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Gambling and Gaming Microcredential is a four day intensive course offered online and at the ¶®É«µÛ campus. The course features exclusive video interviews on findings of the AGRI National Project (ANP), as well as with gaming and gambling experts from other parts of Canada and around the world. In addition to providing a 360-degree understanding to gambling and gaming today, the instructor will help you and your team to develop innovative responses to challenges within your department, organization or research field. Indigenous and First Nations gambling will be addressed throughout the course.

Over the course of a week, you and your team will be guided through activities and quizzes to engage deeply with timely questions including: 

• How is gambling embedded in video games that are popular with K-12 students and younger adults? How do the design mechanics of lootboxes work and what are some of the benefits and risks of the integration of esports into school programs?
• What challenges are posed by the creation of new markets for online sports gambling, including younger and more diverse communities of sports fans?
• What are some of the obstacles related to educating older Albertans about safer gambling?
• What kinds of gambling are being offered by illegal and grey sites and how are cryptocurrencies involved?
• What are the comparative advantages of state-run and licencing systems for delivering safer and sustainable gambling to Albertans?
• What are some of the barriers to prevention and treatment of gambling harms? How is treatment seeking and provision affected by stigma and the lived experience of women and other equity-deserving groups?
• Should the framing of corporate social responsibility shift from Responsible Gambling to Positive Play? What would Positive Play look like from the perspective of providers, consumers and treatment professionals?
• How useful is financial literacy in creating more beneficial experiences for gamblers in casinos and online?
• What are some of the benefits and limitations of new online tools for prevention, detection and referral for people gambling in risky ways?

 Dr. Fiona Nicoll is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the ¶®É«µÛ. She is the author of Gambling in Everyday Life (2019), seven sole authored journal articles and book chapters, and several co-authored journal articles on gaming and gambling as well as the founding editor of the international journal Critical Gambling Studies. Dr Nicoll has also supervised postdoctoral fellowships and graduate students on gambling projects and taught two courses at the UofA on the politics of gambling and the politics of Indigenous gambling and play. Dr Nicoll's work on the politics of Indigenous gambling includes invited projects and a co-edited special journal issue on Indigenous gambling with Darrel Manitowabi.

Please email inquiries about the course to Fiona Nicoll at fnicoll@ualberta.ca