Content development and maintenance of geographic information systems (GIS) related courses, especially designed for distance and online delivery, could be a tedious task even for an experienced instructor. The paper outlines application of abstract instructional design techniques for modeling course structure and developing corresponding course…

This paper provides a brief review of blended learning as a didactic method, and discusses the issues and challenges of using blended learning models in post-secondary education. Blended learning refers to mixed modes of instruction that combine traditional face-to-face classroom teaching methods and online learning materials. The paper will…

A summer academy is held for grade 9-12 high school students at the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, every year. The academy, dubbed the Da Vinci Engineering Enrichment Program (DEEP), is a diverse program that aims to attract domestic and international high school students to engineering and sciences (and possibly recruit them). DEEP…

Since their inception, North American universities have struggled with balancing their dual mandates of research and teaching. Over the past twenty years or so these activities have become increasingly polarized, with research activity (particularly that which brings in additional money) being given an ever more privileged and prestigious…

In the past few decades, the physics teaching community has witnessed a surge in creative and often effective ways of using technology to improve physics instruction. Most of these findings suggest how technology can help instructors create interactive learning environments and how interactivity influences the effectiveness of physics learning.…

Describes how Canada's Open College developed a doculecture to attract learners to educational radio. Outlines planning issues for marketing, producing, and funding educational radio programs. (SK)

A study of British Columbia high schools found that block scheduling can endanger mathematics achievement. Reduced math scores were attributed to irregular planning time, little opportunity to modify curriculum; and the provincial examination system. Longer time blocks cannot succeed without adequate planning time, curricular restructuring, and…

Discussion of use of the World Wide Web for literary studies focuses on a course on contemporary Canadian literature offered at the University of Northern British Columbia. Highlights include weekly lectures, discussion forum, assignments, evaluations, Web courses versus other distributed learning media such as videoconferencing, and future…

In 1979, the Native Indian Youth in Museums project began placing Musqueam teenagers in the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology to teach them about traditional coastal Indian culture, and train them to share this information with museum visitors. Co-sponsored by the Native Indian Youth Advisory Society and the Native Youth…

Describes and evaluates televised lectures that were added to a geography course to accommodate classroom overflow. Comparisons of academic performance between attendees of the live lectures and the broadcast audience revealed no significant difference. Survey questionnaires indicate that students felt the televised method to be valuable. (MJP)