Jennifer O'Rourke, Hands On Management
Arlene Zuckernick, Newport Bay Consulting Services

Linda Schachter, Newport Bay Consulting Services
Jim Chorney, Mgr, Cariboo-Chilcotin Community Skills Centre

Participants in this session will explore how diverse learners' needs can best be met, consider the issues that might promote or impede a more decentralized approach to learner services and explore the implications of decentralized learner support, for learners, their communities and educational providers. The session will be informed by findings from the presenters' research on local learning centres. A summary follows:

Project Background:

Community Skills Centres (CSCs) were established in BC through a federal-provincial initiative in 1994. The aim of the program is: to increase access to training and bridge training and work; to increase community input and decision making regarding training and adjustment issues; and to provide services encouraging the use of technology. At the time of this project, CSCs were operating in twenty locations across BC. Each centre operates independently. The centres formed a consortium to provide a forum to share information, discuss emergent issues and broaden their base of support.

The Consortium contracted with NBCS from January 1999 to June 1999 to investigate the practice and potential of supporting distributed learning (DL) and to develop a policy framework for DL support at the CSCs. Six CSCs were selected as part of the pilot DL project.

For the purposes of this project, distributed learning is defined as:

An approach to education and training that is intended to be learner-centred, enabling both synchronous and asynchronous interaction through the integration of pedagogically appropriate technologies.

The Community Skills Centres pilot initiative focused on learner support services associated with three distinct distributed learning (DL) programs: activities leading to credentials and mediated through technology; non-formal programs and activities having clear educational/training goals and using mediated components; and self-directed learning programs using mediated materials.

Project Activities and Achievements

§ developed a data collection framework to yield information about DL participants, activities and outcomes;

§ developed methods of budget tracking for DL;

§ conducted research about best practice local learner support in comparable contexts;

§ analyzed input from CSCs and relevant research to determine which of the CSC DL

initiatives are in keeping with best practice in comparable contexts; and

§ prepared a comprehensive portfolio of DL information resources.

§ identified additional learner services needed and assigned resources to them;

§ refined needs assessment strategies;

§ enhanced marketing of distributed learning support;

§ implemented systems for documenting distributed learning activities and outcomes; and

§ identified opportunities for contractual arrangements or partnerships.

Findings from the Literature Review

Local support services offered in other jurisdictions were very similar to those offered at Community Skills Centres. They include advising, counseling, access to and support with use of technologies, provision of study space and a venue for small group study.

Research on the impact of local support services for distributed learning generated the following significant findings:

§ There is a positive correlation between learner support and improved learner completion and success rates, especially for learners who have not participated in education or training for some time.

§ Evidence exists that a significant proportion of learners entering retraining will not achieve their goal without local support services.

§ Other jurisdictions have effectively implemented policies to expand provision of local learning support for technical and vocational training provided by DL based on research demonstrating its effectiveness.

Research studies also describe how local learning centres, employers and educational providers developed working agreements to ensure the coordination of learner services such as learner support, technology access, instruction, training, mentoring, supervision and accreditation of practical experience. Typical working agreements include: contractual or partnership arrangements for local centres to provide learner services on behalf of educational providers and
local centres acting as brokers to obtain courses from a variety of sources.

Developments in DL at the CSCs

The following features of CSCs are shared with successful initiatives in other jurisdictions:

Reports on DL initiatives at the CSCs and from other local learning centres indicate the value of being "close to the customer" whether the customer is an individual learner, a cohort of learners, or a local employer. As a member of the community's social and educational infrastructure, CSCs are ideally placed to assess local learning needs and develop partnerships with local agencies. For many learners, local access to learning is essential; relocation or travel to obtain training or education is not an option.

As CSCs establish their reputation for providing support for learning, and solidify working relationships with educational providers, they are in a stronger position to expand their linkages with other providers. Of the six pilot centres, five had a partnership with the local school board, four had an ongoing relationship with the regional community college, and four had developed linkages with other educational providers that offered programs in high demand by local industry and not available through other local sources. During the pilot project, all centres explored options for expanding linkages with other educational providers, and two developed preliminary agreements.

Distributed learning can greatly expand the range of learning opportunities available in smaller communities. The presence of CSCs in a community makes it possible to address a continuing dilemma in education and training: no single educational provider could reasonably meet the range of educational and training needs of a community of several thousand people. It is a potentially cost-effective means of offering a variety of programs, even enabling one or two participants to obtain their program of choice. Research evidence confirming the value of locally based support for most distributed learning participants, means that genuine access entails provision of learner support.

As communities endeavour to develop a more diversified local economy, community members require access to a much wider range of training and education. Individual professionals can have access through distributed learning to continuing professional development even though they may be the sole representative of their profession in a particular community. Research indicates that access to professional development is a factor in decisions to remain in smaller communities.

Cost-effective use of existing facilities

All the CSCs use a range of instructional strategies including: direct face-to-face instruction; flexible learning with tutor support; and distributed learning with local support.

CSCs have considerable experience in supporting distributed learning. CSCs are well placed to offer diverse forms of distributed learning, to expand their support services and to provide continuity between face to face and distributed learning.

CSCs, by including distributed learning in their services, can expand the capacity of the facilities with incremental investment in staffing and technology. Centres in the pilot study provide flexible hours of operation for learners, e.g., 24-hour card access to the computer area for registered learners. Flexible hours offer a needed service for shift workers, enabling greater use of the facility at little additional cost. A purpose-built distributed learning centre, that did not provide the other services that CSCs offer, would represent significantly greater cost for capital investment and staffing, without the benefit of continuity of service that CSCs provide.

Longitudinal research indicates that local learning centres can provide cost-effective access to a wide range of programs. Covering overhead costs and serving at-risk learners requires a more concerted approach that involves base funding, partnerships and a mix of programs so that those that are revenue-generating can offset those that require subsidy. Although the duration of the pilot project did not allow for long range analysis, there were good indicators that these
services, even if not cost recovery on the short term, can provide cost benefits by addresssing important social and economic needs.

Conclusions

The CSCs are well placed to deliver DL programming in their communities. DL, when enhanced by local learner support, has been particularly successful for learners who have been away from the educational system for some time.

One of the barriers to expanded DL operations has been a lack of consistency of policy, practice and pricing for CSCs’ services. Noting that educational providers that offer distributed learning have expressed a strong preference for working with CSCs as a group, the researchers recommended that CSCs strive to achieve consistent service levels for learners in all CSC communities at a consistent cost.

The development of consistent standards would strengthen the CSCs by facilitating the marketing and promotion of system-wide DL services on the part of CSCs as a group, and by laying the groundwork to negotiate better purchase prices of programming. The resulting benefits--of more cost-effective provision and expansion of program offerings-- would accrue to learners, employers and the broader community.

Several educational providers indicated interest in the potential of CSCs to provide valuable information to them about program needs. The researchers concluded that the CSCs as a group were in a good position to conduct needs analyses for proposed programs, as well as undertaking pilot testing of new programs.

Another barrier to program development was identified as the lack of consistent data collection mechanisms to capture information about DL learners and services. Consistent data will enable comparison, decision-making on a local and system-wide basis and contribute to national data for adult education and training.

The pilot CSCs indicated that locating specific DL programs on behalf of individual learners was a time-consuming activity. They indicated willingness to participate in information-sharing with other CSCs and felt it should be systematic and coordinated. Establishing ongoing communication about DL among CSCs, using, for example e-mail, listservs and newsletters, can facilitate sharing of information system-wide and/or on a centre-to-centre basis. The CSC staff can also enhance their expertise through contact with other agencies offering similar services.

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