Education
May 20, 2010
Provincial Partnership
Recognized with National Award for
Use of Technology in Education
A partnership between Newfoundland and
Labrador's public education institutions has been recognized by the
Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE) with the 2010
national Award for Excellence and Innovation in Partnership and
Collaboration.
"This is the first time in North America
that public education providers in one jurisdiction have achieved this
level of collaboration and this award recognizes our significant
accomplishment," said the Honourable Darin King, Minister of Education.
"Most importantly, this unique partnership benefits all of our secondary
and post-secondary distance education students, particularly those in
rural areas, by providing a common technology for distance learning. As
students transition between educational institutions in the province
they can avail of the same distance learning software throughout their
education."
The Department of Education's Centre for
Distance Learning and Innovation (CDLI), Memorial University's Distance
Education and Learning Technologies and College of the North Atlantic's
Distributed Learning partnered with Desire2Learn Incorporated, a world
leading provider of mission-critical enterprise eLearning solutions.
Through the partnership, the three education providers currently offer a
province-wide system that supports distance education regardless of
location, time or educational level. This enables ease of transition and
access between institutions for students; supports rural-based education
development and delivery and contributes to a province-wide learning
culture. The Provincial Government invested $1.3 million for the
initiative.
The unique partnership originated in part
from the Provincial Government's White Paper on Post-Secondary
Education, which called for greater collaboration among publicly funded
education providers in the province. Recognizing the need for updated
technology, the education providers identified an opportunity to select
a common learning management system to support all distance education in
the province.
"As a result of this partnership,
Memorial University and the provincial education system have built a
reputation as leaders in the field of distance education," said Ann
Marie Vaughan, Director of Memorial University's Distance Education and
Learning Technologies. "Not only has the collaboration with Desire2Learn
allowed us to enhance teaching and learning on campus, but most
importantly it means people in rural parts of the province have access
to a university education that they wouldn't otherwise have. This has
made a tremendous impact on the opportunities available to our learners,
and has also had a positive effect on their families and the communities
in which they live."
The award, which recognizes initiatives that contribute to supporting
open and distance education within the primary, secondary and post
secondary sectors, was received on May 18 at the 2010 CNIE conference in
Saint John, New Brunswick. This is the second award the partnership has
received. The first was the international 2009 Desire2EXCEL Community
Service Award.
"The new system is providing a quality
online learning experience for our students," said John King, former
Chair of Distributed Learning at College of the North Atlantic. "It
gives them greater access to course materials and it is a common
platform with other provincial online education systems. We are very
pleased to have been recognized for this partnership, but the real
winners are our students."
The Provincial Government has made
significant investments to enhance distance learning opportunities in
the K-12 system and post-secondary education systems. This includes $2.2
million for computer replacements in the K-12 system; $1.5 million over
a three-year period for a technology integration plan and $1.5 million
for Memorial University to increase the number of courses available
through distance education.
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Media contacts:
Tara Power
Director of Communications
Department of Education
709-729-0048, 727-5953
tarapower@gov.nl.ca
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Courtenay Griffin
Communications Coordinator
Distance Education and Learning Technologies
Memorial University
709-737-2611
cgriffin@mun.ca
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Roger Hulan
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709-643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca
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2010 05 20
10:10 a.m.
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