The fastest growing segment of Canada's population is Aboriginal children, who enter the education system with a unique culture and diverse set of needs. Early childhood educators sensitive to those needs can make a significant impact on the lives of children, their families and communities...

Supporting the the Media Exchange Cooperative (MEC) of British Columbia

Adobe Connect Case Study #1 - Alison Curtis, Librarian, Langara College

Purpose

Alison Curtis is the past chair of the Media Exchange Cooperative (MEC), a consortium of post‐secondary media libraries in British Columbia. MEC held their 2010 annual general meeting using Adobe Connect and had 21 attendees in person at Langara, 22 online from around the province of BC, and 1 attendee in the Yukon. The total meeting time was 3 hours and was chaired by Alison at Langara, hosted by an attendee in the Yukon, and administered by an attendee at Langara. Additional support was provided by the College's Education Technology department...

Adobe Connect User Case Studies - Monica Molag, Instructor & Department Chair

Supporting the Nutrition and Food Service Management Program at Langara College

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Adobe Connect Case Study 2: Janet LaPatourel, Instructor, Langara College

Purpose

Janet LaPatourel has two main uses for Adobe Connect: providing virtual office hours to her students and for weekly webinars. In general, she finds Adobe Connect has been really useful and overall has had very few problems with it...

Science capacity is crucial to a knowledge-based economy and key to BC’s continuing economic prosperity. Scientific knowledge is necessary for inventing new technologies that lead to economic benefits and job creation. Science permeates our everyday life impacting everything from the homes we live in to music and sport. Science is key to solving many complex problems that are affecting our well being and well being of our children, such as climate change, energy sources, and health care.

Since its inception BCcampus has supported the creation of numerous innovative science courses and resources in BC post-secondary institutions.

As part of its mandate to use technology to connect, collaborate, and innovate across BC's public post secondary system BCcampus is pleased to have supported the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development in the design and launch of the Year of Science web site. On September 24, 2010 the Premier proclaimed the 2010-11 school year to be the Year of Science and officially launched the web site. Here is the News Release.

The Year of Science web site provides science activities and resources for students, teachers, parents and grandparents and anyone with an interest in science and innovation. It provides gateway access to science centres, academic communities and science related businesses in all regions of BC. Stories of science achievement in BC act as inspiration to explore careers in science using resources on the web site. A calendar of events, news and announcements and feature videos and photos highlight activities and ways for everyone to participate...

AskAway - BC's Real Time Library Service

Anyone who has written a research essay or thesis knows how hard it can be to track down the academic resources needed to complete a project. That’s why BCcampus, along with BC post-secondary libraries, provides funding for AskAway, BC/Yukon’s post-secondary virtual reference service.

AskAway is a free online information service and allows BC and Yukon learners, educators and researchers to chat live with library staff at colleges and universities. Sunni Nishimura, AskAway Coordinator says, “Students are able to type in their question and have it answered by a librarian in real time. The service is available seven-days-a-week 10 am to 9 pm Sunday to Thursday, and 11 am to 5 pm Friday and Saturday, and learners can ask questions from anywhere they can access the Internet: at home, in a café, or using a mobile device.”

AskAway was launched in 2006 and now gives learners across the province and the Yukon 67 hours of remote library assistance per week. Library staff from 27 post-secondary libraries contribute to providing this service...

The use of open education resources, either in the context of large initiatives such as the OpenCourseWare Consortium, Moodle and Blackboard, or countless grassroots efforts, has been growing in prominence throughout higher education. Increasingly, instructors and students are asking how they can get involved with this movement, and what their institutions are doing to support this work.

Anyone who has promoted the development and reuse of open educational resources (OERs) knows there are many challenges. Just a few of these include institutional needs, intellectual property rights, community outreach and technical compatibility. Compounding these problems is the absence of resources explaining the issues to the wider community, or that provide a set of potential guidelines for those establishing policies...

Published: January 2010...

The BC Educational Technology User's Group - Innovating Higher Learning Through Technology

BCcampus sponsors the Educational Technology Users Group (ETUG), a community of BC post-secondary educators and educational technology practitioners. ETUG members collaborate to improve learning and teaching technology in post-secondary institutes across the province...

E-Legacies - Bringing the Games to BC's Classrooms

The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games offer great learning opportunities for post-secondary instructors and students during the build-up, the actual event and studying the post-Games impacts...