An Innovative Model for Ontario North/South Program Delivery

Authors
Mary Lynn Manton
Mark Lamontagne
Attachment(s)
Abstract

Executive Summary

The goal of this cross-institutional partnership between Seneca College and Canadore College is to enable shared delivery of two advanced diploma programs currently offered at Seneca – Computer Programming & Analysis (CPA) and Computer Systems Technology (CTY). Through a formal partnership, the two colleges will create an innovative program delivery model that concomitantly provides a pathway to a Seneca degree: an Honours Bachelor of Technology in Informatics and Security (IFS), or an Honours Bachelor of Technology in Software Development (BSD).

This Seneca-Canadore collaboration aims to set the framework whereby larger Ontario colleges and smaller, non-degree granting colleges, can partner on program delivery. The shared program will promote sustainability through creative sharing of resources, to provide a highly scalable model that can be extended to other Seneca-Canadore program areas, and to other Ontario colleges and their communities.

The capacity to provide a degree pathway is very important to smaller colleges, and further develops Canadore’s ability to offer multiple entrance pathways and flexible policies and programming, with the focus on students who, without interventions and support, would not otherwise participate in postsecondary education (Canadore SMA 2017-2020). The proposed model will enable the College to achieve this goal without the significant investment of time and financial resources typically required to develop and implement a new degree program.

This initiative lays the foundation to support multi-directional student mobility to, from and within Seneca as part of Seneca’s Strategic Mandate Agreement 2 (SMA2). The ‘hub-and-spoke’ model provides for seamless student mobility between Ontario’s colleges. It will identify and map program pathways among institutions and provide learners access to the support they need to obtain their desired credentials, while also allowing institutions to share resources efficiently and foster student success.

The Seneca-Canadore partnership will facilitate a deliberate, conscious and coordinated program planning process that will reverberate with social and economic benefits to students, colleges, and the province. The proposed initiative represents a unique opportunity for Canadore to meet workforce demands of the North, providing opportunities for students to gain the skills and knowledge that will strengthen North Bay’s local and regional economies. To maximize student accessibility and success, the program will offer synchronous course delivery that combines in-class, online learning, and experiential learning opportunities. Where critical mass exists (e.g., common first-year courses, general education courses, communication courses), courses will be delivered face-to-face at the student’s home institution.

To allow for maximum mobility between the CPA and CTY programs, first-year courses will be common where possible, and a bridging mechanism will be established to allow students the flexibility to transfer between programs. The proposed program will build on and benefit from the respective infrastructural and program strengths of Seneca and Canadore, thereby increasing opportunities for students in both regions and minimizing program delivery costs. While Canadore College benefits from the Seneca College’s strength in IT curriculum and pathways through to degree completion, Seneca College also has the opportunity to examine several distance delivery models that have been in existence at Canadore College for many years (Northern Colleges Collaboration Program, OntarioLearn, ContactNorth/ ContactNord and Point-to-Point models).

The framework developed for synchronous delivery provisions two classrooms at Seneca, one for delivery of a course to Canadore and the other to receive delivery of a course by Canadore. Additional technologies to assist in student support for lab based courses is intended to include software that will allow the projection of an instructor’s machine to student machines as well as the ability for the instructor to view a student’s desktop in aiding troubleshooting and support of tasks being done by students. These technologies continue to undergo rigorous testing.