[Institutional Report] North Island College

Contributed by Terri Bateman, NIC
At North Island College (NIC) we have been expanding our Interactive Television (ITV) offerings internally, as well as offering dual-credit opportunities for high-school students in Parksville and Port McNeill. We are also delivering ECCE courses through ITV to the communities of Zeballos and Tahsis.
We’re making use of Skype for Business with the addition of local versions of Skype rooms set up with high definition cameras and televisions.
There are now Skype-enabled rooms set up in the libraries at each of our campuses and students can book them online through the newly created Library and Learning Commons.  The Commons was introduced last fall with some new construction at the Comox Valley campus and a revised website. Our Student Technical Services page offers a live chat, appointment bookings, and links to help with login, Blackboard, email, and equipment. There are also well-attended face-to-face sessions at the start of each terms to help students get acquainted with tech services.
Exciting times for our remote web-based science lab (RWSL). There will be demonstrations in Vancouver and Ottawa this year and Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is running a first-of-its-kind pilot this spring using RWSL. Physics students at KPU will be able to control NIC equipment to perform real-time lab activities from anywhere.
 
Our Global Learning Facilitator has been busy this year. She has developed an Online Academic Integrity Module (AIM) that covers the topics of Plagiarism, Cheating, and Citing, Referencing & Paraphrasing. The module can be taken voluntarily and is also included as a requirement in some courses. Students are given a short quiz at the end and provided with resources to help them succeed. Up next is a module on Global Citizenship that will provide students with the opportunity to explore what it means to be both a human being and a global citizen within the context of complex intercultural interactions, either face to face or in a virtual environment
We have some new projects and certificates underway:

• A Certificate in Aboriginal Leadership is under development. We’re at the consultation stage and considering delivery models for a first-year certificate to support local leadership needs.
• Spring Entrepreneurship courses: Starting this May, NIC will provide courses designed to give students returning home from UVic, VIU, and other universities across BC an opportunity to combine theoretical knowledge with relevant business skills. NIC’s condensed, six-week university transfer courses will address seven key skills—problem solving, communication, social media, entrepreneurship, marketing, finance and accounting—that give students a competitive edge.
• The new Engineering Foundations Certificate starting in the fall provides a foundation in computer programming, math, physics, and engineering mechanics and replaces the engineering pathway.

We are also working on some exciting new collaborations with post-secondary institutions and local businesses that will be announced soon.