This honour celebrates Cotnam-Kappel's interdisciplinary research within Franco-Ontarian communities and her forward-thinking approaches to preparing new teachers for success in the classroom.
As holder of the Research Chair on Digital Thriving in Franco-Ontarian Communities, Cotnam-Kappel leads numerous research collaborations in Ontario and beyond.
One of her most recent projects reimagines how candidates in the Faculty’s francophone Formation à l'enseignement program learn how to become teachers.
The first phase of the research project Former autrement : innover en formation enseignante à l’ère du numérique en contexte francophone minoritaire took place in 2025, against the backdrop of teacher shortages, limited French-language educational resources, the predominance of English and a teacher-candidate population largely composed of newcomers to Canada.
Cotnam-Kappel brought together the uOttawa candidates and teachers from French-language school boards in Ontario to co-create new learning materials. The future teachers learned to develop resources that reflect the language and culture of the communities they will serve, rather than using one-size-fits-all materials or adapting resources created for English-language settings.
Through their involvement, the candidates gained a better understanding of the needs of local Franco-Ontarian communities. The initiative also laid the groundwork for a grant application to build on the project’s success and extend its impact.
Promoting digital equity
"Professor Megan Cotnam-Kappel has dedicated her career to understanding and addressing the digital language inequalities that affect Francophone communities in minority settings, and has established herself as a professor whose teaching brings about lasting change in the training of educators," says Francis Bangou, Dean of the Faculty of Education.
"A proud Franco-Ontarian, she places the voices and experiences of young people and teachers at the heart of her research," he adds.
“Receiving the University of Ottawa's Award for Excellence in Education is a meaningful recognition of work that has always been deeply collaborative. I accept it with great gratitude.”
Professor Megan Cotnam-Kappel, PhD
— Research Chair on Digital Thriving in Franco-Ontarian Communities
Strengthening community connections
Cotnam-Kappel’s work bridges university research and the everyday experiences of educators and students in minority language settings.
“The best ideas emerge when universities, schools and communities learn, reflect and innovate together,” she says.
“In my classrooms, our students work alongside educators and school partners to co-design educational resources and) explore creative, critical and ethical uses of technology.
“If this award celebrates anything, I hope it is the belief that the most meaningful innovations are those imagined with communities and brought to life in classrooms.
“Receiving the University of Ottawa's Award for Excellence in Education is a meaningful recognition of work that has always been deeply collaborative. I accept it with great gratitude on behalf of my students, colleagues, and the exceptional partners in French-language schools and communities," she adds.
More about Megan Cotnam-Kappel
Megan Cotnam-Kappel is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education and serves as the Research Chair on Digital Thriving in Franco-Ontarian Communities with the University’s Collège des Chaires de recherche sur le monde francophone. Her research focuses on ethical citizenship in the digital age, digital equity, digital literacies, open education, and participatory and digital methodologies in minority-language settings.
