e-Learning @ OSHKI

Visual learning is a key part of Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s educational environment.

“We have First Nation students who are visual learners,” says eLearning Coordinator Gordon Kakegamic. “We provide classes that are visually interactive, which is more effective than a text (independent study) and voice-only (teleconference) learning environment.”

Oshki-Pimache-O-Win provides its classes through two different elearning platforms: Centra, a distance education system provided by Contact North, and Moodle, an online learning management system which helps to facilitate the delivery of online courses.

Centra provides students with an opportunity to participate, using their own computers and headsets, during virtual classes delivered by class instructors using lectures and powerpoint presentations.

“The Centra system is very interactive,” says Oshki-Pimache-O-Win instructor John Schmidt. “I can upload powerpoint presentations to it, and it has an electronic blackboard that I can write on or draw pictures.”

Moodle provides students with online course curriculum and content and allows them to complete five fundamental tasks: online reading assignments, submissions of online assignments using a web browser, uploading of two or three-page essays to the system, online quizzes and online discussion forums.

Oshki-Pimache-O-Win is planning to maximize its use of Moodle in the future as more educational organizations, including colleges and universities, discover its benefits. Cambrian College has already made the switch from WebCT to Moodle. “Moodle is the future,” Kakegamic says. “It’s open source and it’s free.”

Oshki-Pimache-O-Win provides plenty of visual content in its online courses, including photographs, videos, video narratives and animations.

“The visual content makes the courses come alive,” Kakegamic says. “We also provide some content in Aboriginal languages, for instance our Basic Radiological Technician program will soon support online x-ray procedural videos in English, Cree, and Oji-Cree.”

Oshki-Pimache-O-Win recently upgraded to a state-of-the-art network that provides students with quick access to online, e-mail, videoconference and website services using three in-house servers and the local Thunder Bay Aboriginal Broadband Network, which is connected to K-Net’s country-wide broadband system.

Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s students graduate with the knowledge to use the potential of the World Wide Web to their benefit.