Wider Horizons - Summer 2008

Summer 2008

Threads of heritage Carol Melting Tallow sews her future

In the Community P. 4 • Kodi’s new look P. 10 • You Tube Generation P. 6

Recruiting high on our laundry list There’s an old advertising adage that goes something like: “Take a beautiful woman, a cute child and a puppy and you can sell anything.” We opted for a guy in a towel.

Most of you by now have heard of our “Totally New’d” campaign.

It’s based on the concept that due to all the innovations and positive changes on our campus in the past year, we have so many new things to celebrate, we’re “totally new’d.” Any implications that your college is turning into a nudist colony are misguided conjecture.

The entire idea was to take our message of renewal and revitalization to our main demographic: the next wave of media-savvy, hip young learners who don’t always respond to traditional messaging.

A limited marketing campaign such as Totally New’d is designed to capture attention and create a desire for more information.

Once potential students reach our website, request promotional booklets or talk to a recruiter, they learn about our quality programs, outstanding faculty and great facilities, information on which they base their decision to apply. We know students don’t make a decision of this importance based on one ad; we do need, however, to stand out enough to get their attention.

We believe in the benefits higher learning can give them, in the benefits that accrue throughout life from a Lethbridge College education. Too many high school graduates are quick to abandon the possibilities of post-secondary study in favour of a fast dollar minted in the heated provincial economy. We believe the real, the lasting “Alberta Advantage” is access to education. How, then, to turn their heads from a paycheque born of instant

gratification and instead lure them to the longer-term prospects of a rewarding career?

Enter Towel Guy and his Totally New’d message of new spirit, new facilities, new programs and new endeavours.

Lethbridge College, like any well-run post-secondary institution, is a business. We exist because we attract customers who, after shopping around for an appropriate school for their goals, choose to spend their education dollars with us. We know we have an attractive product that stands up well alongside that of our competitors. We want to keep southern Alberta’s learners, your children, in southern Alberta because it’s good for them, it’s good for our economy, and it will be good for our future when they put their knowledge to work here.

There was a time when marketing ourselves was barely necessary; now we’ve gone necessarily bare. We’re prepared to do what it takes to get them in our classrooms. Towel Guy/ Totally New’d is tame by some standards, but it certainly created a buzz in the community.

Our website hits increased by 15 per cent right after the campaign was launched, and by 26 per cent for the week after Easter. Statistics show those visitors are digging deeper into our website to learn more about who we are and how we can help them achieve.

It’s our hope that sort of buzz will generate a desire to begin a quality college education.

Vol. 1, No. 4, Summer 2008 Wider Horizons is published four times a year (spring, summer, fall and winter) by the Lethbridge College Advancement Office.

Through stories that celebrate the accomplishments of our students, employees and alumni, the magazine communicates Lethbridge College’s vision, mission and goals to its audiences.

We thank you for picking up this copy and hope you enjoy the read. If you would like to recommend story ideas for future issues or would like to find out more about our magazine, contact us.

On Our Cover Threads of Heritage..................................................................14 Carol Melting Tallow (Fashion Design and Marketing ’08) is banking her aboriginal-inspired clothing and accessories will create a fashion statement across the continent. We wouldn’t bet against her.

Connecting with community......................................................6 Our students are making a difference in the community through course work and service learning. The organizations they assist can’t say thanks enough.

Kodiaks new logo in play..........................................................10 A new logo, new uniforms and a new attitude will carry our college teams into battle this fall. Kodi never looked so good.

You Tube Generation..................................................................4 Four Lethbridge College instructors have designed a course of study to make you a technologically astute story-telling videographer, one who can master the secrets of the You Tube age.

Wider Horizons c/o The Advancement Office 3000 College Drive South Lethbridge, AB T1K 1L6 publisher: Steven Dyck manager: Carmen Toth editor: Derek Bly co-ordinator: Michelle Stegen design: Jaylene Ulmer In addition to free distribution to our regional community, Wider Horizons is also mailed to all Lethbridge College alumni. Alumni are encouraged to stay connected to the College by updating their contact information at the Alumni Association’s website: lethbridgecollege.ca/alumni To share this issue with others, visit our Publications web page at lethbridgecollege.ca/publications

What’s Inside

Going the Distance.............................12 Shanda is a Dreamweaver...................16 Facing School Violence........................18 Sheryl Saddles her Dream Job.............21 Knowledge for the Greater Good.........22 Dwayne’s World.................................24 Wasn’t That a Party!...........................26

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New course embraces ‘You Tube’ generation In a now-forgotten time (say, five years ago) the art of storytelling was honed around a hearth, at a grandparent’s knee, or while marshmallows toasted over a campfire. Provided the tale had a degree of relevance or resonance for the listener, the teller needed little else to create the appropriate atmosphere to enchant a small audience.

Today, young “videographers” equipped with cellphones can produce mini-movies and transfer them worldwide with the flick of a thumb. They have technology to reach a mass audience, but many lack the skills to create compelling material.

Four Lethbridge College instructors have been studying the phenomenon and the changes technology has wrought on the telling of tales. Their conclusion: while the method of distributing stories to audiences has altered dramatically, the creation of engaging material hasn’t changed all that much.

Peter Scott hiessen : Gregory T y h p ra g to Pho

the You Tube generation will understand why the match of storytelling with production is important.

“You Tube is more than just rants,” says Gallant. “They’re putting production values into their work and getting open, honest feedback from viewers.”

None of the four have preconceived notions on what types of learners will compose the fall intake; they’re preparing for a wide range of interest and age.

“Everyone has a story to tell,” says Elias, who is particularly interested in design for small devices. “We’ve had requests for a video-editing course from people as diverse as social workers, nurses and anthropologists. It will be cool to see the different types of people who take the course.”

Regardless, they’ll be required to develop solid content before moving on to the production semester.

That’s led them to create a new course of study, the first of its kind in Canada.

Telling Stories, a two-semester endeavour, will be available this fall to anyone who has a story to tell and seeks an imaginative, technologically competent way to tell it.

“There are those who are a little technophobic and those who have all the technical know-how, but in any video production, content rules,” says Gallant, whose students have been nominated and have won provincial awards for their broadcast documentary work.

Telling Stories is the initiative of George Gallant, Broadcast Journalism; Leanne Elias, Multimedia Production; Marko Hilgersom, Humanities; and Brent Cottle, English, who have melded their areas of expertise to create the curriculum.

Hilgersom and Cottle will take students through the creative storytelling process in the fall semester, while Gallant and Elias show them how to turn their ideas into four-minute videos in the winter.

In the fall semester, students will learn the history of the narrative, its beginnings and theory. Cottle, who also teaches dramatic literature and film studies, and Hilgersom, who teaches ethics, pop culture, religious and cultural studies, will use ancient and contemporary stories, along with novels and films, to show how compelling narratives are developed.

