“Numerous ICT professionals are unemployed because their skills do not match the needs of today’s labour market. ICT is decreasingly about traditional desk-bound programming and increasingly about 21st-century careers for professionals who display leadership and drive innovation.”

This won’t be news to everyone. Many post-secondary institutions, including TRU, have long recognized the importance of versatile employees and provide an array of diploma and certificate programs (the Diploma in Information Technology and Management is one) for professionals who are already working in their field and want to add skills to their repertoire.

What do you think – in the near future, will you be as likely to see IT pros in the boardroom as you are in the server room?

“Given Canada’s fiscal outlook, we are pleased that the government is continuing to invest in university research and innovation to create jobs today and to build the economy of tomorrow,” Michel Belley, Chair, AUCC Board of Directors, said in a recent press release.

Under Budget 2010, the government will continue to commit $32 million annually to three major granting councils which will allow universities to continue with research that will drive innovation and produce highly skilled workers. The budget will also provide $8 million for the Indirect Costs Program.
The Knowledge Infrastructure Program will enter into its second year and according to the AUCC, will continue to make a difference on Canadian campuses and paying dividends.

“The new investments in post-doctoral fellows will build on the stimulus provided by the Knowledge Infrastructure Program and the research funding announced today,” the AUCC said in the release. “The fellowship program, funded at $45 million over five years, will be internationally competitive and will help attract and keep talented recent PhD graduates in Canada.”

Paramount to this report is the suggestion of increasing the role of online learning in all levels of curricula from kindergarten to grade 12 and the college level as well.
The Obama administration’s push to improve elementary and secondary education, increase the number of college graduates by 20% by 2020 and overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act, incited this report.

The first national broadband plan, a report released by the Federal Communications Commission, suggested ways of expanding digital learning such as giving schools and hospitals affordable access to ultra-high-speed broadband.

“Although some e-book standards such as ePub are beginning to emerge, there is still significant flux and divergence from those standards,” Henry and Spiro write. “Standards are important in enabling consumers to read content from multiple publishers on their devices, to move content around to multiple devices, and to preserve books for the long-term.” While e-books will likely become a norm in higher education within the next decade, the reality is they do not convey the same experience of a traditional book such as offering the ability to photocopy, write in margins, highlight sections and bookmark pages. However, advantages of searchability of electronic documents and databases do persist as a real advantage over traditional print books. Other advantages are related to the cost savings as print collections require preservation controls while e-books do not require space or maintenance.

On January 4, 2010, the first day of 2010 that TRU-OL opened its phone lines to hundreds of inquiring minds, the Admissions and Enrolment Services department responded to 375 phone calls, 21 face-to-face student visits to the British Columbia Centre for Open Learning and approximately 70 emails. Combined, that means a total of 465 student inquiries were addressed in one single day.
The sheer volume of calls alone represented a record breaking day for TRU-OL as the Admissions and Enrolments department answered 23% more calls in a single day than it ever had before. These telephone inquiries represent an impressive 28.5 hours of phone counselling by the Admissions and Enrolment Services team.

TRU-OL’s realized virtual growth of interest in its website as well.

On Jan. 4, 2010, 5,074 individuals visited www.truopen.ca, which represents an 18.44% growth over the same day last year. These hits may have been a result of the 27.24% growth over the same day last year, of web users who were directed to TRU-OL’s website through Google searches. The number of users who visited the Open Learning website directly and intentionally grew by 3.71% over the same day last year.

Overall, the statistics are in and they say it’s going to be a good, good year for Open Learning.

From June 12-13, 2010, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) will play host to international academics, practitioners, researchers and students, congregating to share and discuss research-based knowledge related to the Conference theme.

The theme, according to Dr. Siva Prasad Ravi, Program Chair, School of Business and Economics, TRU, was chosen to “reflect the purpose of the conference which is to share the current and emerging knowledge and practices in management and technology” and thus meet one of the organizers strategic goals of promoting research among international representatives and stakeholders.

“Benefits to conference participants include updating their knowledge base and developing new ideas for research,” Dr. Siva Prasad Ravi, member of the Conference Committee, said. “Participants can look forward to making new contacts that will result in networking and joint research with faculty from other collaborating universities.”

Presented by the Modern Technology and Management Institute (MTMI), in collaboration with TRU, the conference will feature papers presenting new ideas, concepts and paradigms based on original empirical research or real life case studies relating to emerging trends. The goal of the conference, which is sponsored by the Open Learning Division of TRU, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Frostburg State University, is to present emerging theories, cutting-edge research and best corporate practices from areas of interest including (visit www.truopen.ca/mtmi for more details):

• Business Strategy
• Operations and Supply Chain Management and Decision Sciences (Operations Research)
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Information Technology / Computer Science
• Human Resources Management
• Finance
• Accounting
• Economics
• Open Learning / Distance Education
• Tourism Management

Academicians and professionals can submit full papers (camera ready) in any of the previous areas by April 15, 2010, in order to ensure that they will be published in the conference proceedings.

