Inukshuk Wireless

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Inukshuk Wireless

• Funding Innovation in eLearning  The Inukshuk
  Perspective
• Distance Learning Symposium 2009
• Embracing and Becoming Drivers of Change
• Presentation of Yanick Boily
• Learning Plan Administrator
• Calgary, March 13, 2009

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Inukshuk Wireless the Company

• Inukshuk Wireless is an equally owned partnership
  between Bell Canada and Rogers Communications.
• Created to build and manage a Canada-wide
  pre-WiMAX wireless broadband network utilizing
  licensed spectrum.
• Inukshuks network was the first large scale
  deployment of its kind in the world and is
  currently the second largest fixed-wireless
  network in the world.
• The network is designed to leverage existing
  cellular towers of both Bell and Rogers
  throughout the license areas.
• Inukshuk Wireless has access to significant
  spectrum assets
• 96 Mhz of capacity in the 2500 MHz to 2596 MHz
  band.
• A range of capacity in the 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz
  bands

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Inukshuk Wireless the Company

• The licensed service areas for 2.5GHz spectrum
  include
• Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince
  Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario,
  Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and covers
  approximately 94 of Canadians.
• Inukshuk Wireless network footprint covers 46
  cities and 120 un-served rural and underserved
  communities across Canada
• Significantly more than license condition
  deployment requirements.
• Over 7.4 million households representing 63 in
  the licensed regions.

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Inukshuks Network Coverage
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The Inukshuk Fund

• The Learning Plan funding the Inukshuk Fund.
• Two overall goals
• Support development of multimedia and interactive
  online learning content.
• Facilitate provision of wireless broadband
  internet service in un-served/underserved
  communities.
• Funding available minimum of 50,000 or 2 X
  LSAs license fees.
• National yearly commitment approximately 2.4
  million.
• Method chosen to select projects yearly Calls
  for Proposals.
• Calls for Proposals are open to learning
  organisations such as
• School boards,
• Colleges,
• Universities

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The Inukshuk Fund

• Calls for Proposals are also open to Local
  Government (i.e. Municipalities, First Nations,
  etc), as well as private sector organisations,
  provided that such organisations act on behalf of
  a partnership which includes at least one
  non-profit learning organisation.
• The Inukshuk Fund has not been set up as a
  national entity but rather as an undertaking
  having a presence in each Licensed Service Area,
  with the following consequences
• Calls for Proposals process launched in each
  Licensed Service Area.
• All managed in parallel by Inukshuk Wireless.
• Each process requires the involvement of the
  local advisory committee.

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Description of the Calls process

• Submission of an EOI.
• First evaluation selected EOI applicants are
  invited to submit a formal funding proposal.
• 3. Submission of formal funding proposals.
• 4. Selection of proposals of projects to be
  funded.
• 5. Signature of Contribution agreements with
  selected project teams.
• 6. Signature of contribution agreements marks the
  completion of the selection process and the
  beginning of projects.
• 7. Duration of Calls process 35 to 40 weeks.

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Writing a Winning Proposal

• The lead applicant in a project should be the
  organisation that
• has a concrete and substantial role in the
  development phase of the project, and
• will have overall responsibility for the
  completion of the project.
• Partners who and how many?
• Partners must have a clearly identified role in
  the development phase of the project.
• There is no fixed number as to how many partners
  should be added to the project.
• Partners must be organizations, not individuals.

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Writing a Winning Proposal

• What kinds of projects will Inukshuk support?
• Inukshuks objective is to fund projects that
  demonstrate excellence, innovation and
  cooperation in the development of multimedia
  learning materials, activities or environments.
• An eligible project must describe all of the
  following
• The development of multimedia and feature-rich
  learning materials, activities or environments
  to promote on-line learning
• Learning projects that meet a legitimate learning
  need for a specified target audience
• Projects that produce learning resources that
  allow the learner to interact with and manipulate
  multimedia content in an online environment
• Learning projects that promote and demonstrate a
  transition from contemporary technologies to
  emerging technologies.

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A Key to Win Meeting the Preferred Criteria

• Inclusion of strong working partnership
• Demonstration of a legitimate and substantive
  need
• Demonstration of cooperation and sharing within
  and between sectors/regions
• Sharing of the resource with other learning
  communities
• Inclusion of money and/or in-kind contributions
• Limitation of overhead
• Demonstration of a move toward the use of
  new/emerging technologies.
• And last but not least
• Demonstration of either pedagogical innovation,
  technological innovation, or both.