Hilgersom’s original name for the course was You to You Tube, but copyright considerations required a change. Still,

4 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

“People hear stories all the time, but they don’t always know what constitutes a good one,” says Cottle. “It’s a bit like biology: everyone knows what a frog is, but to understand how one functions, they have

to dissect one.”

Through a seminar-style of discussion and a range of writing assignments, students will put storytelling under the scalpel to understand how narrative works before creating one of their own.

In the winter semester, they’ll move onto production and distribution; even with a seemingly short four-minute project, all the skills and elements necessary for a longer venture come into play. Once finished, their work can be uploaded to iPod, You Tube or cellphone formats.

“That’s how this generation is getting its information,” says Gallant. “We’re looking for personal stories, because they provide the better material.”

Gallant should know: two years ago, at his prompting, Lisa Motuzas, a Broadcast Journalism student, produced a short documentary called My Little Hand, a piece detailing her deformed limb. The piece was chosen best student production of the year by the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association.

“People have important stories to tell, and they’re much more powerful when they tell them themselves,” says Gallant.

The technology is changing so quickly, Elias and Gallant will be forced to ensure they keep up.

“I spent 20 years in broadcast and everything was done the same for 20 years,” says Gallant. “Now it’s changing so fast.”

Elias agrees: “Technology is ubiquitous and mobile – our learners are taking their coursework with them on their iPods and cellphones. It’s invigorating to see new distribution methods, and challenging to create material that will rise to the top of the mountain of available content.”

George Gallant (at camera) with Marko Hilgersom (left), Brent Cottle and Leanne Elias (Multimedia Production ’98): coming to a cellphone near you

Four Lethbridge College instructors have been studying the you-tube phenomenon and the changes technology has wrought on the telling of tales.

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Leona Rousseau , Interior Design instructor, look and owners of In s over store plan trigue Lingerie s with student Li Boutique, Colle ndsay Gergel en Armstrong an d Rita McArthur .

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Lindsay, Katie, Becky: our Ministers of the Interior Interior Design student Lindsay Gergel might never have thought she’d make her first real-world mark in the lingerie business.

appropriate finishes that allowed for flexibility and functionality.

“”

But the Turin-area farm girl and 2008 Lethbridge College graduate stepped off campus for some downtown design work at Intrigue Lingerie Boutique on Seventh Street South, helping owners Colleen Armstrong and Rita McArthur create the look and feel they wanted for their recently opened store.

“They had nothing planned; it was just gutted open space,” says Gergel. “I had a chance to start from scratch with the design concept, using the ideas of the clients to develop the overall concept, floor plan and elevations. Working on a real retail design from start to finish gave me invaluable experience and increased confidence in using the skills I acquired in the program.”

Work on the project is still underway with SASHA using the plans created by Braithwaite and Pasowisty forming a base the organization can use to seek funding for the space redesign.

Meanwhile, Gergel was using colour to create a retail environment that enhanced the merchandise and reflected the company image.

You have an idea in your own head of what might work for a class project, but it’s far more exciting to do it in downtown Lethbridge.

“You have an idea in your own head of what might work for a class project, but it’s far more exciting to do it in downtown Lethbridge,” she says. “I had to work with the contractors to stay within a budget, while dealing with an older building. It created real-world design problems.”

Co-owner Armstrong praises Gergel’s work.

”Wow, this was a young lady who listened to us and was able The Interior Design program’s to take our words and turn them practicum encourages students to into our vision,” says Armstrong. work with community businesses, “We must commend Leona charities, and other organizations Lindsay Gergel [Rousseau, Interior Design without charge. instructor] and her program as she Gergel’s project is one example has definitely produced one fine of how Lethbridge College interior designer. Our retail project students share their newly found knowledge and skills to gain wouldn’t be what it is today without the help of Leona and experience and contribute back to the community. especially Lindsay. Lethbridge College must be commended for Unlike Gergel, who worked almost with no restrictions having such a wonderful program available to the public.” but her imagination to create a vibrant retail space, Katie In the end, all three students realized success.

Braithwaite and Becky Pasowisty learned early on that every Rousseau explains community-based projects are an colour and finish they chose could affect the lives of their integrated part of the course work. clients.

“Projects like these create valuable and meaningful student Braithwaite, a first-year student, and Pasowisty, who experiences, raise public understanding of the program and graduated in April, took on the redesign of two Lethbridge profession, and provide a way for our students to give back to group homes for the Southern Alberta Self-Help Association the community,” says Rousseau.

(SASHA), and soon found themselves researching what materials and components were best suited for people with The projects also reflect Lethbridge College’s desire to serve mental health issues. students by providing opportunities to learn, evolve and grow in their careers and lives, and to become socially engaged Both laud the opportunity to give back to the community in citizens. which they earned their education, and agree developing skills learned in the classroom was a precious opportunity.

Previous Interior Design projects have included work with Habitat for Humanity; Homes for the Holidays (a fundraiser “A chance like that doesn’t come along often,” says for the Kids Help Phone); the Canadian Abilities Foundation Braithwaite. (a national databank of accessible locations), and others. All They met with SASHA representatives to discuss space have led to the kind of win-win student and client successes for planning, flooring, finishes and furnishings, keeping in which the Interior Design program is known. mind the need for client privacy in the homes and budget constraints. They had to learn about colour therapy (reds are too stimulating; blues can be too cold); the need for Peter Scott easily cleaned and maintained cabinetry, and aesthetically tography: Gregory Thiessen Pho

erg

Background Artwork: Shawn Salb

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Students wow community The numbers tell some of the story: Lethbridge College Service Learning students provide some 4,300 volunteer hours annually to as many as 60 organizations, many of which ask for one of roughly 100 students involved each semester.

“The response from those to whom we send students is always positive,” says Paradee. “They’re grateful for the student help, energy and new ideas, and they love having young people around.”

At the start of each semester, Paradee visits those General Studies courses offering service learning and extols the virtues to students. Interestingly, service learning can itself be a 50-hour course, offering students a chance to immerse themselves in one not-for-profit

“

In fact, says Leslie Paradee, service learning co-ordinator, more than 200 community organizations have been helped through service learning since her office opened in 1999. Money provided by the Wild Rose Foundation and the G. L. Talbot Endowment made Lethbridge College one of the first in Canada to adopt the concept into its programs.

“Service learning is a vital part of the college’s philosophy of giving students valuable practical experience and benefiting the community we serve,” says President Tracy Edwards. “We endorse any process that introduces learners to actual roles within society and helps them see the connection and the advantages they can bring to bear from a postsecondary education.”

