Partners use technology to provide distance training

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Soon a computer with Internet access will be all a person living in a remote community will need to receive industry-recognized information technology training, thanks to the First Nations Distance Learning Program.

The program is being developed by Cisco Systems Canada, a worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, in partnership with Industry Canada, Human Resources Skills Development Canada and the First Nations SchoolNet regional management organizations (RMOs).

The RMOs involved in the project include the First Nations Education Steering Committee in B.C., Keewatin Career Development Corporation (KCDC) in La Ronge, Sask., Sunchild Cyber school on Sunchild First Nation, Alta., Keewatin Tribal Council in Manitoba, K-Net in Sioux Lookout, Ont., the First Nations Education Council in Quebec and Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey in the Maritimes.

Through the project, introductory information technology (IT) training is currently being offered to 50 First Nations students from across the country on a pilot basis.

Cisco has been offering IT training through its academy since 1998. Many high schools and post-secondary institutions have been teaching the Cisco Academy programming for years. The company provides the curriculum free of charge and regularly updates what's being taught, explained Anne Miller, Cisco's Canadian education marketing manager. Another advantage is that the curriculum is designed by Cisco and the educators who use it; helping to ensure it meets the needs of the students enrolled in the training programs.

The program being piloted through the First Nations Distance Learning Program is the Cisco Networking Academy HP IT Essentials curriculum, which teaches students about computer hardware-how to take a computer apart and how to put it back together again-and software-installing the operating system. As Randy Johns, general manager of KCDC the lead RMO for the program explained, the curriculum being offered through the pilot isn't new, but the method of delivery is.

Through the First Nations Distance Learxning Program, the curriculum that has been used to provide IT training on a face-to-face basis is now being done via the Internet and video conferencing to link a teacher in one location to students in a variety of locations.

The new delivery system has meant some fine-tuning of the training program to make up for the lack of face-to-face delivery, Johns said.

"When you get into the distance delivery mode, you maybe want to illustrate your lessons in different ways because you're not right there with the student to be able to teach it. So you may want to work in some graphics or animations or these kinds of things into the lessons. And that's what the First Nations instructors have been doing," he said.

"And also there are subtle communications differences that you might be able to incorporate because the First Nation student audience might have slightly different learning styles than sort of the mainstream and the face-to-face audience. So this is something that we're able to do. Of course, we're pretty excited that we were able to certify First Nations instructors and then they're adapting the course for the needs of their community."

One piece of knowledge that has come out of the pilot so far is that more work needs to be done up-front to make sure that prospective students are actually looking for what the Cisco curriculum has to offer.

"Some people that work with computers don't want to know and don't care what goes on inside the box, the computer box. They want to work with pictures and images and so on, and that's fine, but that's not what this course is about. Other people, on the other hand, that really interests them. So you need to make that distinction. This is one of the things we're learning through the pilot," Johns said.