As part of its push to become a leader in connectivity and entrepreneurial learning, Olds College will announce a new technology-based curriculum Feb. 22 that incorporates the use of iPads for most of the school's students.
"That will change the way we interact with curriculum, the way we apply curriculum and the way we engage it. It's just going to completely, metamorphically change the way we do education here,î said Jason Dewling, vice-president of academic and research at the college.
"Apple has been with us from the beginning. They've been very supportive of this initiative,î he said, noting that the company will be providing technical support, training and information technology support.
As part of the new curriculum, which is called Connect Your Passion and launches next September, all instructors will also be furnished with an iPad.
Dewling said iPads "can be used in so many different ways. We're only scratching the surface.î
As part of the initiative, the province's deputy premier, Thomas Lukaszuk will be coming to the campus on Friday to talk about Olds College going from a 40-megabyte capability in each classroom to one-gigabyte capability.
"We're doing a massive Wi-Fi upgrade on campus. So every classroom that has 20 seats, there will be the opportunity to connect 40 devices. That Wi-Fi, combined with bandwidth, will allow us to have the most bandwidth per student anywhere in Canada,î Dewling said.
The recent launch in Olds of O-Net, Canada's fastest fibre-optic Internet network, allowed the school to go forward with this plan, he added.
Olds College also wants to become the most entrepreneurial college in Canada and as a result, has created a course called Discover Entrepreneurship, which every student will be required to take beginning next year. The game includes managing lemonade stands in a community called The Blands. The course, which has about a $600 value, will be provided to students for free.
Apple became interested in working with the college after learning about the development of the game, he added.
"They're basically entrepreneurial principles built into a gameified curriculum. Every student at Olds College, in a program of 16 weeks or longer will be required to do that as a Ö course. We're the first in the world to do this,î Dewling said.
"It's not about knowing the curriculum Ö it's how you interact with the curriculum. Technology allows you to do that. We figured by creating this opportunity with mobile learning, we're preparing our students for Ö the workforce of tomorrow,î Dewling said.
The college, in partnership with the GoForth Institute and Robots and Pencils, a gaming company, developed the game for the school.