Service Learning really takes off through the 17 General Studies courses offering it as an option. Courses are open to students from several programs including Nursing, Criminal Justice, and the Nippon Institute of Technology partnership. Participants are required to put in 15 hours serving in a capacity that relates to their course of study. They’ve served at Chinook Regional Hospital, the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen, Lethbridge homeless shelter, YMCA, YWCA, both city seniors organizations, the Boys and Girls Club and various schools.

8 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

a symbiotic relationship greater than the sum of its parts. True, learners gain experience and their hosts benefit from the help, but the ties service learning creates between college and community are a huge bonus.

For former students such as Katie Huffman (General Studies 2005), service learning paved a direct route to her future: she chose a placement at Exhibition Park to assist with events.

“During this time, I was presented with challenges that required problem solving and creative thinking,” says Huffman. “I also learned a great deal about Whoop-Up Days and the event-planning industry.”

They’re grateful for the student help, energy and new ideas, and they love having young people around.

Leslie Paradee

organization as a career exploration.

”

Students are required to prepare a report on their service learning experiences and are assessed by the organization and Paradee’s office.

“Students are asked to keep reflective journals describing how their experiences relate back to the classroom,” says Paradee. “The journals constitute their mark.”

The main part of the story, of course, is told in the interaction between the students and those they assist. It’s become

Based on the skills she demonstrated during her service learning, Huffman was offered the summer student position, promoting the farmers’ market and organizing the Whoop-Up Days Parade. She enjoyed the work so much, she returned the following year, scored a full-time position and later became the ex’s trade-show co-ordinator.

Today she’s executive assistant to the president and CEO of the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver.

While all service learning takes place close to the campus, Paradee envisions a day when international placements are accommodated in February’s Reading Week.

“Assisting the Third World would be my goal,” she says. ”

A little TLC

Rose Marie leads college volunteers Ringo Starr got by with a little help from his friends, but sometimes it takes the concerted effort of many people to achieve great things.

At Lethbridge College, a volunteer program launched in September 2007 generates support from many individuals providing the institution with a little help from a lot of friends. In fact, in the first six months of the Totally Lethbridge College (TLC) program, campus volunteers registered more than 1,500 hours of service.

That’s real commitment.

Helping to lead the way is one of the college’s strongest public ambassadors, Rose Marie Litwin. Almost everyone who has taken a campus tour or participated in the Student for a Day program has met Litwin. In her role as advising and recruitment assistant, she is often the first person visitors associate with Lethbridge College.

Litwin was recognized this spring as the first recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Excellence during a special breakfast honouring campus volunteers for milestones they have reached. She reported 122 volunteer hours in the first six months of the program.

Lethbridge College President Tracy Edwards says Litwin is a person who can be counted on to pitch in for causes both big and small. That’s a trait she has exhibited throughout her 18 years at the college.

“Rose Marie has an extreme passion for Lethbridge College and every staff member, student and prospective student who steps on campus,” Edwards says. “As an institution we believe in the importance of putting our values into practice. Rose Marie’s commitment to the campus and the community is an admirable example of someone who not only lives the values, but encourages others to do the same through her exuberance and excitement for the task at hand.”

For her part, Litwin says she’s thrilled to receive the recognition, but it was never something she expected “Volunteering is just something I believe in doing,” she says. “Receiving the award is wonderful, but I don’t think it can be the motivation to help out.”

Litwin says her motivation comes from a desire to ensure people have a positive experience whenever they are on campus.

“We need to put our best foot forward every day. The college is an important part of the community and I think this importance can show in every interaction we have with both guests and colleagues.”

The TLC breakfast acknowledged 12 people in addition to Litwin. Individuals were honoured for achieving volunteerhour milestones of 25, 50 and 100 hours.

Six other people were recognized for coming close to the first milestone, which they should pass for the next awards presentation.

Having that many people show such a level of commitment to the college is amazing, says Steven Dyck, executive director of Advancement.

Volunteers honoured at awards breakfast 100 hours Rose Marie Litwin – top achiever at 100+ hours Randi Knutson 50 hours Cheryl Pollmuller Monica Ekvall Peter Haiav 25 hours Sheila Heinrich Frankie Skripal Sandra Dufresne Corynn Hubick Lisa Halpen Michelle Stegen Henry Komadowski Anna Linville

“College leadership really believes in a commitment to community, our people and our values,” Dyck says.

“For a volunteer program to have that number of people being recognized after only six months shows that commitment is supported and embraced throughout different levels of the campus.”

Dyck notes the success of the program can also be attributed to Kelly Burke, who initiated the project as part of her yearlong Meloche Monnex Fellowship in the college’s Advancement Office and Alumni Relations.

“Kelly’s efforts in researching the TLC program, getting it launched and managing it have been outstanding,” he says. “Volunteers have made everything possible this past year as the college celebrates its 50th anniversary.”

Volunteers will continue to play a major role at Lethbridge College as the institution moves ahead into its next 50 years.

Derek Bly Photography: Gregory Thiessen

Rose Marie Litwin -

first recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Excellence.

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Kodiaks flaunt

new logo, new ’tude Peter Scott Photography: Gregory Thiessen

Kodiaks Athletics hopes to corner the bear market in pride when its new logo lights up merchandise this September.

“We know Kodiaks history runs deep in this institution, throughout our alumni and within the community,” says Mark Kosak, Lethbridge College athletics director. “We wanted a logo that reflects that pride, while depicting the power and courage of the Kodiak bear.”

The logo, the next step in Lethbridge College’s ongoing rebranding campaign, is designed to develop recognition of the Kodiaks teams, says Kosak, and create a connection in the community, besides giving athletes a boost on the turf.

After a series of focus groups, a few tweaks and turns, and final approval, the bear’s head profile was chosen as the best representative of Kodiaks pride.

“The new logo adds an aura of excitement to our new clothing,” says Kosak. “We had subtle changes made to convey the symbolism of the Kodiak: proud, strong and fierce. It projects the qualities you want in a sports team. We want our athletes to be excited wearing it.”

The logo will be painted at centre court this summer, and will be seen on Kodiaks clothing and souvenirs.

“We want our athletes to feel good about the logo, but we also want the general student population and the community to like it too,” says Kosak.

Along with the logo goes a new uniform colour scheme of black and white with green-and-blue accents.

10 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

Smart kids have a bear of a summer When summer holidays strike, smart Lethbridge parents will be ensuring their young athletes attend a Kodiaks sports camp.

“This is a very sports-minded community,” says Mark Kosak, the college’s director of athletics. “Parents want to encourage their kids to participate and want to see them improve.

Our camps give them a chance to benefit from expert coaching. It’s part of our service to the community.”

The camps, says Kosak, also encourage healthy lifestyles in the young campers, and help Lethbridge College create an interest in Kodiak athletics among potential college athletes.

“If they become comfortable with our campus and our facilities, they may well want to play here someday. It gives us a recruiting edge down the road.”

