What's New?
Over 80 Students Compete to Complete
It’s week five of Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL)’s first ever tuition credit contest and the competition is intense with over 80 contestants vying to win free education through Open Learning.
One lucky winner of the Grow Your Education, Compete to Complete contest will receive all the fees normally associated with completing up to 60 credits through TRU's Open Learning Division - a prize valued at up to CAN$9,500.
With only seven weeks left in the contest, participants have already forwarded enough supporters to TRU-OL’s Facebook profile page to more than quadruple its number of fans.
"By using social media to run this competition we are developing communications in human, rather than institutional, terms,” Cameron Beddome, Chief Recruiting Officer, TRU-OL, said. “Communicating this way - listening first and initiating second - allows us to create relationships with the very people that may want the opportunities we can provide through our open and accessible approach to online and distance education."
In order to gain one entry, each contestant must first create a new Facebook group for the Grow Your Education, Compete to Complete contest that describers how winning the contest will make a difference in their life. From there they must fill out an entry form and invite friends to not only join their own Facebook group but also become a fan of TRU-OL’s Facebook profile page. Each friend their Facebook contest group ultimately has in common with TRU-OL’s Facebook profile page counts as one single entry. Each contestant can achieve up to 1,500 entries each which means their chance to win can be quite substantial depending on how well they market their plea to grow their education through TRU-OL.
Richard Baldelli, Director, Marketing and Communications, TRU-OL, explained that using social media as the contest medium for the contest not only provides potential students with their own voice to convey their message but it also allows TRU-OL to converse with students in a different voice that traditional advertising does not allow. Through social media, TRU-OL, he explained, this contest can help to ultimately target the perfect online and distance education market.
“This contest uses Facebook as a social media tool to help us reach our target market by simply engaging in conversations with the right people which is potentially more effective than advertising,” Baldelli said. “When our students and prospective students are engaging with us, we need to be there listening - social media provides us with that channel and opportunity.”
Advertising through communicating has allowed TRU-OL to leverage its ability to interpret exactly what its market desires according to Baldelli.
"Social media is the new communications system,”"Baldelli said. "It (social media) helps us properly understand what our students are looking for and where they are looking. It can help us respond to market trends."
And the trends are saying that online and distance education fills a real niche for mature students who have work, familial and other life obligations necessitating an alternative and flexible method of learning. Students requiring an open and accessible education are out there and are driven to complete their post-secondary education for a number of reasons ranging from a desire to start their own successful business to wanting to be a better parent and teaching their children the value of education.
The contest, which launched on January 29 and runs until April 18, 2010, comes at an auspicious time for many individuals, who are both swayed by today’s troubled economy and yet concerned over related tuition fees, to return to school to enhance their job marketability.
March 14, 2010
New Course
EDDL 514: Online Teaching and Learning
Start Date: March 22, 2010
Registration closes March 18
This online, applied course is designed to provide educators with knowledge, skills and experience in implementing educational technology into a pedagogically sound learning environment. EDDL 514 is designed to provide instructors with a basic introduction to the theory and practice of online teaching and learning and to develop the skills and strategies needed to facilitate courses in an online environment. Participants will reflect on their experiences as online learners to help develop their own philosophy of online teaching and learning. Emphasis will be placed on student engagement and motivation, creating collaborative and interactive experiences and gaining practical experience. The course format will be an online seminar that models the development of learning communities
March 10, 2010
Win Tickets to the Kamloops Film Festival
As a Starring Role sponsor, Open Learning has five pairs of tickets to give away: four pairs to attend the popular closing Festival Party held at Rocksalt, 405 Victoria Street on Thursday March 11, at 9pm, and two pairs of Festival vouchers that entitle the bearer to receive tickets to thirteen different films.
Each day, from Monday, March 1st to Friday, March 5th, the festival logo will be hidden somewhere on the Open Learning website. The first individual to find the logo each day and submit the contest entry form with the correct OL webpage address will receive a prize to be collected from the Open Learning reception desk, 4th floor OL Building on the TRU campus.
Enter to win tickets here
March 1, 2010
Accessible education key to combating labour shortage
Affordable, accessible and high quality post-secondary education is necessary if Canada is to ensure a skilled and knowledgeable Canadian workforce is available to meet a potential labour shortage in Canada.
According to a report published by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, labour shortages will be a reality in Canada despite unemployment brought by the recent recession. The report entitled Recession, Recovery and the Future Evolution of the Labour Market, warned that the pre-recession labour shortage will resurface after the economy fully recovers.
This strain to Canada’s labour market is a result of an aging population and low birth rate, according to the report.
“Canada will have too few workers to meet the needs of its economy and of society,” Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber, said. “We need to expand Canada’s labour force if we want the Canadian economy to continue to grow.”
According to the report, globalization and technological advances are changing the composition of the workforce, transforming the nature of work and reshaping the workplace. It suggests that Canada’s competitiveness and prosperity depend on maximizing the education and skill levels of Canadians, and on the ability of our workforce to create and apply ideas and knowledge.
In order to fill this shortage, the report advises all businesses to recruit Canada’s older workers, Aboriginal peoples, disabled individuals and new immigrants to Canada.
"Looking to the future, Canada faces many skills-related challenges, but they also present opportunities,” Beatty said. “Addressing them and improving our nation’s ability to compete is vital both to our businesses - small and large - and to Canadian workers."
February 23, 2010
Contest Gives People the Opportunity to Complete their University Education
The Open Learning (OL) Division of Thompson Rivers University (TRU) has officially launched Grow Your Education, Compete to Complete, its first ever tuition credit contest which recognizes the importance of post-secondary education and the difference it can make to an individuals life and future.
