From Desks to Desktop: Online Training to Support Municipal Employees

(Left to Right: Michelle Turpin-Jacquard, Matthew Ayres, Jason Brown, Fiona Buchan-Corey)

Training in Nunavut takes a giant leap forward this month as Nunavut Arctic College launches the first of five online courses in the Municipal Training Organization’s (MTO) popular Municipal Government Program (MGP). Building on the successful pilot computer training last winter, the “Introduction to Northern Government” will be delivered online to participants across Nunavut starting November 28th. The course covers the structure, history and operations of territorial and municipal governments in Nunavut.

“This is a course that used to take six days to teach in a classroom,” said Fiona Buchan-Corey, Director of the Kitikmeot Campus of Nunavut Arctic College. “The new desktop delivery model makes the program accessible virtually anywhere; and it uses new, digital approaches to learning and teaching that students are going to find very exciting.”

The MGP was launched by the MTO, in partnership with the Nunavut Arctic College in September 2004. A combination of five core courses and five specialty courses earns Municipal Government Certification for learners in their chosen profession. Over 1,000 Nunavummiut have participated in courses since the program started.

Last year an Aarluk team was asked to adapt five of the Program's Core Courses for online delivery. The Aarluk team, headed up by Chuck Gilhuly, includes Terry Rudden (instructional design), Neil Burgess (Moodle Wizardry), Scott Black (Curriculum Development) and Michelle Turpin Jacquard (Instructor).

Matthew Ayres, Executive Director of the MTO, sees the new approach as a critical step in the evolution of the Program. “One of our biggest challenges in Nunavut has always been time and travel,” he explained. “With an online course, participants can learn more, learn at their own pace, and can study from the comfort of their own community. It’s a win-win situation for everybody; more learners, better course materials, and lower costs.”

Jason Brown, Director of Customized Training for Arctic College, agrees. “We’ve known for a long time that distance delivery will be a key part of our training strategy,” he said “With recent improvements to the communications infrastructure in Nunavut, and some exciting new developments in the Moodle learning platform, we decided this was the time.”

Introduction to Northern Government will be delivered online from November 28 to December 16, with the remainder of the MGP core courses scheduled for delivery in the New Year. Michelle Turpin-Jacquard, a member of the Aarluk Consulting team preparing and delivering the course, is excited by the opportunity.

“It’s going to be an incredibly rich learning experience,” said Turpin-Jacquard. “We can use techniques and materials we’ve never had access to before – video lectures, online chats, guest speakers from literally anywhere, video and web clips – literally dozens of new ways to teach and learn.”

The Nunavut Municipal Training Organization (MTO) is a non-profit society formed as a partnership between the Nunavut Association of Municipal Administrators (NAMA) and the Government of Nunavut Department of Community and Government Services. The purpose of the MTO is to identify, develop and implement training programs to improve the performance of municipalities through training, education and professional development.