Working Students and Learning Collaboratively: Certificate in Nunavut Public Service Studies

Presenter: Chris Turnbull, Carleton University

Date: 15 April 2009 at 1:00 P.M. (Eastern)
Mode: Elluminate Live!
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Recording: http://elluminate.nait.ca/play_recording.html?recordingId=1238073800647_1239741758889

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ABSTRACT
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The Certificate in Nunavut Public Service Studies is a post secondary, 8-course program offered to individuals in Nunavut using blended distance delivery methodologies. Between 2002 and 2007, Carleton’s School of Public Policy delivered the first round of courses (and an additional 9th course) to Government of Nunavut employees in partnership with the Department of Human Resources , Training and Development Division. Courses were delivered to individuals in Cambridge Bay, Arviat, and Iqaluit via a combination of technologies, including WebCT. Carleton professors were teamed with community based facilitators trained in Supplemental Instruction to offer online and onsite learning opportunities and support. In 2008, the program was opened to any individual working in Nunavut.

Central to the Certificate was the development of learning support that could assist participants to achieve their learning goals, offer a collaborative learning environment among individuals from diverse educational backgrounds, and accommodate the busy lifestyles of all the participants (with commitments to family, community and their employer). “Smoothing” technological bumps and associated learning curves in the use of technology as a learning tool and for delivering courses, engendered a unique learning community among participants and between students and the institution. A result was a highly flexible and collaborative approach to course delivery.

The webinar session will offer a brief overview of the Certificate and then describe the learning support model(s) that were developed to assist participants who were taking a course, or some courses. Included will be some consideration of hindsight -- the development of “pre” distance courses prior to taking a distance delivery course, “lessons learned” by instructors, students and coordinator, and future possibilities.

Some questions that will be embedded in the talk to create, hopefully, some discussion and ideas:

• How are the changes in technological access in Nunavut affecting course delivery and selection?
• The diversity among communities suggests that one distance delivery model for all communities doesn’t work. What can technology do to bridge this?
• What workplace atmospheres might affect the outcomes of a distance delivery course?

Some links:

Certificate website: http://www2.carleton.ca/sppa/prospective/nunavut.php
SI website: http://www.umkc.edu/cad/SI/

Chris Turnbull coordinates the Certificate in Nunavut Public Service Studies through the School of Public Policy at Carleton University. Previously, she co-coordinated the Nunavut BA program in Carleton's Centre for Initiatives in Education (www.carleton.ca/cie), and the Aboriginal Enriched Support Program. She has been working in the fields of adult learning and distance education since 2000.