News Article

Building community capacity through partnerships


3/18/2011 3:06:15 PM


Representatives from College of the North Atlantic (CNA) and the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development (INTRD) and the Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Economic Development Association (NLREDA) went behind closed doors in Terra Nova National Park for what was labeled as an Instructional Design Institute. The objective of the workshop was to increase community capacity for learning opportunities throughout the province.

The best way to foster growth in any community is to have everyone pulling in the same direction. That’s why, from March 15-18, representatives from College of the North Atlantic (CNA) and the provincial Community Capacity Building Committee went behind closed doors in Terra Nova National Park for what was labeled as an Instructional Design Institute.

The committee, which is comprised of representatives of the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development (INTRD) and the Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Economic Development Association (NLREDA), partnered with the college to prepare a venue in which participants could tackle a significant list of objectives over the three-day event.

The overall intent of the workshop was to provide a venue in which participants would apply a set of instructional design principles to a specific project (e.g., course/workshop); develop a common language to discuss teaching, learning, and instructional design; promote a learning-focused approach to instructional design and teaching; provide a forum to network and share ideas, challenges, strategies, and questions about teaching, learning and instructional design; and engage in scholarly and reflective teaching/learning practices.

“This is just one of the goals that have been reached as a result of the college’s memorandum of understanding with NLREDA, our relationship with INTRD, and our ongoing connection to communities throughout the province,” said Theresa Pittman, co-chair of the event and Chair of CNA’s Office of Distributed Learning.

“The event itself was a huge success. There are a number of things we can take from discussions held over the past three days and put it into action in the coming months. This is just the first step to increased community capacity in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

When it was signed in November 2010, the MOU with NLREDA put on paper a relationship that existed for many years between the college and economic development groups across the province. The agreement set out guidelines for the partners to explore and promote education and training opportunities and facilitate innovation and applied research activities.

“This joint initiative will help to build capacity for our communities and improve organizational effectiveness whereby the community capacity building facilitators will mentor community leaders with knowledge gained from this event,” said Ted Lomond, Executive Director of NLREDA. “We are very appreciative of the role College of the North Atlantic continues to play with respect to capacity building, and the quality of this instructional design institute shows just how far we have progressed.”

This initiative will build capacity in instructional design, both within the college and within the communities of Newfoundland and Labrador. This capacity building initiative will foster a common understanding of instructional design and lead to a more consistent and collaborative environment when college faculty and staff and community partners are engaged in future learning initiatives.

“Events like this one reassure the position the college holds in the province’s development at the grass roots level - when we are able to create a college/client event that benefits both organizations,” says Joanne O’leary, co-chair of the event and Chair of CNA’s Contract Training and Continuing Education department. “We are already looking forward to conducting more of these types of events as they bring communities together with college faculty and staff. We’re excited to see where this event will take us.”

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Media Contact:

Roger Hulan
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca