Resources geared to get youth moving

Recent studies show that one in four B.C. children between the ages of 2 and 17 is overweight or obese. That includes more than 150,000 children in B.C. public and independent schools – equivalent to the population of Regina or Richmond. And every one of those children has an increased risk of diabetes, early puberty and low self-esteem.

We know every move is a good move towards reversing this trend and improving the lives of B.C.’s children, which is why the government has introduced new parent and teacher resources to encourage children and youth to be more physically active.

The new ActNow BC parent and teacher resources include:

Healthy Living for Families guides – Every student will receive a booklet with tips and ideas on how to help children and youth be physically active and eat nutritiously. Three different booklets are aimed at parents of students in grades K-3, 4-7 and 8-9. A fourth guide is aimed at students in grades 10-12 to help them make their own healthy choices. The booklets are available in B.C. schools and can be downloaded online.

Health Matters teacher resources – These new learning resources contain materials that will help students learn more about active living and healthy eating. The resources will be aligned with the health and career education curricula for grades K-7, 8-9 and Planning 10. The resources have been piloted and tested for grades 8 to 10 and will be ready for implementation in September. Health Matters for kindergarten through Grade 7 will be field tested in this fall and ready for implementation in September 2008.

In October 2006, the ministries of Education and Health launched the Healthy Schools Network. It’s a voluntary organization of people whose common goal is to support and improve overall student health through schools. Over the next year, network members will work with the Province to develop provincial healthy living performance standards that will outline appropriate health knowledge for each grade level.

By helping and encouraging children and youth to be physically active, we are helping to ensure that they will live longer, happier lives.

How sweet it is – Candi makes materials easy to find

Up until now, James Laitinen has kept a spreadsheet of Canadian distributors of videos and DVDs to help him fill the hundreds of requests that pour in to the University of B.C. Okanagan library from post-secondary teachers and curriculum developers.

If a history prof wanted a PBS video to use in class, for example, Laitinen would consult his spreadsheet or rack his brain to remember which distributor handled PBS – McIntyre, Monarch or McNabb. He’d Google. He’d go to their websites. And finally he’d place the order.

Across the country, hundreds of other library staff were doing exactly the same thing.

But thanks to Candi, the first online tool of its kind in Canada, they can eliminate their spreadsheets and go straight to the source.

Direct links to distributors

Candi is short for the Canadian Database of Information on Educational Media. Educators, librarians and curriculum developers who are looking for DVDs, videos and other electronic materials from all over the world can use it to hook up directly with the Canadian companies that distribute the material.

The database has a variety of easy-to-use search options, including a choice of 300 subject areas, and includes material produced by everything from the BBC or the National Film Board to small, independent filmmakers.

And it’s free for the asking.

Candi was produced by the Advanced Education Media Acquisitions Centre at Langara College, which is funded by the provincial government.

Where can I buy this video?

“ ‘Where can I buy this video?’ is the most commonly asked question of a media librarian – and the most time-consuming to answer,” says Susan Weber, the librarian for the centre, whose job includes tracking down little-known titles after other librarians at post-secondary institutions around B.C. have thrown in the towel. “People see programs broadcast on TV, but don’t know where they can buy them to use in the classroom.”

Last year Weber and her team acquired the technology that would help solve the problem. Distributors provided information about what materials they handled. Heather Cai, then a graduate student from the University of B.C. library school, dedicated an entire course to migrating the data online – and Candi was created.

“This is a great example of public educators and government working with private industry to create a system-wide approach to finding training materials quickly and efficiently,” said Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell.

Librarians applaud

The response to Candi from other librarians in B.C. and elsewhere has been enthusiastic.

Says Laitinen: “I don’t have to maintain my own spreadsheet, and searching the database will save me a lot of little steps in the ordering process.”

Nancy Henwood, Camosun College librarian: “There wasn’t anything like this before. Now, you just go to one place to find what you need. It’s wonderful!”

And Maryon Egerton-Jones of Seneca College in Ontario: “Looks like I may well have another go at those faculty requests from obscure publishers that I've been pushing to the bottom of the pile!”

The URL for Candi is www.candimedia.ca. To use it, you need a password, which Susan Weber will be happy to give you. You can phone her at 604 323-5533, or e-mail her at sweber@langara.bc.ca.

A call for independence

Did you know the government of B.C. spends more than $4 billion a year on programs and services to help persons with disabilities achieve their full potential?