The contest, which runs January 29 to April 18, 2010, comes at an auspicious time for many individuals, who are both swayed by today’s troubled economy and yet concerned over related tuition fees, to return to school to enhance their job marketability.
"This contest is intended to make people aware that they are closer to a university degree than they may have thought,” Cameron Beddome, Chief Recruitment Officer, Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL), said."
TRU-OL is inviting their current and former students as well as any individual who has not been a full-time student (have taken 12 or more credits during any eight month period) at any post-secondary institution after December 31, 2006,* to Compete to Complete their university credential and grow their education.
TRU-OL is utilizing its social media Facebook page to help determine one lucky winner who will be awarded with full sponsorship of all fees related to up to 60 TRU-OL credits that will be used towards completion of their post-secondary credential. The prize is valued at up to CAN$9,500.
"The majority of students at TRU-OL take 60 credits or less as most program students come to TRU-OL to complete or continue a credential which they began elsewhere,” Beddome said. “Students are permitted to transfer up to 105 credits towards a TRU-OL degree. This is more than any other post-secondary institution in Canada."
In order to win, contestants must first visit www.truopen.ca/contest and fill out and submit an entry form, which includes a skill testing question. From there, each contestant must create a new Facebook group for the TRU-OL Grow Your Education, Compete to Complete contest and describe how winning the contest, and accomplishing their post-secondary potential, will make a difference in their life.
In order to increase their chances of winning, contestants must then spread the word and invite friends to join both their Facebook TRU-OL contest group as well as Open Learning’s Facebook profile page. By the end of the contest period, every friend that each contestant’s Facebook TRU-OL contest group shares with TRU-OL’s Facebook profile page counts as one contest entry. The contestant with the best odds of winning is the individual who has the most friends in common between their Facebook TRU-OL contest group and TRU-OL’s Facebook profile page. Note however that the probability of wining will be dependent on the total number of entries TRU-OL receives.
"We are calling the contest exactly what it is ― Grow Your Education, Compete to Complete,”"Richard Baldelli, Acting Director, Marketing and Communications, TRU-OL, said. "The rules very clearly direct students to forward the contest information to friends, and market TRU-OL, in order to garner increased entries in the contest and thus chances to win. In exchange for this free viral advertising, we are giving them the chance to win up to $9,500 worth of education."
“We believe that when people find out about TRU-OL and what we offer, the opportunities to grow their educations will sell themselves," Baldelli said.
The winner will be selected at random, within 30 days of the completion of the contest.
If you have any questions, concerns or complaints please contact Moragh MacAulay, Web Services Manager, TRU-OL, at Mmacaulay@tru.ca.
January 29, 2010
January 20, 2010
Welcome New Member
The Instructional Design Department of Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL) welcomes Donna DesBiens to her new position as Instructional Designer. Prior to joining TRU-OL, DesBiens worked at Calgary based SAIT Polytechnic as an Instructional Designer. DesBiens brings to her position a Masters in Adult, Community and Higher Education from the University of Calgary.
January 6, 2010
New Service Available for Open Learning Students
Are you struggling with the challenges of composition? Grappling with the peculiarities of grammar? Looking to resuscitate your footnoting skills? The OL Student Writing Help Line may be able to help.
There is no cost to you for the service, if you are an Open Learning student.
For more information go to http://www.tru.ca/distance/services/swriting.html
December 7, 2009
Thompson Rivers University Newsroom
Visit the Thompson Rivers University Newsroom for information on TRU news and events, and to view photos and video.
TRU Timelapse
from http://newsroom.blog.mytru.ca
This timelapse was taken with a Canon EOS 5D set to shoot one picture every twenty seconds for four hours. Jon Fulton, employee of Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning, set up the shots from the third floor of the BCCOL building. Music by local artist AJ Ellsay.
November 27, 2009
Call for Students
Thompson Rivers University Open Learning students are needed on an ongoing basis to participate on a number of university committees, including the TRU Senate Sub-Committee on Student Engagement, the TRU Student Advisory Council, and the TRU-OL Student Advisory Group, among others. Committee participation provides an opportunity to represent other TRU-OL students and help shape the future direction of our institution.
Interested Open Learning students should contact myvoice@tru.ca to learn more.
Additional Information
- Committee work begins in September and continues through the academic year
- Meetings are generally held monthly, with advance notice of day and time
- Students should normally allow two hours for the meeting, and additional time for meeting preparation
- TRU-OL students may attend via teleconference
- TRU-OL will keep a list of interested students as the need for students is ongoing.
September 17, 2009
Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning.
The Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning (EDDL) is designed and developed in collaboration with the TRU School of Education.
This graduate level certificate is designed to provide educators (K-12 teachers, post-secondary instructors and trainers) in British Columbia and beyond, with a solid foundation in the technical and pedagogical expertise required to effectively use education technology in the classroom, in distributed learning environments and in the world of online education.
For more information go to Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning.
September 1, 2009
Distance education provider offers tuition to low income students
Sikkim Manipal University Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DDE) based in India recently launched a scholarship initiative entitled Vidyadeep, which is aimed at the poorer section of India’s society. The nationwide scholarship program will assist 1,500 students by paying up to 100% of tuition. Students eligible for the scholarships include those currently enrolled in their first to fifth semester of programs in the following streams: IT; Management; Journalism and Mass Communication; Fashion; Hospitality and Tourism; Allied Health; Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. A further eligibility marker includes those with a low family income.
SMU-DDE was established in 2001 by the Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences. The programs offered by SMU are recognized by the Distance Education Council (DEC) of the Government of India.
August 11, 2009