Listings:
Educational Organizations

The primary reason for the existence of these organizations is to provide education, and no other aspect of their work is as significant.

• Public Providers of Distance Education
• Private Schools, Universities and Colleges
• Nonformal Settings
• Web Sites and General Support
• Through the Classroom Door: Students using technology

Public Schools, Colleges, and Universities

British Columbia Institute of Technology BCIT delivers technical education to Greater Vancouver- this is where you go to learn to be a chef, a mechanic, a computer engineer, or all of the above. Given the amount of expertise huddled on their campus, BCIT will probably get extremely involved in the technological side of education over the next few years. At present, unconventional offerings such as courses delivered completely online are few and far between.

Capilano College Once you get north of the Burrard Inlet, Cap College seems to be everywhere. One of their claims to fame is the relatively cheap parking they offer on campus, and another is the opportunity to take groovy courses such as Mandarin in Beijing. However expansionist their approach to the northern Lower Mainland, Cap has not extended that drive to the electronic frontier.

College of New Caledonia Based in mid-Northern BC, this relatively small college has several campuses serving various communities. IT based distance education is not emphasized, the college preferring to concentrate upon creating relationships with students and preparing them for further education at the University of Northern BC and other local providers.

College of the Rockies Based in the South Eastern corner of BC, and working within a large geographical area, COTR uses IT extensively in its course offerings. The website informs visitors of the software needed to use the online courses, including a real time chat system. COTR seems to have embraced IT more strongly than most other public colleges, and to be using it to develop and offer courses not otherwise possible.

Douglas College Douglas serves a substantial area of the Lower Mainland, from New Westminster to Maple Ridge. The mainstays of Douglas College are entry level social service programs, courses preparing students for university entry, and English language teaching. Their use of technology is largely limited to putting up a web page with a rough calendar.

Emily Carr College of Art and Design Granville Island in Vancouver boasts a college and a brewery- a happy coincidence. ECIAD has gained an excellent reputation for preparing visual artists, and has started to move into computer graphics. We expect great things from this fusion of creativity and technology, especially as they are talking tantalizingly about the concept of networked education.

Institute of Indigenous Self Government Based in Vancouver, this institution specializes in preparing indigenous students for roles in First Nations government. Graduates leave the institute with a Certificate or Associate of Arts degree in Indigenous Government Studies. An important addition to post secondary education programs in BC, and one unafraid to embrace technology, presently offering five courses online.

Malaspina University College. Located in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, Malaspina designs great web courses and its students gaze at the sparkling waters of Georgia Strait. Patrick Dunae of "B.C. Homeroom" fame works here. Not bad for an old coal mining town that now has one of the most attractive waterfront plazas in the province.

Northern Lights College This institution is proud of the strength of its links to employers and businesses in the enormous area it serves. Telecommunications are used to reduce distances in the region, but computers are a marginal area of interest for the college. Interestingly, for a college serving a huge region, the emphasis lies on building interpersonal relationships.

Okanagan University College This community college features extensive IT based distance education to recognize the needs of its students. Around 30 courses are offered at all times, most of which are business oriented. The IT based education sits alongside more traditional forms of distance education.

School District 82 Based in North Western British Columbia, SD82 works in communities such as Kitimat and Terrace. One effect of the province’s drive for information technology use has been the development of web pages for school districts, even when, like this one, they have little to say. There are policy manuals posted, and you can link to schools, and then teachers. At that point, links lead to sites such as "Endangered Species in Canada." With such a large area to cover, we hope that the school district find a more substantive use for IT.

Simon Fraser University With a main campus perched on top of a hill in Burnaby, Simon Fraser’s decision to open a branch in downtown Vancouver was wise. A younger and more vibrant institution than UBC, SFU are doing interesting things in the field of distance education and community outreach. Definitely a place to watch for future developments.

Technical University of BC [l] An interesting institution, created to respond to demand for computer and similar technical heavy education, Tech BC endeared themselves to academics everywhere by considering tenure to be a mere technicality. Much positive media coverage and popular courses have resulted in a potentially successful form of provision, though the technical expertise within the walls of their Surrey campus (an old office block) has not resulted in an innovative forms of education. Something's brewing but who knows what?

Thomas Haney Secondary School This school was designed to take advantage of advances in educational technology. Despite widespread use of computers, with all the attendant ongoing software problems, it is ironic that THSS is the only secondary school in the district to lack a web page or substantial connectivity. It may be that the school moved into technology education a bit early, and now finds itself lying behind the funding and technology wave.

