New virtual school gives B.C. high school students online options

If you’re reading this e-newsletter, you already know that technology plays an increasingly larger role in our lives – at home, in the workplace and at school.

Now government is using technology to help respond to rapidly changing provincial demographics.

There are fewer students in B.C. schools today. In fact, school districts have 12,336 fewer students this year – and 42,500 fewer students since 2001. It’s part of long-term trend. Enrolment has decreased for nine years in a row and is projected to decline by another 30,000 students over the next five years.

On top of this, B.C.’s urban population continues to outpace rural growth. Eighty-five per cent of British Columbians now live in urban centres, with over half of the population living in the Lower Mainland.

These demographic changes mean many schools face the challenge of teaching fewer students.

One of the ways government is turning that challenge into an opportunity is through LearnNow BC, the Province’s new virtual school. LearnNow BC is an enormous opportunity to increase choice and flexibility in courses for students in this province.

For example, students in the Rocky Mountain school district might not be able to take English Literature 12 because there aren’t enough students to make up a class, or a qualified teacher isn’t available. Now they can – through LearnNow BC.

LearnNow BC also benefits urban students in places like Vancouver and Richmond by giving them online access to courses that fit their timetables and often busy lifestyles.

47 school districts taking part

This use of technology links students to hundreds of courses offered by 47 B.C. school districts, allowing students to learn at any time, at any pace, and from any place in the province. And now it’s getting bigger.

Earlier this month, LearnNow BC expanded its online tutoring service to provide more students with one-on-one help at the time when they need it most – right before their provincial exams. Online tutoring now reaches all students taking Essentials of Math 10, Principles of Math 10, Science 10 and Social Studies 11.

This means that a student in Campbell River who needs an extra hand solving geometry problems can log on to a chat room in the evening to work through the equations with an accredited teacher or a peer tutor. That same student may also check out “Charged up for Math,” another form of online tutoring that provides students with 24-hour-a-day access to sample provincial exam questions, the most difficult of which are explained through streaming video clips.

All students in B.C. taking Essentials of Math 10, Principles of Math 10, Science 10 and Social Studies 11 can get extra study or homework help by visiting nightly “live” workshops with accredited teachers. These sessions include a group discussion and a question and answer period on topics specific to that night’s session.

Students can test themselves

And for students willing to test their knowledge of a particular subject, a feature called StudyBUZZ is available 24 hours a day, allowing students to quiz themselves and then obtain a diagnosis that helps assess which areas of study require improvement.

LearnNow BC also features a course finder and a toll-free number that provides students with advice about course planning and options, graduation requirements and preparation for post-secondary admissions. The Province has invested nearly $1 million and has pledged another $5 million to continue to expand the service.

Other new technology services include the new virtual library reference service AskAway, the Rural Education Network, and a new shared services website that allows small, rural districts to purchase supplies at prices often only available for larger urban districts.

The world is changing and our approach to education has to change with it. We need to continue to explore new ways to improve student achievement. The key is seeing the opportunities among the challenges, working together, and using technology to best serve B.C. students.

Check out LearnNow BC at http://www.learnnowbc.gov.bc.ca.

Made-in-B.C. Education Planner helps students make smart choices

It’s an online planning tool for post-secondary students that’s unique in Canada, if not North America.

It attracts hundreds of thousands of visits a year from British Columbians who want to know what they can study where, how much it will cost, and how long it will take to earn their diploma, degree or certificate.

It’s funded by the provincial government, so it’s free to users.

And it just got better, with a new virtual student services centre where students can have their questions answered online, and a personalized account function that allows students to save their program searches and create post-secondary plans and budgets.

It’s called Education Planner, and it started as a little project off the side of the desk of a counsellor who wanted to help students help themselves by giving them an easy way to find the information they need to make informed decisions about their education.

“You wouldn’t buy a car just because it’s blue – you’re going to do some research,” says Linda Pardy, who was working at Kwantlen University College as director of student services at the time. “It’s the same with education – you’re not going to take a program just because you like the campus, or because it’s close to home.”

Information on more than 1,600 programs

Education Planner provides students, parents and educators with information on over 1,600 undergraduate programs at all of B.C.’s public institutions and two private institutions. And it fits perfectly with the Ministry of Advanced Education’s goal of improving access to post-secondary education – and to information ABOUT education – for students.

“We have 26 top-quality post secondary institutions in British Columbia, and Education Planner helps our students make the most of them,” says Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell. “With 25,000 new student spaces by 2010, there’s a wealth of opportunity for British Columbians to get the education they need to follow their dreams.”

The best way to find out what Education Planner has to offer is to log on to the website at www.EducationPlanner.bc.ca. But in a nutshell, Pardy says, it lets students gather information about B.C. post-secondary institutions and their areas of interest, and compare based on subject area, length of programs and estimated costs – without navigating through each institution’s website to search for what they need to know.