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In Search of E-Learning Innovation

• For many years, Inukshuk judged the quality and
  innovation of e-learning content development
  projects based on
• the extent to which applicants were employing
  graphics, video, animation, i.e. multi-media
• the inclusion of features that would attract and
  hold learner attention
• the expectation that learners would be able to
  interact with the content
• the expectation that the content itself would be
  relatively stable and have a shelf life of at
  least a few years.

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In Search of E-Learning Innovation

• With the dramatic shift towards user-generated
  content and social networking applications, the
  Fund has had to rethink how it defines good
  quality e-learning content.
• Emphasis now is on the quality of the learning
  experience offered by the proposed application.
  

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In Search of E-Learning Innovation

• In supporting content development projects that
  are more organic in nature, the Fund works to
  find a balance between
• the desire to reward innovation with the need to
  ensure the content meets a legitimate learning
  need for a specific learner audience.
• active learner participation with acceptable
  levels of learner safety, particularly for K-12
  applications.
• the desire to create quality learning
  experiences with the need to ensure that the
  project creates value or a legacy for all
  learners long after the project ends.
• the desire to have content shared widely with the
  need to allow project teams to create content
  that meets their own specific needs and to
  maintain their intellectual property rights.

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How Do We Define Innovation?

• Looking for two different things
• Technological innovation
• Pedagogical innovation

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How Do We Define Innovation?

• Technological Innovation
• Using a new or emerging technology to deliver
  e-learning experiences, or
• Developing innovative e-learning content or
  application using an existing technology
• Emphasis is on the quality of the learning
  experience
• Using an old technology in an innovative way is
  valued as much as using a new technology

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How Do We Define Innovation?

• Technological Innovation
• We will actively support the innovative use of
  technology but we will
• still consider the technology context of the
  region when evaluating projects,
• continue to focus on the learning need being
  addressed, and
• measure a project based on whether the learning
  need is being addressed in an innovative way.

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How Do We Define Innovation?

• Pedagogical Innovation
• Using a combination of tools together to create a
  quality learning experience in an online setting.
• Technology is one of those tools but it is the
  innovation in how technology is used that makes
  the difference.

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How Do We Define Innovation?

• Pedagogical Innovation
• What are the characteristics of a quality
  learning experience in an online environment?
• Be collaborative and constructivist in nature
• Build new pathways to existing learning outcomes
• Be meaningful to the learner demonstrate clear
  connections to their lives.
• Be participatory.
• Involves appropriate use of technology.
• Still include structure, rules, curriculum
• Be differentiated
• Include a strategy for the appropriate use of
  content
• Be developed for a clearly defined audience

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• Recent Funding Recipients in Alberta

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Recent Funding Recipients in Alberta

• Athabasca University
• Project Description
• Creating Multi-media scenarios as learning
  objects in a virtual media lab as a means of
  improving student engagement and retention
• While retention rates have always been of central
  concern in distance education, the advent of
  online technologies and the requirements of a new
  generation of student the digital native make
  the matter of curriculum re-development a matter
  of some urgency. In order to accommodate the
  needs of a younger demographic and take advantage
  of the new technologies, the Communication
  Studies programme has proposed and received
  approval from the University to create a virtual
  media lab.
• This lab is partly intended to provide
  opportunity for increased engagement with
  concepts and applications relevant to the field.
  As an initial stage in populating the lab with
  courses and activities, we will create three
  interactive scenarios to serve the foundation
  courses of our programme and others across the
  country these courses address communication
  theory, history, and policy.
• The project will draw on the expertise of CVU
  universities (Laurentian and Cape Breton) and
  Royal Roads and Concordia Universities, who will
  provide peer review throughout the development
  process and post-completion evaluations. The
  scenarios will be shared with other institutions
  and lodged with the Merlot learning object
  repository.

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Recent Funding Recipients in Alberta

• The Pembina Foundation for Environmental Research
  and Education
• Project Description
• Oil and Gas Critical Choices for the Future
• Working with key Alberta partners, GreenLearning
  Canada will develop, classroom test, evaluate and
  launch Oil and Gas Critical Choices for the
  Future, a comprehensive online research module
  for teaching and learning about oil and gas. This
  module will be a new and much-needed addition to
  the existing eCards modules on renewable and
  non-renewable sources of energy Wind Power,
  Solar Power, Nuclear Energy, Energy Success
  Stories, and Arctic Glaciers (GreenLearning will
  continue to add new modules on other sources of
  energy). The new module will fill the need for a
  first age-appropriate, balanced and interactive
  eLearning experience in Oil and Gas.
• Lead project partners include The Centre for
  Energy, Grande Yellowhead Regional School
  Division and Edmonton Public School Board.
  GreenLearning will work closely with teachers to
  develop this new eCards resource.
• GreenLearning Canada as a national source of
  interactive, high quality resources and
  programming for formal and non-formal education
  on energy and environment issues and solutions,
  respected and used by educators