Participants also learn many lessons that go beyond the court.

“Coaching in sports camps helps develop leadership skills and an understanding of the value in team play,” Kosak says. “Those are benefits that go far beyond the world of sports and can be of value throughout life.”

Campers also are exposed to positive influences, something that isn’t always available at a time when celebrities grab headlines with bizarre behaviours.

“Our camps are run by Kodiak head coaches, and employ Kodiak athletes for the summer.”

The athletes taking part are committed to their sports, but also to their education, Kosak says.

“It’s something our athletes do very well,” says Kosak. “It gives them a chance to be role models and develop their own skills along with the young participants’.”

The camps include basketball for those in grades four through 12; volleyball for grades seven to 12 and badminton for grades six to 12.

Parents can get more information on the camps from Alison Pilsner, 382-6919.

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Going the distance: Bertil Johansson shows the way Each fall for the last several years, as soccer heads for hibernation and indoor sports begin to stir, Lethbridge College athletes of a different stripe head into the fields of Alberta for what is fast becoming their traditional harvest of gold.

Gold in the hills: Bertil Johansson with Kenyan runners Ed Kangogo and Gladys Kochei

I believe if you’ve got a talent, you should do something with it, go as far as you can, and have some fun along the way.

Bertil Johansson

These Kodiaks do not hear the cheers of fans, and their endeavours largely occur away from spectators and in isolation from each other. Yet, as every race during the autumn cross-country season comes to the finish line, it is usually a Lethbridge College runner at the fore.

Kodiaks have won team and individual honours at provincial and national levels, and as the string of success unwinds each year, it seems almost unbreakable.

The architect for this plan of national domination is a quiet, fiftysomething Swede, the kind the federal government once warned were as fit as the average 30-year-old Canadian, and while Bertil Johansson has lived in Canada for more than two decades, the residuals of his Scandinavian military training are still evident.

Johansson has been the Kodiaks’ crosscountry coach since 1987, but it was just eight years ago the team began collecting medals. It’s little surprise the bump in success coincided with Johansson’s first recruiting efforts in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, a crucible for world-class runners.

“I figured if Augustana University in Camrose could import Vikings, I could bring in some Kenyans,” says Johansson, with a trace of Nordic wit. “We had no big stars in those first years and we got lucky if we had anyone fast.”

Johansson was contacted by, and subsequently became friends with, Kip Keino, Kenya’s legendary Olympic champion and now chairman of the country’s Olympic committee, and Henry Rono, another Kenyan sports hero, about the possibility of young Kenyan athlete/ scholars attending Lethbridge College.

With their help and connections with two Kenyan families, Johansson established a pipeline of running talent that not only puts national banners on the college’s walls, but sends young people back to Kenya with training they can put to use at home.

By now the names are familiar to those who follow the sport: Kip Kangogo and his brother Ed, Willie Kimosop, Mary Kamau and Gladys Kochei, who was

recently named, along with volleyball star Sarah Luscher, as a 2007-08 Academic AllCanadian.

If athletes speak a global language, the Kenyans are its orators. And they represent just one of some 30 nations from which students came to Lethbridge College this past year. They are a direct reflection of the growing cultural diversity on campus.

Also inducted into the Sport s Hall of Fam the 2004 Natio e this year nal Women’s Basketball C Front Row (L hampions to R):

Mickey Folsom Nicole Hanna, , Laura Campb Karen Bridge, ell, Debbie Ba Alisha Marriott lderson, (Assistant Coac Back Row (l to h), Tara Griffit r): Erin Hogan h, Lana Gwillia Nisha Nelson, m, Deana Dypo Kathryn Bekker lt, Karma Kubi ing, Michaela Coach) • Miss k, Dilworth, Brad ing: Kim Woolf Karren (Head (Assistant Coac h)

Johanssons’s athletes score well academically, which fits in well with Lethbridge College’s determination to ensure education comes ahead of sports.

“Our focus is on strong academics, which we’ve tracked with the Kenyans because we don’t want to bring someone that distance and have to send them home,” says Johansson.

The college is considering establishing a transition program, in which the Kenyan students would take general studies for a year before coming to Lethbridge and into a full college program.

“The standard is higher here for academics,” says Johansson. “The Kenyan students know English, but the cultural routine is a bit different. They see the wealth of Canada in terms of food and luxury items, where every student has a cellphone and access to a computer.

They need a bit of lifestyle coaching.”

Johansson arrived in Lethbridge after four years with Calgary parks and recreation to teach fitness and selfdefence to law enforcement students, although his name has become inextricably linked to cross-country coaching. (“I’m not really known around here for my handcuffing technique.”)

He has been coach of the year in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Association (2003) and Alberta amateur sports coach of the year (2005). Now, this year, Johansson takes his place in the Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame.

A champion decathlete in Sweden, Johansson has since nurtured several academic initiatives, among which are a two-year fitness leadership program and an exercise science diploma, the latter attracting 40 students for this fall, the highest enrolment since it began. It’s a program wired to the growing desire of Canadians to get fit, an industry whose time has arrived amid an aging baby boom generation.

A finalist for the 2008 Lethbridge Citizen of the Year, Johansson served as organizer of the annual April 10-mile road race for 21 years and has coached in the Canadian track and field community.

“Life is a learning process,” says Johansson. “What I seek out, I stick with and do the best I can. I believe if you’ve got a talent, you should do something with it, go as far as you can, and have some fun along the way.”

Peter Scott

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14 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

‘Eagle

Woman’

sets sights on fashion heritage

Peter Scott

Her designs have swirled across the stage at the Juno Awards. She is the reigning world champion in women’s native fancy dancing. She stands on the verge of a marketing initiative that could spread native couture across the continent.

It’s hardly surprising Carol Melting Tallow’s aboriginal name is Eagle Woman: the Lethbridge College grad (Fashion Design and Marketing 2008) is soaring as her dreams take flight to reality.

“I threw a feather in the air and let it go where it would,” says Melting Tallow, a member of the Blood Band.

“I’m putting every penny I have into this venture because I believe in myself.”

What Melting Tallow envisions is the continent-wide marketing of the native fashions she designs, her way of preserving her heritage through her creativity. She has, she believes, no competition in a wide-open and burgeoning field; the fastest growing ethnic group in Canada is First Nations.

After beginning at Lethbridge College, Melting Tallow briefly studied international design at LaSalle College in Montreal, then returned to Lethbridge to learn the final touches she needed to put her plan in motion.

Among the elements she added to her education were public speaking and time management.

“Jane Anderson, one of my inspirational instructors, and Vicki Charge [fashion design instructor] groomed me to become what I know I can be,” she says of her two years on campus. “This is one of the best fashion design institutions in Canada; instructors allowed me to expand on my traditional artistic talent, develop a strong sense of cultural identity and an excellent understanding of the

business world.

