Tuesday, June 22, 2010

FNTI a "promising practice" in Abo-PSE

Yesterday was National Aboriginal Day and, as such, it was the perfect time for two announcements in Aboriginal post-secondary education.

First, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) released the report, "Answering the Call: The 2010 inventory of Canadian university programs and services for Aboriginal students," the results of a survey conducted by the AUCC of its member organizations regarding Aboriginal access to mainstream post-secondary education. The 30-page document is available for download at the link.

As well, the Assembly of First Nations released a discussion paper called "Taking Action for First Nations Post-Secondary Education: Access, Opportunity, and Outcomes," where it identifies FNTI as one of eight "promising practices" in Aboriginal post-secondary education. The report reads:
The First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) opened in 1985 as a result of partnerships among the Tyendinaga Mohawk Council, the FNTI Board, the Department of Indian Affairs and the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training. FNTI's approaches to Aboriginal post-secondary over the years includes alternative delivery methods such as intensive course offerings, use of video-conferencing technology and community delivering of programming. They believe that, "by taking the education to the people, we have removed one barrier to access. By changing the delivery schedule we have removed another. Our final step is to create active, participatory learning environments which respond to the cultural and socio-economic needs of our learners.
This 30-page discussion paper, developed by a panel of ten First Nations educators and administrators from across Canada, is available for download at the AFN website.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Queen's celebrates FNTI's first MPA grads

Check out this article from the Queen's University News Centre about our first ever graduates from the Master of Public Administration program. Our partner institute for this program, Queen's notes it is Canada's only program for graduate studies in indigenous public administration and policy.

Congratulations to (l-r) Tracey, Debby, Russell, and Francis!



(Yes, that's our very own Manager of Advancement and Institutional Development Debby Brant!)

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

More PLA in the news


Jennifer Ashawasagai, a 2007 graduate of FNTI's journalism program, is the creator and host of Bamoseda (pronounced "BOMB-say-dah"), her own radio newsmagazine show which is available to listeners of stations that belong to the Rogers radio network all across Canada.

Last week she spoke with PLA Manager Paul Zakos during our 21st annual PLA conference and that interview is included in this week's edition of Bamoseda.

It's available online at this link. (Just below the Bamoseda logo, click on the right arrow to access the program.) The FNTI portion of the show begins around the time mark 28:40 and ends at approximately 34:50.

PLA in the news

Reporter Jason Miller from the local daily newspaper Belleville Intelligencer visited our PLA conference last week and his story was published on Saturday.

FNTI LEADING WAY IN EDUCATING MATURE STUDENTS
Jason Miller, The Intelligencer

A local college has conjured a revolutionary way to educate mature students that has been catching on with post-secondary institutions around the world.

The Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory-based First Nations Technical Institute just concluded its prior learning assessment conference, which attracted educators from Chile, South Africa and Nunavut, who have adopted the program.

Paul Zakos, the manager of the PLA program at FNTI, said the education model is geared towards helping professionals without post-secondary education accreditation build portfolios that represent their body of work.

"It forces institutions to change the way they deliver services," he said. "The demographics are changing."

Zakos said the four-day conference at the Ramada also highlighted efforts to recognize Indigenous knowledge in Canada and around the world.

He said the PLA program identifies and validates knowledge acquired from non-academic work and life experience, which might have been gained from volunteerism, travel, and hobbies.

"The PLA process is designed to make it more efficient and lessen the time," he said. "You still have to prove have that skill and knowledge."

During the conference, speakers staged workshops that underscored the commonalities among Indigenous people around the world in acknowledging unique worldviews and learning styles that enhance Indigenous peoples full participation in their societies.

This is the 21st conference that has been staged by FNTI, marking its 25 years as an Aboriginally controlled post-secondary institution. The college offers 13 programs and has an enrolment of about 300 students.

Zakos said the school uses a different education model, where educators visit the students in their communities several times a year.

Some of the students have jobs and families to care for, he said, so they are unable to fit into the traditional school system.

He said a vast majority of those students already have workplace experience and the PLA program is a medium through which they can construct a portfolio and receive some form of accreditation for their years of work.

"People learn a lot of things outside of school that are relevant to what you would be taught in school," he said. "We've worked on that model for 21 years."

jmiller@intelligencer.ca

Founding FNTI "almost a spontaneous eruption of community cooperation"

Our first ever president and CAO, Bruce Millar, recounts the creation and early history of FNTI to those in attendance for the opening ceremony at the 21st annual PLA conference.


Wednesday, June 02, 2010

PLA Q&A: Diane Hill

They started yesterday and wrapped up this morning: the PLA pre-conference workshops. More than a presentation, with opportunities for a bit more in-depth focus on participants' own professional use -- and potential use -- of the prior learning assessment process, the pre-conference workshops are a must, especially for those new to PLA.

Participants had three workshops to choose from. In the Sagonaska Room on the main conference floor, Diane Hill of FNTI's social services worker (SSW) program, who presented along with Banakonda Kennedy Kish Bell, spoke with us about her session called "The FNTI Model: Portfolio Development as a Tool for Transformative Learning."


FNTI: Tell us a little about yourself.