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Recent Funding Recipients in Alberta

• Lethbridge College
• Project Description
• Hubbard Collection Virtualization
• While retention rates have always been of central
  concern in distance education, the advent of
  online technologies and the requirements of a new
  generation of student the digital native make
  the matter of curriculum re-development a matter
  of some urgency. In order to accommodate the
  needs of a younger demographic and take advantage
  of the new technologies, the Communication
  Studies programme has proposed and received
  approval from the University to create a virtual
  media lab.
• This lab is partly intended to provide
  opportunity for increased engagement with
  concepts and applications relevant to the field.
  As an initial stage in populating the lab with
  courses and activities, we will create three
  interactive scenarios to serve the foundation
  courses of our programme and others across the
  country these courses address communication
  theory, history, and policy. The project will
  draw on the expertise of CVU universities
  (Laurentian and Cape Breton) and Royal Roads and
  Concordia Universities, who will provide peer
  review throughout the development process and
  post-completion evaluations. The scenarios will
  be shared with other institutions and lodged with
  the Merlot learning object repository.

 
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Recent Funding Recipients in Alberta

• Norquest College
• Project Description
• Professional Communication for Health
  ProfessionalsThis project will create 4
  interactive, multimedia scenarios to engage
  students with realistic care contexts. Each
  scenario will model effective professional
  communication interactions through a series of
  decision points. By viewing video and graphic
  components and following the narrative options
  for each scenario, students will develop
  professional judgment and decision-making skills
  with regard to ethical accountability, working
  effectively in a multi-disciplinary team
  environment, team building and conflict
  resolution. This resource will support the
  development of critical thinking skills through
  engagement in authentic dilemmas encountered in
  typical acute and continuing care
  contexts.There is a critical need for health
  care providers in Canada, particularly in rural
  and remote communities. This kind of educational
  resource is needed to address an increasingly
  diverse student audience including students in
  health care provider programs in rural
  communities, internationally educated health care
  providers and existing health care providers who
  wish to access further education.The resource
  will be integrated into the NorQuest Practical
  Nurse Program curriculum and made available to
  all Colleges brokering that program as well as to
  the partnering health regions including East
  Central Health, Capital Health and David Thompson
  Health Region as a continuing education resource.

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Recent Funding Recipients in Alberta

• The Banff Centre for Continuing Education
• Project Description
• Locative Learning New Approaches to Education
  for the 21st Century
• This project is a student oriented content
  development project with our partners Learning
  Through the Arts, the Banff Community High
  School, and the Evaluation-Mobility-Usability
  Group.
• This project allows grade 7 Social
  Studies students to take their learning
  outdoors to investigate community and topics
  using mobile tools which will facilitate the
  creation of feature-rich and locatively relevant
  media content.
• The outcomes of the project will include a
  library of student created locative media content
  associated with specific geographic areas in the
  Town of Banff, skills development using mobile
  technologies for both teachers and students, and
  an accessible free download of the content and
  methodologies available on the Learning Through
  the Arts website.

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Recent Funding Recipients in Alberta

• Athabasca University
• Project Description
• Merging Pedagogies of Online Learning
  Technologies to Increase Success in First-Year
  Calculus
• Retention and completion are critical issues in
  postsecondary education and are especially acute
  for programs delivered by distance education.
  First-year calculus taught in both classrooms and
  through distance education has an especially high
  failure rate.
• Athabasca University and its 12 partners in the
  Canadian Virtual University (CVU) consortium will
  address this problem by creating online calculus
  tutorials that combine successful practices in
  online pedagogy with suitable educational
  applications of new technologies. These modules
  will encourage greater interaction between
  learner and content and will stimulate problem
  solving and learning skills that will result in
  higher student success.
• This project will research, create, and evaluate
  five online modules (each comprising
  approximately 10 hours of student engagement)
  that will reflect the best available pedagogy in
  distance and online learning. Where pedagogically
  sound, the modules will include interactivity and
  multimedia applications to allow for
  visualization, simulation and modeling. Modules
  will be developed using open source software and
  will be made freely available to learners and
  educators, to use and reuse. Athabasca
  University/Canadian Virtual University

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QA

• For more information, please visit
  www.inukshuk.ca.