Day 12 - Vancouver BC
quiet, working day - settling into campus
life....
Gary Poole (my host here) was keen that I see his
unit in action, so he hauled me off to a committee meeting this morning at 9am
(that is, if you can call a university committee "in action":). It was quite
interesting, but also frightening to see how eerily similar universities are
when you get down to the operational level. The modes of discourse, albeit
different accents and different words for the same thing, the politics, the
resource issues, are all the same. Anyway, I had consulted with Gary when I was
drafting the proposal for our Certificate in University Teaching and Learning,
and this was a meeting of the Advisory Board for their equivalent programme -
which has been going 5 years already and is very succesful. I floated the idea
of a U21 global Certificate, which may happen - there definitely is an
increasing demand for such courses ... we'll
see...
Had a browse in the UBC bookshop on the way back - it has a special Apple section so I checked out the techie stuff. Good that UBC has a Mac store on campus!! It's quite a bookstore - like everything else here its just on a bigger scale resource-wise.
Then just parked off in my room catching up on email until my next meeting at 3pm - with Doug Cronk who heads the Courseware Development section of Tony Bates' distance ed operation. They have about 75 undergrad and 20 postgrad courses delivered entirely by distance, and are thus a true mixed-mode institution. Its a big operation - he has a team of about 30 instructional designers, graphic artists, webprogrammers, project managers, etc. He does the same kind of job as people I met in Queensland and Melbourne, so patterns are beginning to emerge ...
Had an early supper (about 6pm) which was my main meal of the day. I have to watch the spending - every time I open my mouth to put food in it, it costs about $10! So one meal a day is fine, with a bit of fruit and nuts now and then, and plenty of water.
The weather is still glorious - every one I meet is just amazed at the good weather, which leads me to suspect that Vancouver doesn't really have a fantastic climate. It is after all 49º N, which is equivalent to further south than Invercargill in NZ ... so I guess even in summer you can get some chilly days. Anyway , the conference organisers are just hoping it lasts.
Am going to a bit more work, and then perhaps a good long sleep ( a bit problematic though, cos' the sun only sets at bout 10pm in the summer!). eLearningBC meeting tomorrow. I leave you with a view of the sun at 8.45pm - AND a link to my foto-essay on a day in Stanley Park (hint - if you want to have more control over the timing click on the first foto and then proceed manually thru the show, otherwise you can try the slide show if you have a fast connection..
Had a browse in the UBC bookshop on the way back - it has a special Apple section so I checked out the techie stuff. Good that UBC has a Mac store on campus!! It's quite a bookstore - like everything else here its just on a bigger scale resource-wise.
Then just parked off in my room catching up on email until my next meeting at 3pm - with Doug Cronk who heads the Courseware Development section of Tony Bates' distance ed operation. They have about 75 undergrad and 20 postgrad courses delivered entirely by distance, and are thus a true mixed-mode institution. Its a big operation - he has a team of about 30 instructional designers, graphic artists, webprogrammers, project managers, etc. He does the same kind of job as people I met in Queensland and Melbourne, so patterns are beginning to emerge ...
Had an early supper (about 6pm) which was my main meal of the day. I have to watch the spending - every time I open my mouth to put food in it, it costs about $10! So one meal a day is fine, with a bit of fruit and nuts now and then, and plenty of water.
The weather is still glorious - every one I meet is just amazed at the good weather, which leads me to suspect that Vancouver doesn't really have a fantastic climate. It is after all 49º N, which is equivalent to further south than Invercargill in NZ ... so I guess even in summer you can get some chilly days. Anyway , the conference organisers are just hoping it lasts.
Am going to a bit more work, and then perhaps a good long sleep ( a bit problematic though, cos' the sun only sets at bout 10pm in the summer!). eLearningBC meeting tomorrow. I leave you with a view of the sun at 8.45pm - AND a link to my foto-essay on a day in Stanley Park (hint - if you want to have more control over the timing click on the first foto and then proceed manually thru the show, otherwise you can try the slide show if you have a fast connection..
Posted: Mon - June 9, 2003 at 08:03 PM Stan's Travel Blog
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Total entries in this blog: 17
Total entries in this category: 17
Published On: Jun 19, 2003 01:41 AM
Total entries in this category: 17
Published On: Jun 19, 2003 01:41 AM