[Institutional Report] Thompson Rivers University

Hello, I’m Melissa Jakubec and I’m an instructional designer for Thompson Rivers University’s Open Learning Division. I’m also the Provost’s Fellow for Blended and Innovative Learning at TRU. In these roles, I work with subject matter experts to create blended and fully online courses. TRU is a dual-more institution with 13,170 on campus students and 11,794 enrolled in Open Learning. Distance education plays an important role at TRU. In addition to our Kamloops campus, we also have a satellite campus in Williams Lake. Both Blackboard and Moodle are used on campus, with Open Learning relying on Blackboard while offering some courses through WordPress.
We have our own installation of WordPress, as well as a new TRU wiki. Brian Lamb, Director of Innovation, is working to expand the use of both on campus amongst our faculty. Brian is also looking to identify other institutions in BC that are interested in using open platforms such as WordPress and wikis. A set of discussions to identify use cases and consider collaborative approaches to supporting these tools are forthcoming. If you have not been contacted and wish to participate, please be in touch with Brian (blamb@tru.ca). We are also one of the founding partners of the OERu and hosted their meeting last November.
We are looking forward to hosting the CNIE conference this May. Our theme is Confluences: Spaces, Places and Cultures for Innovative Learning. The Call for Proposals just closed and we are excited by the number and quality of submissions received. We have some wonderful keynotes lined up – Audrey Watters, Nancy White, Richard Wagamese and Brian Lamb – as well as some intriguing and practical pre-conference sessions. The conference will include a unique Kamloops experience – a “Hoot and Howl” excursion to McQueen Lake, hosted by our very own Dean of Science Tom Dickinson and a First Nations Elder. For more information, check out our website at http://www.tru.ca/distance/cnie.html