University College of the Fraser Valley UCFV has been a leader in online education in the province, and have been offering a number of courses for several years. As yet, it is not possible to take a whole program through online learning at UCFV, though they are working on this. One of the leaders in IT mediated learning at UCFV is the adult education department, who generally offer at least one course by this means each term.

Vancouver School Board We started examining ways in which VSB use information technology by asking what would be the most useful way to apply connectivity. Given a recent controversy about budget management at VSB it is perhaps not surprising that they do not use the web to publicize school board meeting minutes, annual reports, or budget information. That kind of access would ensure that there was a greater possibility of democratic management within what has become an enormous institution.

Public Providers of Distance Education

Connect This project intends to provide electronic resources for students working from one of the province’s distance education schools. We visited the website to learn more, and were interested to note that their own website features a number of blank pages. Since web connectivity is their entire reason for being, it does seem a little ironic.

Continuing Pharmacy Education These upgrade and refreshed courses are offered through UBC, mainly through paper manuals. At least one is offered in a more contemporary computer based form. The necessary hardware is listed as an IBM XT, the 1980 standard– no danger of demanding too much of the learner’s computer here.

Fraser Valley Distance Education School The province, insatiable in their appetite for technological innovation, have set up a number of distance education schools for K-12 throughout BC. We are uncertain how these schools are meant to work, since their technological delivery is limited. Visiting their website, as any parent with a computer might, gives access to a conventional listing of contacts and limited information on programs and courses. You then have to pick up the phone, an action that you could have managed with a relatively low tech phonebook.

Greater Vancouver Distance Education School This provision exists to serve the Lower Mainland, quite an interesting area in which to have distance education provision. The agency notes that there are many reasons for choosing distance education for K-12 study, and most of these are to do with overcoming timing difficulties. However, there is a section focusing on international students. The interactive aspect of the school is contradicted by the need to print out an application and mail it in if you are interested.

Open Learning Agency Established to perform a similar function as the Open University in the UK, OLA has grown into a substantial force in BC education. There are many divisions serving both K-12 students and adult learners, as well as specific units interested in areas such as workplace education and Knowledge Network television. Services are provided outside BC on a for-profit basis. In some ways, OLA represents the quasi-governmental organisations likely to dominate the future of lifelong learning.

Open School A division of the Open Learning Agency, Open School produces support materials that fit the needs of the K-12 curriculum. An interesting and innovate feature is OSCAR, a collection of 14 grade 11 & 12 courses available in print and online formats. This agency applies new media to many of the tasks tackled by traditional distance education, and has the resources and expertise to do it well.

South Central Interior Distance Education School One of eight distance education schools in BC, this Merritt institution specializes in distance delivery of the K-12 curriculum. While they have established a new IT mediated program, its application is currently limited to the electronic submission of assignments. It is interesting to note that people over 19 have to pay a fee to take high school courses through distance education.

Vancouver School Board Adult Education VSB have been delivering adult education since 1907, and they presently serve around 86,000 students annually. Part of their provision is either by distance or online, though most of the latter are computer courses such as Microsoft network engineer training. The distance education available when we checked were courses in fashion design and business writing. Registration can be completed online through an encrypted form.

Private Schools, Universities and Colleges

Academy of Learning Focusing on computer training, the Academy of Learning provides courses based on audio tapes and manuals. In effect, an ideal form of education for extensive technological mediation is left to linger at the cutting edge of 1953. As with many private institutions, IT constitutes cheap advertising.

Century College The three key words from Century’s mission statement are Achieve, Advance, and Succeed. We suspect there was a deliberate decision to omit Pay. Century College is a registered Private Post-Secondary Education institution, a strange quasi-official status developed over the last few years in BC. Century is linked to the University of Calgary and University of Houston-Victoria to offer Master’s degrees in Education and Business Administration.

City University This institution is a private, not for profit organization based in Bellevue, Washington, but with a branch in Vancouver among many exotic locales. Offers many online programs in order to recognize the work schedules of people it hopes to recruit. City offers more than 50 different programs in various fields. One interesting point is that instructors are expected to hold a master’s degree supplemented with two years of professional experience rather than a doctorate. It takes five years to get three weeks vacation if you work for City, and tenure is not a word that casts its shadow across this university.

Columbia College One of the oldest private colleges, Columbia has been around since 1936. They prepare students for entry to university with two year university transfer courses, for high school diplomas, for teaching English, and Columbia also teaches English. The web is not used as a teaching tool but as a marketing aid.

