Research Projects
Major Research Projects 2010-2012
The Applied Research and Evaluation unit seeks to develop strong partnerships with the government, post-secondary institutions and industry. These partnerships ensure that research is used to foster change and improvement in organizational processes not only within the college but province-wide.|
Over the past two years our office was able to secure funding of total $1,039,500 for three major research projects:
1. Understanding Licensed Practical Nurses' Full Scope of Practice is a major province-wide study funded by Alberta Health and Wellness in the amount of $397,350 and in partnership with the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta addresses a serious gap in the evidence related to staffing models in health care.
Two other studies provided an in-depth understanding of both the needs of diverse learners with respect to distributed learning, as well as the practices of the post-secondary institutions in supporting these learners. Seven post-secondary institutions partnered with BVC in these studies: Old College, NAIT, NorQuest College, Northern Lakes College, Red Deer College, Lethbridge College, and Portage College.
2. Meeting the Needs of Diverse Students Engaging in e-Learning - $288,650 granted by eCampusAlberta (http://www.ecampusalberta.ca/).
3. Successful Practices in Supporting Students in Distributed Learning, funded by Alberta Advanced Education and Technology (AET) http://www.advancededucation.gov.ab.ca/ in the amount of $353,500.
A key deliverable of these two research projects was the development of an electronic toolkit (or e-toolkit) that can be used by post-secondary institutions across Alberta to enhance the service they provide to learners.
In 2011 the Applied Research and Evaluation unit collaborated with other colleges and developed a number of proposals to the Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN) http://www.ardn.ca.
Projects approved by ARDN for 2011 and funded in the total amount of $209,000 include:
- Increasing Clinical Training Capacity in Rural Alberta through the Use of Human Patient Simulators for Licensed Practical Nursing - Initial Pilot/Test. The study is conducted in collaboration with Bow Valley College's Health and Community Care Department. The main goal of this project is to test the use of a mobile human patient simulator laboratory to train current Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) students in rural Alberta locations in partnership with two other post-secondary institutions and a private provider.
- The Coordination Challenge: Multiple Urban Post-secondary Institutions Addressing Regional and Rural Issues. The research project aims at identifying the best strategies and models for collaboration for multiple urban post-secondary institutions within the Calgary and Edmonton areas with respect to assessment of need and delivery of services in rural areas and smaller communities and investigating and recommending practical and collaborative solutions that address regional or rural adult education access issues and build new pathways for smaller communities and rural areas.
- Evaluation of Community Futures Rural Economic Development Programs. The study is designed to complete a meta evaluation of two rural economic development programs in Alberta administered by Community Futures Alberta: the Rural Community Economic Development program (RCED) 2005-2008 and the Rural Diversification Initiative (RDI) 2008-2012.
- In Support of Expanding Educational Access - Via E-Learning to Rural Aboriginal Communities. This small, qualitative study explored the needs of Aboriginal adult learners residing in selected First Nations communities in the Bow Valley College and NorQuest College Service Region. The primary focus of this research explored interests, opportunities, and readiness of Aboriginal adult learners and rural First Nations communities to engage with e-learning program delivery. Although the literature cites significant research in the area of distributed/e-learning, a deeper understanding and appreciation, regarding how/if e-learning aligns to the needs of Aboriginal adult learners and rural Aboriginal communities is needed.
Completed Projects
Over the past six years the Applied Research and Evaluation unit has worked on more than 20 research projects. For more information please refer to our Annual Reports on the General Information page.
Reports on the four major 2009-2011 research projects can be found here:
Successful Practices in Supporting Students in Distributed Learning
• Executive Summary
• Summary Report
• Final Report
Meeting the Needs of Diverse Students Engaging in e-Learning (Phase I)
• Executive Summary
• Summary Report
• Phase I Research Report
Meeting the Needs of Diverse Students Engaging in e-Learning (Phase II) - Policy Project
Facilitation the Retention and/or Re-Entry of Mature Workers in the Workplace
• Executive Summary
• Final Report
The Coordination Challenge: Multiple Urban Post-Secondary Institutions Addressing Regional and Rural Issues
• Executive Summary
• Final Report
In Support of Expanding Educational Access - Via E-Learning to Rural Aboriginal Communities
FinalReport
Evaluation of Community Futures Rural Economic Development Programs
