Alberta embraces e-learning

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Published: October 23, 2008

OLDS, Alta. – Last year, Justin Turner was able to study Spanish through distance learning, an opportunity he might not have had otherwise as a student in a small town high school.

This year, the Grade 12 student at Olds could have studied calculus with others in the Chinook’s Edge School Division through a unique technological linkup called e-learning.

That is just one of the opportunities opening to students in the province’s largest rural school division. Usually unique course options are only on the wish list because individual rural schools do not have enough students to justify classes that large urban centres teach regularly.

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As part of a technologically savvy generation, Turner sees this as a way for him and his community to further themselves educationally. Under the e-learning system, classes are taught in one location by one teacher and broadcast live via the internet or through video conferencing to other schools so more students can join.

“I really like the building because it allows Olds to broaden its horizons,” he said during the opening of an innovative education program offered through Olds College and the school division.

The concept started as a sketch on a napkin five years ago when local parents and the school board proposed something new and forward-thinking.

Government money had been approved to renovate the crumbling Olds High School, but the community said it wanted combined resources, classrooms and technology that could be shared by all.

Mary Turner was a parent on the governance committee and part of the original group that wanted something better for the rural schools in the area.

“It is pretty exciting to our kids to have those options. You are not at a disadvantage if you live in rural Alberta,” she said.

This kind of instruction includes smart boards to teach the sciences and dual screen computers with high speed internet access. They are set up in classrooms at the college to connect with young people who may be losing interest in school.

“One of the big things we thought about was how do you keep kids engaged in learning?” Turner said.

The concept came together with $55 million in provincial government support, parent fundraising and private donations. A major boost was joining with Bell Canada to develop a 13,000 kilometre technological backbone to reach remote communities in the division.

The Bell e-Learning Centre located at Olds College is unique in North America. It is a new, high tech method to deliver education to high school and post-secondary students, businesses or communities looking to upgrade and train in new skills. It is delivered through broadband technologies like video conferencing, web casts and video editing through the Alberta high speed internet system, SuperNet, available in all public buildings.

A partnership has been set up that includes the college, the local school division, the University of Alberta, the County of Mountainview and the provincial government.

“It is not only about hardware but the potential of shared space that brings opportunities for everyone,” said Bill Quinney, chair of the board of Olds College.

Eventually it will be able to be used by anyone in Alberta.

Centred at the college, the system will spread to 12 communities with access for students of all ages wishing to link into the education network. The $2.5 million it cost to set up the community centres was paid through the government’s rural development fund. The first site is at Delburne, east of Red Deer. The village of Cremona, southeast of Olds, will follow soon.

High school students started taking computer and media arts classes at the learning centre last May.

Besides the technology centre in the centre of the college campus, a new high school is under construction and will be joined by a health and wellness centre as well as a fine arts centre on college land.

About the author

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth has covered many livestock shows and conferences across the continent since 1988. Duckworth had graduated from Lethbridge College’s journalism program in 1974, later earning a degree in communications from the University of Calgary. Duckworth won many awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Association, American Agricultural Editors Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists and the International Agriculture Journalists Association.

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