“I’m walking out of here with a diploma in one hand and a business plan in the other.”

Melting Tallow’s vision is multi-faceted, but focused. She is already an accomplished designer, deeply immersed in her native culture. Her goal is to market that culture through patterns, sewing classes and, one day, home décor “like Martha Stewart.”

“There are four million native consumers in North America and many more fans of native culture overseas,” says this determined young woman. “You have to have a dream to begin with; everyone wants to drive a Cadillac Escalade. I’ve got a ’98 Windstar - the lights shut off every time I drive over a bump - but one day I’m going to have that Cadillac. This is no longer a dream, I’m doing it.”

At the Junos in Calgary this spring, an Inuit performer from the Northwest Territories saw the designs Melting Tallow was demonstrating and asked her if she could wear one on stage. The young Standoff designer was thrilled.

“She was captivating, just drop-dead sexy, and that was my dress she was in.”

Melting Tallow believes networking is crucial to her success as a businesswoman. She has traded names at the Smithsonian in Washington and in Florida where she won the world fancy dance title. There, the Seminole nation is into big business like NASCAR racing, and Melting Tallow upped her contact quotient. She hopes to return to the Junos, too, and have her designs shown at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

Melting Tallow’s designs use basic

materials (“Thank heaven for Wal-Mart,” she tells fellow design students during a class presentation), along with earthy adornments such as chicken feathers, horsehair and porcupine quills. She’s designed a jacket for Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Her dancing is Melting Tallow’s escape from stress, something in which she takes pride. Her two-yearold son Xavier is learning a few steps; both mother and son performed at Lethbridge College during Native Awareness Week earlier this year.

“When I see a child dance, I feel a great joy,” says Melting Tallow.

“When I dance, I’m in the moment and I forget my troubles. It’s a passion, a love. It’s something that bridges families.”

She has praise, too, for Lethbridge College’s belief in creating a learning environment on which she, a First Nations student, felt comfortable.

“Lethbridge College is moving forward toward a more diverse, multicultured institution, showcasing ethnic diversity and bridging the gap of cultural differences.”

With her diploma in hand, Melting Tallow is ready to soar.

“Now it’s up to me to make a better future for my family, my people and my nation.”

15

“

I was given the opportunity to pioneer something exciting that I’m passionate about.

Shanda Venier (left)

”

Dylan Standing Alone, General Studies

Adrienne Simon, Practical Nursing

Shanda is a dreamweaver For 25-year-old Shanda Venier, it started with a thesis paper titled “What is ‘Indian’ anyway?”

After hours of research, countless interviews, and a lot of digging, she got her answer, and more.

The answer carried something else, something vital: her identity. Seven years later, that identity has an active place in her life, and has given her a meaningful career at Lethbridge College, helping others to find their own.

Venier, the college’s aboriginal liaison and academic advisor, began her journey at the University of Lethbridge with a major in anthropology and a minor in Native American studies. Venier, of Métis descent, completed her degree with “great distinction” in 2005 and knew she wanted to continue working in the aboriginal community.

16 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

“I was struggling with some of the issues of loss of identity as my dad was adopted,” says Venier. “Being that my issues were apparent with so many other Métis, First Nation and Inuit students, I started doing research at the university and it just carried on throughout my occupational career.”

Her career at Lethbridge College is a reflection of the institution’s commitment to First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) learners and partners.

Located in the heart of Blackfoot country, the college recognizes the rich heritage and culture of FNMI students while acknowledging some of the challenges they can face in pursuing a post-secondary education.

FNMI youth form one of the fastest growing demographic groups in Canada.

Meeting the challenges they can face head-on to provide an outstanding college experience is a commitment for Lethbridge College.

into practice Lethbridge College’s philosophy of openness and diversity, and its determination to serve and support all its learners.

Last year, Venier was presented with another intriguing venture.

“I was given the opportunity to pioneer something exciting that I’m passionate about – to be the aboriginal academic advisor, and so far it’s going extremely well. Not only did I become the first aboriginal academic advisor at Lethbridge College, but it also brought forth the amalgamation of all Recruitment and Advising Student Services as one entity.”

These two aspects of the job keep Venier busy; every day is different.

Venier explains the transition from a rural to an urban environment can be difficult for many students due to a move away from family support systems and the challenge of cultural acceptance.

The transition from the reserve to campus life can involve some complex issues. The college is helping by providing aboriginal career and guidance counselors. Other on-campus services and culture connections include the Piita Pawanii Learning Society and the First Nations Club, one of the largest clubs at the college.

“There are some basic concepts that students struggle with,” says Venier.

“In some situations, they have to face cultural differences they may not be prepared to handle.”

Support for FNMI learners took a big step forward in 2007 when the college partnered with the RBC Foundation, which made a $250,000 investment, to create the FNMI Transition Program.

The program is designed to provide participants with a $3,000 scholarship to assist with finances while offering courses that ease the transition to college and help students experience greater success in their studies.

“Just like anyone else, family is very close to the heart of most individuals, especially if you’re growing up on the reserve, and you’re living with multigenerational families. So it’s hard to balance both lifestyles; students are continuously traveling back and forth.”

As aboriginal liaison and academic advisor, Venier’s position is a key to the success of the college’s plans to help FNMI learners. Her work is a major facet of the support system in place to assist students.

Her dedication to helping students recently caught the attention of the Métis Nation of Alberta, which chose her as the 2008 Alberta Aboriginal Youth Achievement Award recipient in the category of Senior Career Advancement.

The work of Venier and other FNMI support staff are putting

Apart from that, she says the new experience can be difficult because strong family ties are stretched by the distance from home.

As Lethbridge College’s aboriginal liaison, Venier also takes her skills on the road visiting different schools and reserves to show people how much the college has invested in creating an environment that is warm and welcoming to students. When she makes trips like these, she can see anywhere from five to 1,000 students, depending on the setting. Venier says she gets an overwhelming response, and it helps her to build strong connections for Lethbridge College within the aboriginal community.

“For about five years I have been developing key relationships,” says Venier. “They recognize my face, and they know I’m here to help them.

So I get a lot of feedback within the community and southern Alberta.

“If I return to an annual event I attended on a previous visit, numerous students remember me from the first time. This ongoing relationship-building is imperative in helping individuals strive and attain their goals for postsecondary education.”

The positive impact Venier is having shows in some of the feedback the college receives.

For Denise Peterson, principal for Sequoia Outreach School in Gleichen, Alta., Venier’s efforts are making a difference to students.

“Our career counsellor, Linda Jensen, and our students, have high praise for Shanda. . . . Her understanding and sensitivity to the barriers faced by First Nations youth is comprehensive and adds considerably to her effectiveness.