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts Based half a croissant’s throw from False Creek, this cooking school has a good reputation for preparing decent chefs, and also has a good shop for baked goods. Definitely an option if you want to be the next Chef Boyardee, technology is used to advertise rather than deliver courses. We wanted to check out the lunches as part of the research for this project, but ended up working right through.

University of Phoenix This successful U.S. business serving working adults with very applied "niche" programs created a centre in Vancouver in 1998. Although many of its programs are available online it owns or rents "study centres" in major North American cities. Students are taught by part-time faculty who do not enjoy luxurious items such as tenure or benefits. U of Phoenix has been successful in the US in attracting large numbers of non-traditional students such as black women. Several degree programs are offered entirely online, and the focus is on business education.

Vancouver College This institution is an independent Catholic K-12 school run by the Christian Brothers, a lay order dedicated to education. While fees are relatively low for a private school, parents of new students are "expected and encouraged" to make a donation to the Vancouver College Foundation. The web is used for advertising, but also to distribute the school newsletter. One item that caught our eye was the reassurance the principal offered to parents that he was determined to remove extortion, drugs, theft, and violence from the school.

Vancouver University Colleges Worldwide In many ways, it is reassuring to see this kind of institution still exists in this bad old world. VUCW offers experiential and external degrees of various sorts to people who do not wish or need to reside in Vancouver. This site is the electronic equivalent of those ads in the back of Rolling Stone offering a Ph.D. in Mysticism for a couple of lids of good grass.

West Point Grey Academy This private school in a ritzy area of Vancouver has a stunning web site, including a magnificent aerial view of the school and the North Shore mountains. The web is used as an information conduit for parents and as advertisement rather than as an educational medium, not surprising since folk are paying all that money to get their kids out of the house and into a uniform.

York House School This private school for 600 girls from kindergarten to grade 12 was established in 1932. As their publicity boasts, community= friendship, and when you join York House, you join a lifelong community of fellow "Yorkies." You are paying between six and nine thousand dollars a year for the privilege. The slogan of the school is "not for ourselves alone."

Nonformal Settings

British Columbia Safety Council The safety council offer an array of courses to make our lives safer, ranging from vocational courses such as Construction Safety to leisure activities like motorcycling. The courses are often pricey- it costs as much to learn to ride as I would spend on a motorcycle- but they are excellent programs. Don’t go out without them!

Commonwealth of Learning. Recently moved from palatial corporate H.Q to more modest premises on West Broadway in Vancouver, COL fosters open learning in poorer Commonwealth countries. In 1999 COL ran a successful Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in Brunei. COL maintain a substantial website, and is committed to IT as a means to increase educational access.

Equine Discoveries This organization sets out to provide horse related education from its base in Abbotsford. All potential cowpokes should head on out for training, whether you are a novice or trail ride leader. The owner of the company has used the web site to provide a monthly article and lists of resources for horsey folk. An imaginative and useful extension of the educative function, straight from the horse’s mouth.

Haida Gwaii Community Skills Centre Established on the back of the Skills Now initiative of the provincial government, community skills centres are located all over the province. They are often tied in to employment preparation education of various sorts, and this one is no exception, though it offers local skills such as basket weaving and preserving fish.

Heli Frontiers Helicopters have always seemed like an unlikely proposition to us, but if you are an adventurous soul to whom they sound like heaven, this is your chance to learn. IT is used to advertise a form of education inherently dependent upon advanced mechanical technology. It’s not so much training as a mingling of the industrial and post industrial. And it looks like fun.

Immediate Action Group If you want to shoot a gun, this is the place to go. The professional instructors will assist you to learn the correct way to use your firearm. The director of the organization was an RCMP officer for 25 years, and did instruct during that time. The use made of IT is to attract people who would otherwise not explore the wonderful world of campus towers, and its web site succeeds in making deadly force sound, well…normal.

Okanagan School of Logbuilding 30km East of Kelowna is a school where professional log builders learn their trade. The owner and operator of the school, Del Radomske, has been teaching log construction for several years. The shortest course offered is eight weeks, and the full course is 14 weeks in a hamlet in the mountains. Shopping and laundry are available for students- in another hamlet 25 km away. An excellent way to learn the Radomske four point notch.

Science World Housed in a strange circular building left over from Expo '86, Science World has a good reputation for amusing and educating children. The building houses an IMAX cinema as well as a bevy of hands on activities for kids of all ages. Science World exists to allow people to explore technology, and is a strong example of the way education and scientific knowledge can be mutually supportive.

Pinnacle Safety Systems This organization focuses on WCB regulations, and offers to help businesses train their workforce to meet those requirements. A minimal use of technology to advertise their presence.

