President’s Report Highlights - November

I have had the opportunity to
meet with the Acting President of the
University College of the Fraser Valley
and staff to examine ways that we can
ensure smooth delivery of services in the
valley, and to share expertise and
experience in the use of technology in the
delivery of courses. I also met with the
president of BCIT and the Superintendent
‘of Maple Ridge School District to
examine cooperative activities in the use
of technology amongst our various
institutions.

A dinner hosted by Douglas
College to celebrate a new women’s
studies curriculum was held at the College
on October 26th. It was attended by
academics and activists from the
community and from our sister
institutions. Dr. Lorna McCallum of
English and Communications co-
ordinated the activity, which included a
pot luck dinner.

On November 8th, I had the
opportunity to meet with the Executive of
the Douglas College Faculty Association
to discuss matters of interest and concern
for the College. We had a lively exchange
of ideas related to budget and working
conditions at the College. I will be

   

MNsne_ convoy

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returning to a future meeting with the
Association Executive to continue
discussion related to the uses of learning
technologies.

On November 15th, I met with
representatives from IBM to discuss
possible partnerships in the provision of
technical services to the College, both for
learning and for professional and
operating use. The Vice President,
Instruction was an integral part of these
discussions, and was responsible for
connecting IBM to my office. It is my
intention to continue to explore possible
working relationships with the corporate
sector in assisting the College in its move
to becoming technologically competitive
in the post-secondary sector.

On November 1 {th and 12th, I
attended the annual meetings of the
Canadian Research Institute for
Advancement of Women, held this year in
Prince George, B.C. I was invited to
speak on the issue of Cutbacks in Federal
Transfer Payments and the Impact on
Access for Women. I joined the Academic
Vice Presidents from Brock University
(Dr. Susan Clarke) and UNBC (Dr.

Internet
nursing
server taps
global
expertise

ome of the world’s leading experts

on psychomotor skills acquisition

and nursing instruction strategy got
together at Douglas College to exchange
questions and answers last September:
they enjoyed it so much they’ ve yet to
leave.

Authorities from across the continent
and from such far-flung locations as
Taiwan, Chile and Denmark began
appearing when the College’s Nursing
Learning Resource Centre went on-line
with NurseLRC, the world’s first
moderated electronic mailing list

Deborah Poff) in discussion of this
critical issue. I also had the opportunity
to initiate discussion regarding possible
future collaborative activities between
the College and UNBC.

Douglas College, Langara
College and Capilano College, together
with the Open Learning Agency are in
the process of forwarding a concept
paper to the Ministry of Skills, Training
and Labour, to explore opportunities for
the creation of the British Columbia
Open University. We have appointed
internal representatives to a working
group to develop an implementation
plan. If the Ministry approves our
request to move forward, our vision will
allow Douglas College (and our sister
colleges) to become degree granting in
niche areas by using the distance
education delivery service of the
Knowledge Network and OLA. The
opportunity to serve learners in areas
where Douglas College provides unique
and excellent programming will be most
advantageous to both learners
(potentially across Canada and
worldwide) and to our professional staff
and faculty #.

specifically aimed at nursing instructors.

“The response has been excellent,”
says Marilyn Lewthwaite, Nursing Lab
Manager and one of the list’s five
moderators. ““We’ ve already got over one
hundred subscribers and a surprising
amount of activity.”

The concept behind the mailing list is
simple; people involved in nursing
instruction - theory or practice - send in
questions which the list’s editors post
where all the subscribers can read them
and send in replies. The replies are then
edited and posted alongside the questions.

The topics discussed include care and
maintenance of equipment, instructional
strategies, computer and audio-visual
resources, funding sources, and anything
else the moderators feel is relevant to their
occupation.

“We'll be offering a new program on
computer technology next September,”
says Lewthwaite. “Something like the
NurseLRC is an ideal way of gathering
information for it.”

For more information, contact
Marilyn_Lewthwaite @ Douglas.BC.CA. &f