I have personally attended her presentations and I understand why my students find her so engaging,” Peterson says.

Peterson says when her students speak of their experience after visiting Lethbridge College, they say they can picture themselves attending the campus.

“In my experience this solidifies their goals and has significant impact on the next decisions they will make with regards to their academic future.”

Venier says the best part of her job is working and interacting with people.

She explains she not only wants to be there for students as an advisor, but also as a friend.

“I have quite a few students who pop in just to say hi and let me know how their day is going,” she says. “Lots of students get stressed at the end of the semester, so even though I’m not a certified personal counselor, I can lend them an ear just as a friend, and talk to them about the challenges of everyday life.”

Venier says she loves her job, and could not picture doing anything else.“I would love to stay at the college as long as they need me,” she says. “I want to continue to build strong relationships with the First Nations, Métis and Inuit population and increase opportunities for all. If I make a difference and put a simple smile on someone’s face, that just makes me feel warm inside and lets me know that I have had a positive impact on someone’s day.”

Christina Boese Communication Arts ’08

17

Facing school violence:

Gloria Cormican, program administrator for Family Life Studies with Kevin Cameron who developed Canada’s first comprehensive, multidisciplinary threat assessment training program.

18 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

Threat assessment training prepares educators for the unthinkable Peter Scott

When a 14-year-old brought a gun into a Taber high school in March 1999, killing one student and wounding another, the phenomenon of young people settling scores through homicidal rage stopped being an isolated American problem.

Exploding just eight days after the mass killings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., the Taber shooting became a defining moment across Canada, especially for those who believed the nation was inoculated against such violence and that preparing properly to handle such likelihood was unnecessary.

It wasn’t, and it’s why Lethbridge College became immediately involved in finding an early-warning solution to high school violence. The result has become the benchmark across the high school system. The college is now supporting an initiative to create a similar game plan for the postsecondary level across Canada.

“No one had an interest in threat assessment before Taber,” says Kevin Cameron, who nine years ago was brought in as a family therapist to begin analyzing the questions to which the tragedy gave rise. “Many people still ask themselves ‘Where were these shooters when I was in school.’ The fact is, there were kids back then who could have become those shooters, but opted to kill only themselves instead.”

Following the Taber shootings and his subsequent study for the provincial government, Cameron established the Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response, partnering with Lethbridge College to create and offer unique training for the nation’s school districts to prepare them to deal with similar situations.

“Lethbridge College helped shape the format and championed the cause,” says Gloria Cormican, program administrator for Family Life Studies.

“Kevin was the person with experience in the field; we provided the program credibility. It also fits in well with our Criminal Justice program’s standard of excellence.”

Cameron, along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Behavioural Sciences Unit, developed Canada’s first comprehensive, multidisciplinary threat assessment training program.

With funding from the solicitorgeneral, they developed a pilot project to allow school districts to be proactive in dealing with perceived problems.

Once the pilot received a positive evaluation in Alberta, word of its success began to spread. Lethbridge College placed the cost-recovery program in its Family Life Studies area and promoted it across the country. It’s been embraced: Cameron, the program’s lead trainer, can find himself in Nanaimo, B.C. one week and Niagara Falls, Ont., the next; every school district in New Brunswick has taken the course.

Now, Lethbridge College and Cameron are developing training for the post-secondary level, in the wake of recent incidents at Dawson College in Montreal and Virginia Tech. Cameron sees a possible pattern in the spread of violent reaction to colleges and universities from high school.

“Many of the troubled students in post-secondary institutions today were 13 to 16 when Columbine occurred,” he says. “They’re now attending colleges.

We predicted this would happen.”

Lethbridge College is offering an

initial round of training for the post-secondary level in late August.

Cormican says unlike the high school program, this edition could transfer into the United States where a greater population equals a greater risk.

So how does a school district go about assessing which threats demand instant attention? When he was seconded to the Alberta government in Taber’s aftermath, Cameron studied all U.S. shootings for the previous five years and found in many cases the schools in question merely suspended the students making the threats, rendering them even more isolated.

Tragically, most subsequent attacks were made shortly after the shooters were suspended. For many on the verge of violence, the suspensions were the final straw.

School shootings are, says Cameron, the “perfectly crafted” crime for young people in a suicidal-homicidal state.

Overwhelming media interest can, regrettably, provide a recipe for those next in line.

“The fluid nature of the act allows them to take revenge before killing themselves. It’s predictable; now we understand it. They have an intense media script written for them to follow.

“These are not ‘copycat’ killings; no one goes from zero to 60 because of something they saw on television.

Instead, they are ‘imitators’ not ‘innovators.’ The high profile the media has given to violence intensifies already existing symptoms.”

Cameron says his studies have ended up contributing information to the field of threat assessment.

continued...

19

“That was never our intention. We only wanted to develop a tool. But we never stop learning. Our National Training Protocol is in its seventh edition in seven years; the field is revolutionary.”

jointly to ensure high-risk youth receive recommended supports and services. There is zero tolerance for not responding to threatening behavior.”

Indeed, new insights are being winkled from each investigation.

Equally heartening has been the response shown by school districts to the training.

“We have created an environment where education, health care and police professionals are working collaboratively to proactively address issues of violence.

Yukon schools and communities are safer places as a result.”

“We’ve received an unbelievable reception. Now, two provinces (B.C. and New Brunswick) are creating provincial protocols for the handling of each new threat.

“That’s a huge blessing because it aids in communication; it makes it mandatory for all agencies to work together, from mental health agencies to child services to the police. It shows how credible our training has become; governments don’t usually jump at this stuff. ” Alberta’s Palliser School Division did, in fact, jump, taking the training as soon as it became available.

“For school districts in southern Alberta, 1999 was the year we realized no student, no school and no school district was immune from the potential of violence and tragedy,” wrote the division’s administration.

“Our multidisciplinary teams respond

20 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

signs of potential trouble to everyone dealing with him during moments in time,” says Cameron. “With a formal protocol in place, authorities could have intervened at a multi-disciplinary level.”

“”

Similar comments have been received, such as this one from the Yukon:

Many school districts who take a training sampler soon realize they want the full package.

Our National Training Protocol is in its seventh edition in seven years; the field is revolutionary.

“They want it not just to deal with school shootings and student-tostudent violence,” says Cameron.

“They’re seeing student-to-staff and staff-to-staff violence. It’s occurring in all forms.”

It was a lack of Kevin Cameron collaboration, Cameron is booked says Cameron, a year in advance which led to and consults the April slaying of three children on an almost daily basis with some in Merritt, B.C. Suspect Allan jurisdiction in Canada. It’s perhaps a Schoenborn, the children’s father, sad reflection on the times. was arrested several days later by a “This type of violence is not going to civilian after a police manhunt. Just end anytime in the near future,” he days before the children were killed, says. “I anticipate it will continue for at Schoenborn had been arrested for least another decade.” making threats at a Merritt elementary school.

