learning connects more deeply when students see their lives, communities and identities reflected in it. Indigenous role models bring expertise and lived experience into classrooms, opening possibilities for what students can imagine for themselves.
In 2025–26, 59% of sessions were delivered by Indigenous content providers, as recorded in our program report.
Knowledge, opportunity and belonging
Content providers share their talents and passions, mentor young people and earn income through their work. Teachers gain access to cultural perspectives and community knowledge that can enrich what they teach.
Cultural context in the tools, too
Our tools can incorporate frameworks such as the Anishinaabe Seven Grandfather Teachings into AI guidance. Different Nations and communities have distinct teachings and priorities; local context and human judgment matter throughout.
Technology helps make connections possible. The people sharing their knowledge give those connections meaning.
05 / Thoughtful by design
More capability.
The same responsibility to learners.
We consider the benefits and the trade-offs together. Our approach to AI centres on learning, privacy, cultural relevance and care for the resources we use.
Coach the thinking
Our approach to AI tutoring is to guide students with questions, hints and encouragement, helping them develop understanding and work toward an answer.
Keep people involved
AI-generated suggestions need review. Educators and our team bring the context, relationships and judgment needed to decide what is useful and appropriate.
Consider where AI runs
Privacy and data sovereignty guide decisions about Canadian hosting and on-device or cloud processing. We consider the needs of each tool and community, rather than assuming one approach fits every use.
Use resources thoughtfully
Environmental impacts are part of how we evaluate technology and partnerships. We consider when AI adds value and how to use it thoughtfully as our tools evolve.
Built through partnership
Thank you to our
Technology & Innovation Partners.
Scotiabank, Softchoice and Amazon help make this work possible. Thank you for supporting technology and innovation that connect more classrooms with learning, culture and opportunity.
Scotiabank
Our digital platform partner. Through ScotiaRISE, Scotiabank has supported the development of Connected North’s digital platform, helping build the foundation for its continued growth and making it easier for teachers and content providers to connect.
Softchoice
Through a three-year partnership, Softchoice has committed pro bono technology services and expertise to help us do more. Most recently, their team has been developing our curriculum AI feature, helping connect learning expectations with relevant Connected North sessions.
Amazon
An Amazon Web Services education equity grant provides cloud computing capacity for our digital platforms and AI tools. Amazon’s broader partnership also helps bring coding skills to life for Connected North learners through Your Voice is Power, connecting technology, music and Indigenous perspectives.
The next improvement starts with a conversation.
Help us create more possibilities for northern and remote classrooms.