ATHABASCA — Aspen View Public School (AVPS) trustees received an update on plans for increasing capacity, rebranding, and aligning one avenue of alternative learning with the wider division as part of a study prompted by negotiations with the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA).
The update presented to board members during their Sept. 12 meeting focused on a pilot project at the Centre for Alternative and Virtual Education (CAVE), which offers core and option courses for high school students.
One of three pilot projects to result from the ATA negotiations, the study on the CAVE looked at how the conditions of distributed learning have evolved over the years.
“This really was a coming out of COVID initiative,” said Katherine Mann. “Things have evolved since then and changed, and I think some of the concerns that were brought forward initially were addressed, but nonetheless it was a profitable and interesting conversation to have.”
The project consisted of two meetings between CAVE principal Sean Morrison, two CAVE teachers, and AVPS associate Supt. Katherine Mann this spring.
While Mann noted concerns like high turnover within the school’s administration, a need for more consistent admin presence at the site, and frequent changes to the school’s preferred platforms had been resolved, new items for consideration did emerge from the meetings.
One such item was expanding the CAVE’s course offerings to include more capacity for Grades 7 to 9 students in need of outside the box educational pathways. Although a handful of Jr. High students currently learn via the CAVE, ensuring ample resources are in place for new students was a project priority.
“Up to this point we haven’t really had much of that,” Mann told trustees. “Coming out of COVID we kind of shut that down, but we’re seeing that there’s some exceptional needs in our division, where we might have students at that age needing to access that alternative method of learning.”
One barrier to opening the CAVE up to more Jr. High students is the access to course material. Mann said the Alberta Distance Learning Centre materials are now outdated since the organization closed in 2021, and the need for digital rather than analog alternative learning is only growing.
AVPS collaborated with admin from Parkland School Division to compare notes on access to materials, and a decision to move ahead with licencing a resource sharing program called Schoology was made, which will allow teachers to share the course development workload.
Another item to come out of the meetings was the need for a new name, new logo, and new look.
“I’m hoping once the rebranding finishes, too, that we’re able to promote our courses provincially more,” said Kastrinos.
“We do get requests from students all over the province and adults who are looking to complete 30-level requirements. Those are just additional opportunities for us to add to our numbers.”
More meetings on the rebranding are slated to take place in October, with a goal of making a number of concrete decisions by the end of the calendar year.
The project group also discussed moving to a more synchronous learning schedule, departing from the student-led model currently used.
“We wanted to build in more connections with our students in order to see their achievement levels and our completion rates, which is tricky because we’re not really built for that in this division,” said Mann.
“We‘ve got different timetables all over the place, and kids aren’t taking courses at the same time, necessarily.”
Kastrinos said the synchronous learning — a process that will take time to implement — will benefit students enrolled throughout the division but will assist those outside of AVPS, too.
“I’m also thinking about families who are choosing home education, but they want English 30 or math or something else through our site in a synchronous fashion with more synchronous teaching.”