Red Cross First Aid Training The Red Cross offer a variety of First Aid programs, from the well known "make sure they’re breathing and then leave them alone" type to the First Responder training, featuring oxygen application and critical thinking skills. One aspect of the courses of which the Red Cross is proud is their flexibility, hopefully meaning that as many people as possible can save your life when you choke on that over-enthusiastic bite of pizza.

Write 95/2000 This page boasts about events coming up in summer 98. Nonetheless, the conference itself, designed for writers, artists, and developers creating new media products and services for the digital publishing industry, looks interesting. One of the advisors was Howard Rheingold, editor of the Whole Earth Review. Cool, baby! Roll on 2001.

Web Sites and General Support

BC Learning Connection This company specializes in producing and distributing videos recommended by the Ministry of Education in curriculum guidelines. An interesting example of finding a niche market in electronic media and building a company to service it. Despite the existence of a web page, the focus of this organization remains firmly on the physical distribution of videotapes.

Community Learning Network As part of the Open Learning Agency, CLN has a mandate to help K-12 teachers integrate technology into their classroom. Their web site features over 250 menu pages with more than 4700 annotated links, a huge structure. During the last few years, the site has received more than 12 million visits. As with most OLA projects, the CLN use of IT is attractive and practical.

Discover Learning In a little known corner of the sympatico "mybc" web pages we found this nugget of educational potential. It lists projects, resources, news items, and even has a selection of online games. For example, we learned that a marathon is 42km (What’s wrong with those people? Get a bus…) A very useful and interesting site for teachers and learners of all ages. There is a large section on "web journeys" where you can take a virtual learning trip into the world of a shark.

Distance Education Support We are impressed by what people find to do for a living. This business is operated in Comox by an individual with an MSc in Computer Science. What he does is provide distance education students with information and articles related to their field of interest that would otherwise be unavailable to them. If you need to learn about Ming pottery in Iqaluit, this is the place to go.

Industry Training & Apprenticeship Commission This provincial body iscommitted to developing industrial training in BC, and to bringing some kind of order to a scattered field. They are linked to agencies like the Private Post-Secondary Education Commission, and also have some control over funding. An organizational body helping to facilitate education for school leavers.

SEEDS This organization consists almost entirely of the web site, designed to promote wisdom in the use of emerging educational technologies in post-secondary instruction. It offers a critical framework for deciding on the appropriateness of educational technologies, gives examples, and allows for electronic interaction with others interested in the same things. The snag is that the site has not been updated since February 1995, or the Mesolithic Era in web time. Tsk, tsk!

Special Education Technology-BC A provincial resource program designed to help school districts meet the technological needs of students with physical disabilities, SET is concerned with the use of IT in educational settings. The website features useful links and resources for teachers, and offers subscription to an electronic newsletter. Features innovative ways of thinking about how IT can mediate learning.

The Brainium Based somewhere in BC, this science education site is magnificent. The activities on the site fit the Grade 4-8 science curriculum in BC, and are beautifully presented, active, and interesting. For full access you have to join, but even the samples are worth a visit. In many ways, this is what the future of online education should be, exploiting the ability of IT to provide attractive and useful ways to learn.

Vancouver YMCA The Y is one of the traditional sources of adult education, but in this case we want to examine it as an umbrella organization supporting local educational provision. The web page is excellent, with clear design and access to publications such as the 1998 annual report. We believe this reflects the Y’s historical commitment to effective and accessible education.

Through the Classroom Door: Students using technology

Departure Bay Student Projects Several examples of the kind of work students are doing using information technology. Quite different from the corporate image of the official school home page!

Fort Langley This project was created by grade four and five students at Aldergrove Elementary for an international school cyberfair in 1996. Though the cyberfair is long forgotten, it is still possible to visit the website they created and learn about the history of Fort Langley.

Heritage Park Pond Project [l] The school is based in Mission, and students have used information technology to record and publish one of their projects- the creation of a pond from a quarry site near the school. The material includes photographs and a step by step description of the work that the volunteers did on this project.

Interactive stories Information technology students at Ashcroft Secondary put together a web based collection of stories, experiences, and information. Follow along with Jenny during her trip to France as a Rotary exchange student. Experience the thrill of a virtual bicycle tour through the French countryside. Make your decisions about a young person suffering from anorexia.

Walnut Park School Projects Based in Smithers, this school has posted a number of student projects. You can learn what students learned about explorers, or about running a business from the classroom. We learned that Sir Alexander Mackenzie returned home to Scotland to die.

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