“The suspect was giving multiple

Sheryl saddles her dream job Sheryl Cody may be more than 3,500 kilometres from her hometown of Milk River, but the southern Alberta farm girl still starts her days at 5 a.m. and spends the first hour of her schedule shoveling horse manure.

But if that’s what it takes to be a member of the RCMP Musical Ride, the Lethbridge College graduate (Criminal Justice ’00) is more than prepared to muck out stalls.

And when the Ride performs its 135 shows in Canada and the United States this season, Cody will be astride her eight-year-old Hanoverian Teddy, in her first year as one of the 32 RCMP members deemed good enough to display the force’s iconic horsemanship.

“I haven’t worked this hard since the farm,” says Cody, who lives just outside Ottawa. “But here I am, knee-deep in horse poop and loving it.”

It was Cody’s work ethic, sown on her parents’ farm and honed at Lethbridge College and six years as an RCMP constable in Brooks, that caught the attention of those who pick and choose who makes the cut; Floyd and Leslie Cody did not raise a slacker for a daughter.

Cody first saw the Musical Ride perform when she was seven and figured if she ever got the chance she’d love a shot at it.

“I thought ‘hey, that would be neat to do,’” she says. “Now here I am, totally living a dream, making a wonderful salary riding horses and no vet bills.”

The Codys always had horses on their farm and Sheryl was

involved in the light-horse section of 4-H as a child. She entered Lethbridge College with the RCMP in mind, but the Musical Ride was still just a dream and several years away.

What she found was a Criminal Justice program that would basically punch her ticket to RCMP training.

“The training I received at Lethbridge College allowed me to go straight to depot [RCMP training depot, Regina] where I found a lot of the work was a review of what I had already learned. “The college program gave me the basics in the criminal code, forensics and identification.

“I run into a lot of people in the RCMP from Lethbridge College through my travels and e-mail. I still remember all their names and all my instructors. It was a wonderful program taught in an intimate setting.”

From Regina, Cody was posted to Brooks in 2001, where she quickly earned her chops as a police officer.

“I was there six years; you get to see everything,” she says of the ethnically diverse community. “It was like inner-city Toronto in the middle of red-neck Alberta.

But I had a chance to work on major cases; I’d rather have been in Brooks than a Sleepy Hollow.”

She took a break from Brooks, serving in Waterton in the summer of 2005 where the Musical Ride idea began to germinate.

She returned to Brooks in time for the Lakeside Packers strike later that year and, when the labour strife ended, decided to pursue her Musical Ride ambition.

Early last year, she completed a fiveweek, initial training course in Ottawa,

passed, and was transferred to the capital in May to begin nine months of intermediate training, graduating last November and forming up with the Musical Ride this January. She then completed another 4½ months of training for the first show of the 2008 season.

This year’s schedule will have the team in Manitoba, southern Ontario and a variety of U.S. locales. Half the team is female this season, one of the highest percentages of women riders ever.

Cody’s days, once the stables are mucked, involve some four hours of riding, plus cleaning, feeding and grooming Teddy, also a Musical Ride rookie.

“We’re both learning; it can be a challenge at times.”

Teddy, it was recently discovered, does not appreciate Cody wearing her traditional Stetson. It took patience and a few horse treats to get him used to his rider’s new headgear.

Cody will spend at least the next two years with the Musical Ride, the standard term. A nationwide policing shortage means fewer detachments are releasing members to try out for the team, giving those already in the saddle a chance to extend their terms; Cody hopes to still be aboard Teddy at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. It’s unlikely, even after three years, the thrill will have lessened.

“You’re up there on that big, black horse in your red serge and everyone who sees you knows you’re part of the Canadian identity,” says Cody. “On Canada Day, we’ll be on Parliament Hill with 20,000 people watching. I love it.”

Peter Scott

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Harnessing knowledge for the greater good For Lorne MacGregor, research should solve practical problems

Whoever thinks knowledge is its own reward hasn’t spent time with Lorne MacGregor.

Lethbridge College’s newly minted director of applied research and innovation believes knowledge derived from research should be applicable to community needs, not exist in a vacuum.

With that tenet in mind, MacGregor will be playing impresario and middleman between those doing research on campus and potential end-users of the applications of knowledge to which it leads.

“

“Research is the creation of knowledge,” says MacGregor, who joined the Lethbridge College team after a similar posting at the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George. “Innovation is the act of putting knowledge to use. What we hope to do is foster the application of new or existing knowledge to the practical problems of the real world.”

As MacGregor notes, Lethbridge College has been conducting research for years. As with its Aquaculture Centre of Excellence, headed by John Derksen, research has progressed into production: the development of grass carp for weed control.

“Jim’s work incorporates lower costs, higher accessibility and ease of use,” says MacGregor.

MacGregor’s task ahead, as he settles into his position, will be to match researchers with the community, educating both on how the discoveries of one can advance the cause of the other for a lower cost than either might have considered. The college is in the process of receiving NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) eligibility, which will allow it to receive significant government funding.

“We’ll be showing industry partners just how inexpensive research can be. If a research project costs $100,000, it may cost a company only a quarter of that. With tax credits and other means, we can involve smaller firms in our research, and they can solve their problems more economically than they may have thought.

”

Innovation is the act of putting knowledge to use.

“There is a good reason the carp production should exist at a college,” says MacGregor. “It grew out of research, so it makes sense to keep it here. And, as a public institution, we have a greater sense of responsibility to ensure the fish do not cause environmental problems.”

Other major campus initiatives include The Living Home project (Wider Horizons, winter 2007/08) headed by Mark Bohnert and Braum Barber, developed with the city and SunRidge Homes, and the Open Source Learning Lab run by Jim Manis, a Multimedia Production instructor, which recently developed a unique method

22 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

of conducting public surveys. The technology will be used in work conducted by Faron Ellis, an instructor in General Studies, and his students in the Citizen Society Research Lab (Wider Horizons, fall 2007.)

“My goal is to get people to talk to each other, to bring researchers together with industry and entrepreneurs who need research done.”

Developing applied research projects that have a significant impact on society is not an overnight process, and success isn’t something easily calculated.

“The big successes will be long-term and difficult to measure,” says MacGregor. “We want to create a culture of innovation in the college and community that’s supportive and accepting of research and entrepreneurship.”

MacGregor has also familiarized himself with studentbased research and is impressed with the quality of student presentations. One that particularly impressed him last semester involved boulders at the Frank Slide, which he believes has the potential for commercial development.

