Farewell Carol McCullough

Carol McCullough has worked as literacy practitioner in the Literacy and Essential Skills area of the Centre for Excellence in Foundational Learning at Bow Valley College for 20 years. She has been the Volunteer Tutor Adult Literacy coordinator for much of that time and she has also taught the Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) Read and Write programs. Carol is involved in program promotion, intake and literacy assessments as well as learner and tutor support. Carol was also the Regional Resource  lead for Literacy Alberta, for the Calgary region for 12 years. Carol  has had huge impact on the literacy community province –wide as a leader ,a mentor, an instructor, an innovator and always with a seemingly tireless passion for adult learning and literacy. Carol retired from this role on June 30, 2015.

Carol will be busy with her community commitments, her many projects and most importantly, her grandkids.

We will miss her wisdom and  knowledge and her optimistic generous spirit.

SUCCESS AT ACIFA 2015

Packs Paddles and Portages: ACIFA 2015 Charting the Course was an inspirational educational experience. Enough alliteration for you? I gather the people who came up with this year's conference title were English teachers.

The initial presentation by the keynote speaker, James Raffan, involved a passionate appeal for increasing risk in our students' education. His background in outdoor education and as professor and head of the Outdoor and Experiential Education Program at Queen's University enabled him to speak with tremendous conviction about the need for more dynamic learning opportunities for students across the country. He sang and recited numerous stories, (most relating to canoe expeditions,) that helped to demonstrate his perspective that real learning requires a certain risk both inside and outside of the classroom. He argues that we have moved too far to a cerebral, (drone like learning,) at the expense of the character building that comes through experiential or (out of the classroom) learning. It was a great way to spark discussion and get the conference kick started.

Among the many other presentations were two from Bow Valley College: Duff Waddell and Jennefer Rousseau's presentation on The Importance of Providing Effective Feedback and Implementing Audio Technology and Penny Marcotte and Maureen Stewart's presentatioScientific Literacy: Supporting Learners in their Science Journey. While I was unable to attend Penny and Maureen's presentation, the feedback was very positive. The audience was very engaged at Duff and Jennefer's presentation with discussion questions centered around what constitutes effective feedback. The audience was also very appreciative of receiving information on the benefits of using audio technology and learning about the various available technologies.

One of the real highlights of the conference was being able to collaborate with other educators in an amazing natural environment such as Lake Louise. Although the snow pack was low enough to close some of the trails, others were ready which allowed us to head up to Lake Agnus and take in the amazing view of surrounding area.

I would highly recommend the ACIFA Conference for any educators interested in stimulating their educational knowledge. The variety of presentation topics certainly offer more than enough to  satisfy the interests of anyone willing to learn something new or reinvigorate their current practice.

We are excited to announce that BVC will be hosting next year's ACIFA conference at the spectacular Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. All staff are welcome to join. Please contact Travis Seaman for details.