In order to encourage research among students, the conference is offering a separate session for student paper presentations, provided that a sufficient number of student papers are submitted. A separate session will also be organized for tutors, instructors and teachers representing open learning. The two best papers will be awarded a cash prize of US$100.

“At this conference, participants, including TRU-OL tutors, will be able to use the knowledge they have gained both through their teaching and through their guidance of student projects,” Prasad Ravi said. “By guiding student projects, individuals taking part in the conference will be helping their students by providing them with an opportunity to participate in an international conference.”

The last date to submit registration fees, without a late fee, for the MTMI-TRU 2010 International Conference is May 10, 2010.

“We are extremely pleased that TRU’s Founding Dean of Law has the credentials and experience of Chris Axworthy,” Dr. Ulrich Scheck, Provost and Vice-President Academic, TRU, said. “We are not only excited about what he will contribute to TRU academically, but also about the expertise he will offer as we establish our Law School in partnership with the University of Calgary.”

A native to the United Kingdom, Axworthy set forth on his Law career upon graduating from what is now London Metropolitan University in 1970. Soon thereafter he immigrated to Canada where he completed his graduate studies in Law at Montreal’s McGill University. Axworthy’s first interlude with teaching was in 1972 when he served as Assistant Professor of Law at the University of New Brunswick, a position which he took to Dalhousie University in 1975. It was in 1984 that he became a full Professor of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, where he was also the founding Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives.

Four years later Axworthy found a new niche in government when he was elected to Parliament as the MP in Saskatoon. Axworthy was re-elected twice and in 1999, he was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General for the Province of Saskatchewan. From there his career flourished and included great honours such as being appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2000 and becoming the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in 2001.

After a successful career within government, Axworthy returned to the post-secondary sector serving most recently as Professor and Dean of Law at the University of Manitoba. Today, in 2010, he will take on new and exciting challenges in his new post as Founding Dean of Law at TRU.

“It’s a rare opportunity to build a Law School from the ground-up,” Axworthy said at a press conference held February 22, 2010. “It is particularly attractive to do so in a vibrant community like Kamloops with such a forward looking and dynamic university as Thompson Rivers University with the support of the University of Calgary.”

TRU’s proposed School of Law was first announced on February 16, 2009, in a Speech from the Throne in which the Government of BC officially made the commitment to create the new school. Currently, the target date for the first semester intake is September 2011. Prospective TRU students can begin applying to the three-year, fully accredited this fall.

Knowledge never dies, it only grows with experience. Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL) student Maggie Marsh discovered this invaluable lesson through her experience as a mature student enrolled in the revitalized Return to Registered Nursing program.

“The course work and the tutor’s support helped me to recall just how much I still did know,” Marsh said. “My life experiences since having left the nursing profession were also acknowledged and respected (by cohort students and tutors).”

Marsh began her career in nursing in 1987, immediately after graduating from high school. She worked as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RPN) for six years before returning to school. Here is where Marsh’s TRU story begins.

In order to upgrade her education, Marsh enrolled in the RPN/RN Access program at Thompson Rivers University, formerly known as Cariboo College. In 1992, she completed the program and became a Registered Nurse (RN). Despite the program’s medical approach to nursing, Marsh returned to the field of mental health for another six years. At this point, she decided to make a huge life change.

“I left the nursing profession all together and became a Registered Massage Therapist (RMT),” Marsh explained. “I have enjoyed this field for the last 13 years but a few years ago I had to ask myself if I could still do the labour intensive work of massage therapy for the next twenty years of my working life and the answer was ‘no’.”

Despite a complete shift in careers, Marsh found that through TRU-OL, she was able to return to her professional roots and find a new niche and new future, in her old career.

“I never thought that I would nurse again but one day it popped into my head that I could return to nursing,” Marsh said. After contacting the College of Registered Nurses of BC (CRNBC), Marsh had a plan. She would complete a CRNBC-accredited “refresher” program, a necessity as she had been away from nursing for more than five years, through TRU-OL’s accredited Return to Nursing program.

“I chose to go through Open Learning because it allowed me to still continue to do massage therapy and bring in an income while pursuing my return to the nursing profession,” Marsh explained. Through online and distance learning, Marsh was not only able to keep working and fit studying into her schedule but she was also able to stay in her hometown of Castlegar, BC, a six hour drive from TRU-OL’s home base in Kamloops, BC.