Lorne MacGregor Under the Microscope

Lorne’s background combines entrepreneurial, engineering and scientific skills. It’s a combination ideally suited for his role as director of applied research and innovation at Lethbridge College Kyle Marco, a graduating Geomatics Engineering Technology and one that fits with the institution’s ‘green’ student from Lethbridge and a bouldering enthusiast, mapped commitment to environmental sustainability. a swatch of the 1903 slide, an area of roughly 2.25 square kilometres, using satellite photos, conventional surveying Under the microscope equipment and a personal knowledge of the area. He then •E arned a Ph.D. Civil Engineering, an M.S. Environmental created software to create a printed map documenting 300 Engineering, a B.Sc. Chemistry bouldering opportunities.

•E stablished an industry liaison office at UNBC that made For those unfamiliar with the activity, bouldering involves university research available to business and industry climbing boulders without ropes and minus a high degree of •C reated a system to identify application potentials early in risk of long falls. Done properly, bouldering offers rock climbers the research process opportunities to test all their skills without defying death.

•G ained experience in securing intellectual property Marco, a climber of 10 years, wanted to leave information on including patents and copyright the Frank Slide for newcomers to the sport, details that could be

•F ormed strong working relationships between academic used in guidebooks. researchers and the non-academic sector •M anaged a consultant practice specializing in product “I thought about doing it before I came to Lethbridge College, development, technical support and environmental but the work I did in geomatics gave me the skills to solve the protection issues problem of how to do it,” says Marco. “I had an interest in

•P rovided environmental policy recommendations at climbing and an interest in the technology; they just happened provincial, federal and international levels to cross paths.”

•P repared and delivered more than 40 formal and MacGregor says Marco’s project is an example of the informal technical papers, technical and advocacy innovation he wants to encourage. He says the process will presentations, and marketing presentations benefit students by providing Lethbridge College greater clout in recruiting and retaining top-notch faculty who will know they can carry out research amid their teaching assignments.

“My desire is to make this process as unobtrusive and nonbureaucratic as I can. We’re a service office with a goal of finding ways to say ‘yes,’ not reasons to say ‘no.’ I’m here to cut through the institutional fog to help others get the job done.”

Peter Scott

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Dwayne’s World: nology h c e t e r e h W

partie

udents t s lp e h o t s on

learn

Peter Scott

Teaching used to be so wonderfully uncomplicated by technology, unless chalk and slate counted as innovation. Today, even traditional textbooks are threatened by electronic wizardry.

24 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

And while teachers of just a decade ago needed to crack down only on note-passing to stop unwanted classroom communications, educators today are battling cellphones, iPods, Facebook, YouTube and three things invented while you were reading this paragraph, to keep student attention where it should be: at the front of the class.

Or should it? What if educators turned the tables on their recalcitrant learners and began using students’ own devices as teaching tools? Well, it’s happening and it’s a revolution that has Dwayne Harapnuik, Lethbridge College’s manager of educational technology, on the front line.

“If we know 21st century learners are different and discover how we can engage them, we can make meaningful connections with them and eventually help them to create learning on their own,” says Harapnuik. “Instructors need to learn what young people use to collaborate, then turn that knowledge to their own advantage.

“My goal is to help Lethbridge College instructors use technology to enhance learning for our students.”

Harapnuik holds a doctorate specializing in web-based education from the University of Alberta, the institution for whom he was working when Lethbridge College presented an intriguing offer: the chance to lead learning innovation here.

In his first year at Lethbridge College, Harapnuik has been determining the various levels of preparedness instructors have for learning, and understanding their priorities and what they want to accomplish. With a grasp on the details, he is now dovetailing those goals with available technology.

“We’re looking at the broad picture of where we’re going and how we want to get there. A lot of what we need to do is happening already.”

A consummate learner in his own right, Harapnuik monitors up to 60

educational websites, taking in up to 1,000 headlines a day from which to glean additional information. His readings have confirmed one tenet in which he believes: the only constant in education is change.

To ensure that change is exploited for the benefit of learners, Lethbridge College created the Educational Enhancement Team (EET), an evolution from services provided through the Flora Matteotti Centre for Teaching and Learning.

started it; now we have to provide the infrastructure for faculty to do their job.

Harapnuik says the college can change circumstances and conditions to create a cultural shift that will enhance learning for students and faculty.

“My role is behind the scenes,” he says. “I’m there to get the spark going.”

Part of that spark was ignited when O’Dwyer shared with Harker an opportunity to propose an eCampus Alberta faculty development project.

Harapnuik worked with the team to develop a $25,000 eCampus-funded learning connectivity website.

“”

The team took on the task of developing the Blended Learning Initiative (Wider Horizons, fall 2007) based on an idea proposed by Karen Harker, EET chair and curriculum and instruction consultant, Leanne Elias, Multimedia instructor, and Karen O’Dwyer, dean of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Innovation.

The project places student computer whizzes with technical advisors to assist instructors in integrating technology into their teaching. It’s just one way the college is embracing newer, effective learning methods. And that’s where Harapnuik’s talents come into play.

Other strategies implemented include the college’s Educational Technology Strategy; the implementation of Joomla, a new content management system; and the start of full- and non-credit video conferencing course delivery.

My goal is to help Lethbridge College instructors use technology to enhance learning for our students.

Harapnuik credits Harker for implementing the concept.

“Karen has done an amazing job at taking ideas and making them happen,” he says.

Many instructors are finding students want, indeed expect, learning to incorporate the Internet, whether it’s used as a research tool or a means of delivery on which they can download assignments, notes and other course details.

“We’re getting the pieces in place to create active and dynamic learning.

Our Blended Learning initiative

This fall, Lethbridge College will conduct its first Student Technology Survey. This research will be similar to the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology conducted by the American-based Educause Center for Applied Research, which provides an annual snapshot of the technology American students use in their lives.

“Interestingly, we already know many of our students have access to computers outside of the college, and many of them use cellphones,” says Harapnuik. “It’s information such as this that helps us chart a course for the future.

“The bottom line in all this is it’s about learners; they are our first priority.”

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26 • WIDER Horizons/Summer 2008

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Wasn’t that

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a Party!

- photography by Gregory Thiessen

Thanks to everyone who helped make Lethbridge College’s Homecoming ’08 the celebration of the year!

Now that we have your attention... here’s why we’re Proud to be Totally New’d.

Athletes score Canadian championships in three sports • alumni capture distinction from UN to NFL • Research-class labs opened state-of-the-art science centre • apprentice instructors hailed as province’s best • we are growing internationally in Mexico, Chile, Japan and China • Engineering/Nursing programs boast national accreditation Living Home project showcases greening initiative green, global and socially responsible English Language Centre national award • wind-turbine technician program leads North Am • upgrading courses widen access to all learners • student and em volunteers enhance community • wildlife collection tops in provinc Centre of Excellence shows innovation • instructors shine on nati