Diane: I've been the academic program coordinator for one of the social service worker programs at FNTI. I wear many hats, actually. As academic program coordinator, I had to oversee the accreditation standards of the program. I have to ensure that the program met the same accreditation standards of other SSW programs in Ontario. I have to articulate a learning and teaching model based on Indigenous cultural philosophy and I have to build a bridge between our style of Indigenous education and mainstream. I have to explain in a way that makes sense to other adult educators so that they can appreciate the depth and the breadth of how we operate.

I've done a lot of keynotes, a lot of work with teachers and education people. I've done workshops for administrators of both college and university level programs. I do a lot of mainstream bridging.

And I actually teach! I'm lead faculty in the program. I oversee program and course design, content and delivery, guide teaching faculty, supervise, and manage them. Plus provide counselling and healing with learners.

FNTI: We can assume you've been to the PLA conference before?

Diane: I started coming here at conference number four and now we're at what? Twenty-one? So what is that? Seventeen?

FNTI: What has your workshop entailed? It's called "The FNTI Model?"

Diane: We introduced participants to the Aboriginal culture-based model of learning and teaching utilized by FNTI faculty for the SSW program. Portfolio development especially has been integrated into the curriculum as a way of providing adult learners with the opportunity not only to assess their prior learning, but also to document new learning acquired through their training program.

FNTI: Is there anything you learned or taken away from this session?

Diane: What I take away is what I always take away. The model is always appreciated by people. They understand the depth and the breadth and the reason why we do it, from an Indigenous perspective. People are always so profoundly touched by what they learn here. They say, "Thank you, Diane, for clarifying the Indigenous worldview." I get that every single time. For 17 years now that's what I've heard. It's about wholistic education that's not just about Aboriginal people. It's about all of us, and people here seem to understand that. Even when I'm just talking about Aboriginal people.

PLA Q&A: Mark Gallupe and Paul Zakos

It all started yesterday and wrapped up this morning: the PLA pre-conference workshops. More than a presentation, with opportunities for a bit more in-depth focus on participants' own professional use -- and potential use -- of the prior learning assessment process, the pre-conference workshops are a must, especially for those new to PLA.

Participants had three workshops to choose from. On the main conference floor, 2nd floor here at the Ramada Inn, Mark Gallupe of Loyalist College and Paul Zakos of FNTI, along with Glen Brouwer of Sunrise Adult Learning Centres, met with us after their group session called "Becoming an Adult Learner Friendly Institution: How to Get Started."



FNTI: Tell us a little about yourself.

Mark: I'm program coordinator for the SSW (social service worker) program at Loyalist College. I've been there 22 years.

Paul: I've been at FNTI since its inception 25 years ago, and I've organized this conference every year since the first one 21 years ago.

FNTI: So you've both been to the PLA conference before?

Paul: (laughs)

Mark: I've been to every single one.

FNTI: What brings you back every year?

Mark: It's the inspiration to keep doing this work. I get that inspiration from the First Nations people, from the people who organize and run the conference and just from FNTI's approach to prior learning assessment and recognition. That's been a big thing for me.

FNTI: What has your workshop entailed?

Paul: We talked about the ALFI (Adult Learner Focused Institution) self-evaluation study we conducted to test the transferability of the eight identified priciples of best practice for serving adult learners in a Canadian context. (For more information about that study, see this link).

We were sharing, talking about the history, background of the study, what the process is. The participants here today represent a variety of organizations, but all work with adults. We have a video that Glen developed, interviewing learners and faculty around the tools and how it helped them. He showed that this morning, and then we had them practice using the tool by using one or two of the principles and doing an assessment of their organizations.


PLA Q&A: Rose Marie Reid

It all started yesterday and wraps up this morning: the PLA pre-conference workshops. More than a presentation, with opportunities for a bit more in-depth focus on participants own professional use -- and potential use -- of the prior learning assessment process, the pre-conference workshops are a must, especially for those new to PLA.

Participants had three workshops to choose from. Downstairs in the Prince Edward Room, Rose Marie Reid of Loyalist College here in Belleville, worked with her group in a session called "Introduction to Prior Learning Assessment and Portfolio Development."



FNTI: Tell us a little about yourself.

Rose Marie: I work part-time at Loyalist College in the Social Service Worker program and as a consultant to community agencies and colleges interested in training for people who want to learn to be PLA practitioners. It's a lot of project-based work. Mark (Gallupe, see next Q&A below) work on a lot of projects together. The association of land surveyors, for example, are here at the conference this week. We'll be presenting about their work on Thursday. Specifically, that project was to help internationally trained surveyors to build portfolios in order to gain membership into the Ontario association.

FNTI: You've been to the PLA conference before?

Rose Marie: This is my 15th or 16th year!

FNTI: What has your workshop entailed?

Rose Marie: It's an opportunity to explore what PLA is, how it's done, why it's done. There are social justice issues, issues about learning and education. We learn by working with people's portfolios so participants get to look at complete portfolios and see the wholistic learning, the transferable skills in them, and see how alternative forms of learning can be recognized by employers, agencies, education and the people themselves. It's a strengths-based approach so we're looking at the strengths in the portfolios.