“I was initially concerned I would feel very alone at home, just me and my computer, but was delighted to discover in a short time, the togetherness I felt in coming to know and work with my cohorts during group assignments, online sharing and discussions about our work experiences,” Marsh said. “It was liberating to see how much we all had to offer and how much we still remembered and could readily contribute once again to the nursing profession.”

Before even beginning her return to nursing adventure, Marsh knew she did not want to go back into psychiatric nursing, nor work in a hospital and through TRU-OL’s practicum component Marsh was able to get a taste of the nursing sector that did interest her – Home and Community Care.

After completing her practicum at Nelson Home and Community Care, Marsh was offered casual status as a Quick Response Nurse and after just one month of work the verdict is in… “I love it,” Marsh exclaimed.
“Much has changed in nursing in the last decade and the Return to Registered Nursing program helped prepare me for that,” Marsh explained. “While I have lamented to my new colleagues that I still feel like a student they have responded to say that we are all students and that even after many years of work, the learning never stops.”

While she is thrilled with her role as a Home and Community Nurse, Marsh knows that her yearning for learning will pop up once again and now she knows how to quell that desire – return to Open Learning and perhaps attain a degree in Registered Nursing.

“I feel confident that the OL approach will help me to easily attain my goals and thus I will be able to continue to live my life and pursue my educational dreams without too many distractions,” Marsh said.

The Faculty of Law curriculum license agreement between Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and the University of Calgary (U of C) has been finalized.

The curriculum agreement states that TRU can license existing curriculum that has had appropriate content modifications which recognize the differences in BC legislation. The reason this is feasible is that the majority of Law school studies are common across Canada and graduates of common-law Law Schools can article in any other common-law province, regardless of what province they studied in.

“This is an historic agreement and we are very proud to be part of it,” John Sparks, Counsel and Secretary, TRU, said. “Not only does it facilitate the establishment of our law school by licensing the curriculum of an existing first class law school, it does so across provincial boundaries in Canada. We think this is a great model for efficiently starting a new law school in a way that will serve our students and our communities.”

In his communication with TRU, Alastair Lucas, Dean of the U of C Faculty of Law described the partnership as “invaluable” explaining that it will allow the two institutions to “bridge the gap by expanding the reach of our exceptional curriculum.”

“Our focus on Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law is uniquely suited to academic priorities at TRU and we are excited to provide them with a program that focuses on practical legal skills instruction in the context of more theoretical legal principles,” Lucas said.

The degree granted by TRU’s School of Law will be Juris Doctor (J.D.), the same as that of U of C, will be done so in collaboration with the U of C Faculty of Law and will feature the official crests of both institutions.

Despite where her work takes her, Amelie Chiasson’s studies are sure to follow.
Working as a Senior Surveyor for a leading survey and subsea construction company in the oil and gas industry, which requires a lifestyle of persistent travel and offshore living, Chiasson knew that attempting to grow her education would be difficult. However, her determination to upgrade her post-secondary studies and gain management skills targeted towards a technical field led her to Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL)’s Bachelor of Commerce, Technology program.

“I did not want to leave my career and with my type of schedule I could not take classes part-time as I travel almost six months of the year,” Chiasson said. “An Open Learning program proved perfect for me as I can study wherever and whenever I want.”

Flexibility in the method and medium of study was essential for Chiasson who is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia but often lives offshore on the rigs in locals as far as Australia for up to five weeks at a time. The ability to choose between print or web-based coursework for many of TRU-OL’s courses was therefore ideal for Chiasson.

“We sometimes do not have Internet onboard our vessels so it was important that I took classes with textbooks,” Chiasson explained. “I reserve my time offshore for any readings that need to be done and I typically work on my assignments at home, where I have easy access to email and Internet.”
Working from, however, is no easy task, as after being away for four to five weeks at a time, it’s challenging for Chiasson to give up the little time with family and friends she has and instead devote it to her studies. This challenge, as tackled through the online and distance approach to learning, has in turn helped Chiasson to develop some desirable traits.

“The great thing about Open Learning is the time management abilities you develop,” Chiasson said. “Time Management is a great skill and I think employers can appreciate and recognize someone with this when seeing that they have completed a degree through distance education.”

Juggling twelve-hour shifts, course readings, assignments, travel and time with friends and family, certainly indicates that Chiasson must have mastered the art of time management. It also means that with the help of her Open Learning education, she is sure to be successful in her goal to gain the skills required to enter into a management position in the oil and gas industry.

“Undertaking the Bachelor of Commerce in Technology degree though Open Learning has given me the chance to focus on and progress my career as well as further my education,” Chiasson said. “Distance education is great for working professionals who do not necessarily want to leave their job to further their education.”