Interactive Learning Centre opens its virtual doors

A unit to provide support for excellence and innovation in Trent's teaching and learning was created this year called the Interactive Learning Centre (ilc).

The ILC was the designated heir of the Committee on Educational Development (coed) when it elected to dissolve and its mandate was reviewed by the Academic Development Committee and discussed by Faculty Board and Senate. The new ilc Interim Supervisory Board had its first meeting last spring with members of the decanal Educational Development Committee and various academic service departments and programs. Richard Pinet, a research associate involved with Cultural Studies who is completing his PhD through Simon Fraser's School of Communications, has now been hired as Instructional Development Program Coordinator to oversee the Teaching Effectiveness Program and assist in developing the ILC.

Pinet works with the Interim Supervisory Board and with Beth Popham, Principal of Julian Blackburn College and Associate Dean; Peter Northrop, Academic Computing Advisor and Director of Trent's Academic Technological Innovation Centre (tactic); Peter Lapp, Special Advisor to the Vice-President (Academic) on Distance Education; and the Interim Director of the Academic Skills Centre.

Currently operating primarily as a "virtual" centre with plans to locate in the Bata Library's to-be-renovated "Information Commons" area on its main floor, Pinet's office is located adjacent to the coed collection on Bata's main floor.

The ILC's mandate for the coming year will be expanded and include:

• collecting and developing resource materials, as well as providing a support structure for research and development, on teaching effectiveness and initiatives in digital technology and distance education
• coordinating with service departments to provide improved technical support to enhance Trentıs traditional emphasis on student-centred learning
• providing learning opportunities by involving students in project development
• serving as a centre for discussion and scholarly research on teaching issues

The Centre has a full slate of workshops and panels in its Teaching Effectiveness Program, available from its Web site at www.trentu.ca/ilc. On March 7 there will be a panel discussion open to the public looking at Instructional Technologies and Institutions of Higher Learning, 7-10 p.m. in the Lady Eaton College Lecture Hall. Pinet can be reached at 748-1254 or rpinet@trentu.ca.