News Article

College of the North Atlantic (CNA) is hosting a delegation from NOVA Career Centre in Chateauguay, QC this week to share its expertise in delivering post-secondary skilled trades programming.
 
NOVA Career Centre provides opportunities for students to either enroll in a trade program, finish high school or get ready for CEGEP (public post-secondary education institutions in Quebec).
 
Marty Madore, program developer with CNA’s School of Industrial Trades, has been working with the Quebec school for several months to co-ordinate this visit. He said the idea stemmed from his involvement with CAMPE (Canadian Association of Motive Power Educators), which meets at a different public school within Canada twice a year. Last fall, the meetings were hosted in Montreal, that’s when NOVA Career Centre representatives became interested in exploring CNA’s facilities and learning about its student services, how programs were delivered, as well as tour parts of Newfoundland and Labrador.
 
The five-member group has two purposes for the visit – some of them want to explore the administration side of operating a college campus, while the others are interested in seeing how the schools of study within the college attain practical competencies in the delivery of trade programs.
 
Over the four days, from Sept. 17-20, the group tour campuses in Port aux Basques, Bay St. George (including the site in Stephenville Crossing) and Corner Brook. There, they will meet with faculty and staff to learn about student services, administration, applied research and innovation, industrial trades and engineering technology, as well as job shadow instructors.
 
While at each campus, the NOVA Career Centre representatives will reciprocate the sharing of knowledge by presenting on Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to faculty. This method is defined as fostering collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field, and is often used as a way to organize teachers into working groups of practice-based professional learning.
 
“Every opportunity for relevant professional development/continuous learning that is presented to CNA faculty, support staff, and administration is embraced with open arms,” said Jan Peddle, Campus Director at Bay St. George campus. “This was an incredible experience and allowed us to share and learn, and opened the door for future collaboration internal and external to our organization. When done right, PLC can have a positive impact on institutional, employee and student learning.”
 
Brent Howell, Dean of Engineering Technology and Natural Resources, says opportunities to share best practices benefits both organizations.
 
“The visit from our guests is an excellent opportunity to showcase a number of our programs, and at the same time, it provides us with the opportunity to learn from the NOVA group,” said Howell “Visits like this are always mutually beneficial and have the net effect of broadening our respective perspectives on how we deliver programs.”
 
Madore adds that CNA is excited to learn more about PLC, as it is student-focused.
 
“This exchange of ideas and expertise means we are able to receive information about PLC, while at the same time, we are able to show them our facilities and expose them to our expertise,” said Madore. “Networking with colleges across Canada to share challenges and solutions is a very important part of our success.”
 
For more information on CNA’s School of Industrial Trades, visit www.cna.nl.ca.
 
 
-30-

Media contact:
 
Michelle Jesso
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709-643-7721
Michelle.jesso@cna.nl.ca