Learning Link

Learning Link: June 24, 2005

CCL issues RFP for state of the field reviews

CCL’s Research and Knowledge Mobilization team has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for state of the field reviews for the following areas: Early Childhood Learning; Elementary and Secondary School Learning; Post-secondary Learning; Adult Learning; Work and Learning; and Health and Learning. The request for a state of the field review for Aboriginal learning will be issued at a later date, following consultations with leaders in the aboriginal community.

The purpose of these reviews is to identify what we know about learning in each of these areas, the gaps in our knowledge, and the most promising avenues of inquiry. The requests for proposals (RFPs) are posted on CCL’s website and on the following bidding systems : Merx www.merx.com, WebBid www.unicom-systems.com BidNavigator www.bidnavigator.com bidsCanada www.bidscanada.com

All research supported by CCL will include an explicit strategy for knowledge mobilization and will require partnerships between researchers, NGOs and/or various levels of government.

CCL aims to build a learning network that extends beyond researchers, policy makers and academics. Our commitment is to ensure that our work is as accessible and relevant to Canadians as it is to learning experts.

For more information, please contact Charles Ungerleider, Director, Research and Knowledge Mobilization or Douglas MacLeod, Associate Director, Research and Knowledge Mobilization.

Application process for the Health and Learning and Work and Learning Knowledge Centres launched on June 24

The Canadian Council on Learning has initiated the application process for the Health and Learning and Work and Learning Knowledge Centres. The application document, to be completed by parties interested in acting as the Lead Organization for a consortium, is available on CCL’s website. The deadline for applications for the Health and Learning Knowledge Centre is July 25, 2005. The deadline for applications for the Work and Learning Knowledge Centre is August 12, 2005.

Please note that there will be an information teleconference for parties interested in the Health and Learning Knowledge Centre on July 6, 2005, at 12:00 noon EST. The teleconference for parties interested in the Work and Learning Knowledge Centre will take place on July 13, 2005 at 12:00 noon EST. The dial-in information is included in the application documents.

The application process for the Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre and the Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre will be initiated in autumn 2005.

CCL has retained the services of Partnering and Procurement Inc. to assist with the process. For more information about the Application process, please contact Ann Arsenault at Partnering and Procurement Inc.

E-Learning Workshop via Videoconference, Wednesday, June 29, 2005

CCL is inviting researchers and practitioners in e-learning to an informal workshop to discuss their work and identify key issues and barriers to ongoing development. These discussions will be used to guide the Canadian Council on Learning as it develops its strategy for this critical cross-cutting theme.

The main site for the workshop is the University of Calgary's iCentre, but the session will be accessible through videoconference sites across Canada. See the agenda for more information. The complete list of locations and addresses will be posted shortly on the CCL website.

Anyone with experience in e-learning is invited to participate. Please contact Douglas MacLeod to confirm your attendance.

Development Conference identifies key themes for Health and Learning

CCL’s Development Conference on Health and Learning, held in Vancouver on June 5-7, 2005, achieved significant progress toward a collaborative proposal to create the Knowledge Centre on Health and Learning.

Over 170 delegates from across Canada attended the Vancouver event and another 30-50 participated via webcasts and web-supported conference calls. Prior to the conference, more than 135 individuals and organizations took part in a series of consultations in Whitehorse, Victoria, Regina and Ottawa.

Milton Wong, member of the board of directors of the Canadian Council on Learning and Chairman, HSBC Asset Management Ltd., opened the conference. Dr. Carolyn Bennett, Minister of State for Public Health, and Raffi, children’s troubadour and founder of the movement to honour children, were among the speakers at the Sunday evening session.

Throughout the conference a series of speakers and panellists shared their expertise and recounted powerful stories that underlined the need for interdisciplinary action to promote health and learning. Participants also took part in small group discussions to identify the major issues the Knowledge Centre should address. Below are some of the broad themes that emerged:

  • Health and learning are intertwined; education status and learning about health improve an individual’s health, and health status and healthy environments improve learning. Factors such as socio-economic status, culture, gender, and access to health services have an impact on both health and learning.

  • Institutions and agencies that promote health and learning need to work together more effectively if significant progress is to be made. As one participant stated, “People don’t live, learn, work and play in silos; nor should the systems that serve them.”

  • There is a need for better data and analysis, linkages among data systems and more research that is driven by practice, community and policy concerns.

  • The Knowledge Centre needs to work with all forms of information, including that gained from experience, culture, and communities, as well as empirical evidence.

  • Knowledge needs to be translated into many forms in order to make a difference. For example, practical, convenient and frequent advice to professionals and volunteers through journals, websites and email lists, and stories and informal media that everyone can understand.

  • CCL needs to communicate with the general public as well as with professionals and policy makers.

  • Knowledge is not enough…action based on knowledge is the ultimate goal.

Delegates identified a number of areas on which the Knowledge Centre could focus:

  • How to achieve health literacy for all.
    Participants were enthusiastic about developing and mobilizing knowledge that would improve health literacy for all Canadians.

  • How to sustain healthy communities of lifelong learning.
    Learning and health are created in recognizable social, physical, economic and cultural contexts, so the work of the Centre needs to address these environments. Formal settings such asday-care programs, schools, workplaces are among the most obvious, but delegates were also interested in non-formal settings such as families, seniors’ recreation centres, parent resource centres and the emerging virtual communities on the Internet.

  • How to build “educaring” capacity.
    The proposal for the Knowledge Centre should include strategic targets for the next four years, to build and sustain capacity in communities, professions, systems, voluntary organizations, learner and parent groups so that health, education and caring programs are better coordinated, more sustainable, more cost-effective and accessible to all.

A summary of the conference sessions will be published on CCL’s website.

 

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