Offered by numerous ministries, these programs and services go by many names.
Someone with a disability has enough to deal with without being drawn into the proverbial search for the needle in the haystack when trying to find a service that would make a real difference in their life.

The solution – the Province has launched a toll-free Personal Supports Information Line to provide a direct route between the person and the service they need.

During its first phase, anyone can call 1-888-818-1211 for information about equipment and assistive devices provided by the Province. In the future, agents may be able to direct callers to the full range of provincial services provided to persons with disabilities – such as post-secondary education support, income tax exemptions and enhanced medical coverage – making it easier for them to achieve greater independence.

Hi-tech solution helps preserve ancestors' language

Most people at a loss for words can go to a dictionary or a textbook, or search on the Internet.

However, if you’re a member of a society whose language is not well documented, you might not be so lucky.

That’s one of the reasons Labour and Citizens’ Services Minister Olga Ilich recently announced new Network BC funding to help First Nations capitalize on the use of information technologies for language preservation.

Can you speak Ktunaxa?

The $100,000 grant will help the Ktunaxa Nation Council record, archive and preserve its language. They will use FirstVoices, a suite of web-based tools and services developed by the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation and supported by the federal and provincial governments.

The council and the recently launched Ktunaxa Nation Network intend to create online radio and web-casting programs, instructional materials and a language curriculum to be used by students, employees and community members.

“Our language is what binds us as a people,” says Ktunaxa Tribal Chief Sophie Pierre. “We must give our children every opportunity to carry on our beliefs and traditions in our own language. This project will help us preserve the Ktunaxa language and pass along our Elders’ knowledge to future generations.”

With only 30 fluent speakers of the Ktunaxa language left in the world, all over the age of 65, there is an immediate need to preserve the Ktunaxa language.

“The language of the Ktunaxa is a language isolate and is unique among North American First Nations,” says Don Maki, director of traditional knowledge and language for the Ktunaxa Nation. “It does not have the benefits of many other languages which have the same root with different dialects over a wider population base.”

All wired up

Ilich has also awarded a $25,000 grant to the First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Council to support FirstVoices.

But what good is a technology like FirstVoices if you don’t know how to use it? That’s why another $50,000 was awarded to the First Nations education steering committee to create a way to develop Internet skills and expertise within communities.

Not only will Internet access help with preserving languages, it’ll also mean extra business benefits, higher quality health care, more educated citizens and better access to services.

Connecting communities

About 91 per cent of British Columbians now enjoy the benefits of the Internet, making B.C. one of the most connected places in the world. Through Network BC, the Province and its partners have helped ensure that high-speed Internet access is available in 366 B.C. communities.

Network BC will continue to work with the First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Council and its other federal and community partners to bring FirstVoices to more communities across the province.

In doing so, traditional languages – the languages of our First Nations and their cultures – will continue to be part of the fabric of our province.

From classroom to clinic: more docs in B.C.

New and expanded teaching facilities at hospitals and other medical centres across the province are helping the University of B.C.’s expanded Faculty of Medicine to produce more “made in B.C.” doctors.

For instance, on Vancouver Island, the Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General Hospital have become two of 10 “clinical academic campuses” around B.C., with new classroom space, seminar rooms, academic staff offices and a medical library, as well as high-tech video-conferencing and e-learning systems linking them with the other clinical campuses.

These new campuses, built with $40 million from the Ministry of Health, are part of a plan to increase the number of doctors in British Columbia and encourage them to practise in less populated parts of the province. In fact, by this September, the number of first-year medical students in this province will have doubled, compared with 2003 – with new spaces for these students in Victoria, Prince George, the Fraser Valley and Vancouver.

Studies have shown that doctors tend to practise in the regions in which they are educated. That’s why UBC’s medical school was expanded to include the Island medical program, with its academic campus at the University of Victoria, and the northern medical program, based at the University of Northern B.C.

The new clinical academic campuses at Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General Hospital are part of the Island medical program. They support clinical teaching of undergraduate medical students, postgraduate residents and faculty members. Island medical program students also study with doctors in other areas of Vancouver Island – and when they graduate, are more likely to set up their practices in those smaller, rural and coastal areas as a result.

A new clinical academic campus at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster supports the expanded Vancouver Fraser Medical Program. And Prince George Regional Hospital hosts the Clinical Academic Campus for the Northern Medical Program. That means if you grew up in the North, love the North and want to practise medicine in the North, the infrastructure is there.