School’s distance education program wins international award - 2006
The School of Social Work has been awarded the 2005-2006 Commonwealth of Learning Excellence in Distance Education Award for Distance Education Materials. The biennial award was presented by COL President and CEO Sir John Daniel to Prof. Maggie Kovach on November 2, 2006 at the 4th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Distance and Open Learning (PCF4) in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
The award-winning course, SOCW 391: Indigenous Approaches to Healing and Helping, is offered via distance education expressly for Indigenous students. It utilizes a combination of web-based group discussion and audio files, video/DVD materials, and a course manual. Students explore traditional and contemporary approaches used by Indigenous peoples to help and heal within their communities and interact with First Nations elders, political leaders and human service workers.
The School’s SOCW 391 curriculum project team included:
• Maggie Kovach, faculty member and course writer
• Kirsten Mikkelsen, Program Assistant for the School’s Indigenous programs and graduate student in the Indigenous Governance program, who produced the accompanying DVD: Indigenous Renewal: Time for Life Again
• Menno Hubregtse, Technical Support and WebCT site design
• Dora Leigh Bjornson, Distance BSW Program Director and project manager.
• UVic’s Distance Education Services, audio/video production and instructional design consultation
In their award citation, the Commonwealth of Learning adjudication panel noted that the materials developed by the School of Social Work used the Indigenous oral tradition effectively to “encourage and achieve learning,” and “embraced the culture of the target group by ensuring that the emotion and the intellect are closely aligned.”
The Commonwealth of Learning is the world’s only intergovernmental organization dedicated solely to promoting and delivering distance education and open learning. It was created by Commonwealth Heads of government to encourage the development and sharing of distance education knowledge, resources and technologies with a goal to increase the capacities of developing nations to improve access to quality education and training.
Left to right: Sir John Daniel of the COL, and Category B winners Theresa Schindel, University of Alberta, Maggie Kovach, UVic, and Ms. Frances Jerry Ferreira, Namibian College of Open Learning.
Prof. Monty Montgomery of the School of Social Work presenting a gift of thanks on behalf of UVic and the Coast Salish nations to Jamaican representative Ms. Vilma McCLenan. Ms. McClenan was Chairman for the PCF4 Conference Committee on Logistics, Protocol and Security, and the President of the Jamaican Association for Distance and Open Learning (JADOL).
Prof. Monty Montgomery of the School of Social Work presented a gift of thanks on behalf of UVic and the Coast Salish nations to Jamaican representative Ms. Vilma McCLenan. Ms. McClenan was Chairman for the PCF4 Conference Committee on Logistics, Protocol and Security, and the President of the Jamaican Association for Distance and Open Learning (JADOL). Pictured, left to right: Monty Montgomery, Maggie Kovach and Ms. Vilma McClenan.