“It’s a tool to shop online for post-secondary programs,” says Pardy, who admits she had trouble finding the information herself when she started building Education Planner back in the early ’90s. “And it tells you not just how much tuition you pay per credit, but includes all the student fees as well – there won’t be any surprises at the cash register.”

Pardy’s inspiration for Education Planner came from her partner, Ray Pardy, who at the time was building a central database of services for people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She figured something similar could ease the “total frustration” she saw in many of the students who came to her office for help – and would be a boon for students who were afraid to ask.

The first version was on floppy discs – “that was before CDs” – and was purchased by schools for their students’ use. Then the Ministry of Advanced Education, impressed by the tool’s potential, bought it, and it was put online six years ago. Education Planner is currently managed by the B.C. Council on Admissions and Transfer, funded by the ministry.

Recent enhancements

Recent enhancements – MyEdPlanner and Career Developer – have been made to the site with the help of students from St. John Brebeuf secondary in Abbotsford and Prince of Wales secondary and John Oliver secondary schools in Vancouver.

With MyEdPlanner, students can personalize their search by creating an account, saving program searches and creating post-secondary plans and budgets. They can also build a portfolio by saving education and career planning activities accomplished through Education Planner. This resource will help students keep track of all their searches according to their area of interest. As well, it gives them the opportunity to look at all the options available and make informed decisions and ask informed questions based on these searches.

Career Developer contains about 200 student support resources, including 32 self-assessment tests that help students pinpoint their interests. “Students are only successful in learning things when they are interested in them,” says Pardy, who is working on her doctorate in higher education leadership at the University of Calgary, and is the Education Planner liaison with institutions, advisers and the council. “Career Developer is a tool to help you find yourself and what your learning style is.” It’s also a student self-help library that provides links to free websites that include such topics as study skills and student wellness.

Pardy suggests using Career Developer first to identify areas of interest and pinpoint a field of study. Then the broader Education Planner site can be used as an online catalogue. If students or parents have questions, they can post them, and Pardy will reply within 48 hours – she answers about 60 a week.

Once students have done their research on Education Planner, they’re better prepared to meet with a student adviser and make the most of a face-to-face consultation by asking specific questions, Pardy says.

“Go to the adviser with two or three programs in mind,” she says. “This will be the best use of your time.” Students might want to ask questions about the type of workload to expect, time commitment, job opportunities or the right electives to choose.

Pardy says advisers appreciate Education Planner because it frees them to answer the tough questions, and makes their workload more manageable when students have done their homework first.

The website’s popularity has surged in the past couple of years under the direction of the B.C. Council on Admissions and Transfer as new features were added, and students, parents and advisers discovered the wealth of easy-to-find information just a mouse-click away. Today, the site logs as many visits (five minutes or over) in a month as it did in all of 2003. Last year, Education Planner had a total of 420,413 visits.

“It’s taken almost 10 years, but it’s now captured the imagination and minds of students,” Pardy says.

Embracing the workable: The 10 by 10 Challenge

You probably know someone with a disability – whether it’s a friend, a colleague, a family member or a neighbour.

Today there are roughly 300,000 working-age British Columbians with disabilities. Many of these people are well-trained and educated. In fact, 34,000 have college diplomas, 30,000 have trade certificates, and 28,000 have university degrees.

Despite these credentials, however, people with disabilities face more than their fair share of challenges when they look for work.

That’s why Employment and Income Assistance Minister Claude Richmond and Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, co-chairs of the Minister’s Council on Employment for Persons with Disabilities, issued their own challenge – the 10 by 10 Challenge – at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention last fall.

Richmond and Sullivan are calling on municipal and business leaders across the province to increase the employment of people with disabilities in each community across the province by 10 per cent by 2010.

A million jobs to be filled

“People with disabilities have tremendous talent and skill to offer to their communities and local economies,” said Richmond. “With the upcoming 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, it’s estimated there will be about one million jobs to be filled by 2015. Clearly, there have never been better opportunities for all British Columbians to fully participate in the workforce.”

Currently, close to 132,000 British Columbians with disabilities are working across the province. By 2010 the goal is 145,000 – that’s another 13,000 people with disabilities participating in B.C.’s local economies.

“I know personally the struggles people with disabilities face trying to find their place in the workforce – and how much a person can achieve when given the right opportunities,” said Sullivan.

Communities that have taken up the challenge so far are Vancouver, Prince George, the Cariboo regional district, Kimberley, Powell River, Port Alberni, Kamloops, Revelstoke, Nakusp, Ashcroft and Trail.

Business and communities that want to take part can register on the 10 by 10 Challenge website at www.eia.gov.bc.ca/epwd/10by10.