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The "Virtual Campus" and "Refocusing Apprenticeship" of the Nova Scotia Community College - Canada
Source: Nova Scotia Community College
The Virtual Campus is the central delivery structure for a comprehensive "Alternate Delivery Model" of education and training that has been established at Nova Scotia Community College. Refocusing Apprenticeship is a pilot project exploring the potential of a new approach to the delivery of apprenticeship training. Taking advantage of the most current communications technologies, Refocusing Apprenticeship has established a "virtual campus" that allows apprentices to access their technical training through a computer terminal. Classes will combine user-friendly, interactive distance education methods with part-time classroom instruction and self-study.
This initiative is funded by Human Resources Development Canada in partnership with the Apprenticeship Training Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Culture.
Learning methods in the Virtual Campus
The alternate delivery approach means that many different types of learning methods will be utilized. Some of these methods will be synchronous, during shared learning times, others will be asynchronous during individually timed collaborative efforts. Such a flexible approach allows learners to study at the time, place and pace of their choosing using a variety of methods. Alternate delivery is a preferred option for today’s busy learners who wish to increase their knowledge and skills without having to sacrifice their jobs, home life, or be forced to lose wages or seniority. A commitment to the alternate delivery approach means that a blend of educational methods will be utilized to best meet the needs of learners.
Currently, Nova Scotia Community College has the capability to deliver courses utilizing a number of distance delivery formats:
The Virtual Campus is a Nova Scotia Community College Campus that exists on the Internet. Taking advantage of the most current communications technologies, a "Virtual Campus" has been established that allows students to access their courses through an Internet-connected computer. The "Virtual Campus" centralizes the delivery of programs and provide common delivery mechanisms. The Virtual Campus is known as the ACCESS.Campus: ACCESS is an acronym for "Alternate Community College Educational StrategieS." The Virtual Campus is located on the Internet, as opposed to an actual physical building on a piece of land. The address of the ACCESS.
The best way to see what the Virtual Campus is all about is to take a virtual tour of the Campus. The Campus has been created using a college metaphor: everything that you would have on a physical campus, has been programmed into the Virtual Campus. There are doors leading to different campus areas and buildings for each of the streams of college programming.
Rationale of Refocusing Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a structured system of supervised training leading to certification in a designated trade, occupation or craft. It is a systematic program of on-the-job training supplemented by in-school instruction in which an apprentice learns the knowledge, skills, tools and materials of the trade, occupation or craft.
In order to become certified journeypersons, apprentices must engage in between 450 and 800 hours of technical training combined with several years of on-the-job skills training. Traditionally, in each year of apprenticeship, apprentices have been required to leave their place of work for periods from three to eight weeks to attend technical training sessions. For many employers and apprentices this arrangement has become increasingly inconvenient. Employers lose the productivity of a valuable employee and apprentices often must incur the expenses related to traveling to the training institution.
Refocusing Apprenticeship is a pilot project exploring the potential of a new approach to the delivery of apprenticeship training. The intent is to make technical training more accessible and, therefore, less onerous for the employer and the apprentice to accommodate in their schedules. The goal of the project is to provide maximum access to apprenticeship training and reduce the financial burden to external funding agencies and to apprentices. The project will also decrease the amount of time that apprentices are required to be away from the workplace, which also reduces associated down-time for the employer.
While this new format requires participants to develop a certain level of comfort with a computer, the ability to use computers is an increasing reality in the workplace. For first time users, assistance is available to ensure success. The trades being piloted for this phase of Refocusing Apprenticeship are: Automotive Service Technician, Cook, Construction Electrician, Industrial Electrician and Stationary Engineer (Power Engineer) - 4th Class. All courses will be delivered using content structured around the National Occupational Analyses Series (NOAS).
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