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Smart Growth E-Courses: Building Capacity Online

Building on Canadian Success Stories

Presented by:

Gloria Venczel,BES, BArch, MRAIC

SGCN National Coordinator

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The Smart Growth Canada Network (SGCN) was formed at a conference organized by Smart GrowthBC (SGBC) in May 2003. May 2003 conference was attended only by NGOs. A second conference was held in February 2004 in Ottawa with SGBC as host, and coincided with the FCM Sustainable Communities conference.

INTRODUCTION

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New City Institute became host to SGCN in the summer of 2004.

I became the new national coordinator in fall 2004

I am a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and a provisional member of the Planning Institute of BC, as well as the Canadian Institute of Planners. I also have my own urban design firm with a focus on urban sustainability.

INTRODUCTION cont’d

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The E-course strategy is part of a capacity-building mandate identified in previous SGCN conferences whereby our organization can help facilitate the implementation of smart growth principles.

The e-course strategy is a learner centered, bottom-up approach.

Combined with a well edited web site with useful links, the Smart Growth Canada Network would like to provide a ”one-stop” learning centre for a spectrum of national stakeholders.


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This strategy is two-pronged. It aims to encourage more public demand for SG solutions and to create enough capacity on the part of decision makers to deliver SG solutions.

SGCN has organized this one day workshop with national stakeholder groups to elicit input on what kind of e-courses would be needed to help implement smart growth principles.


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SGCN would like to invite potential partners to help shape this national capacity-building initiative.


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Business as usual development isn’t working anymore.

Municipalities are struggling under the financial burden of renewing their civic infrastructure.

Sprawled land use patterns are not cost-efficient as far as infrastructure is concerned, and this is adding to municipalities’ financial woes.


Business as Usual Isn’t Working

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Canada has signed on to the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Much of our sprawled land use patterns in our communities make it difficult to provide for alternate transportation services other than the private automobile. Often, public transit services are less frequent in the suburbs and not financially viable.


Business as Usual Isn’t Working (cont’d)

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Car-oriented communities have been shown by the medical profession to encourage obesity in kids and adults.

As the baby boom cohort soon moves into their senior citizen years, a lack of close by amenities accessible on foot will ultimately mean a premature loss of independence for those individuals who are unable to continue driving.



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Sprawling green field development often means the loss of prime agricultural land and important habitat, not to mention significant recreational opportunities.

Others



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An e-course is a course delivered electronically over the internet.

It is also known as an on-line course. The advantage of an e-course is that

people do not have to travel to take a course.

It is more convenient for many people with very busy schedules, or for those people who live in more distant locations.

FRAMEWORK

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What is an E-Course?

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The SGCN will build the e-courses around the capacity-building needs of the various stakeholder organizations to help organizations implement smart growth principles.

The SGCN e-courses will be developed with well-designed graphics and with a balance of text, pictures and white space.

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What is an E-Course? (cont’d)

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It will be designed to be user-friendly and to compete with the best graphic presentations on the web.After all, there are many images vying for our attention.

We will take a stakeholder group/learner-centered approach.

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GeneralGeneral –Create Demand for SG SolutionsCreate Demand for SG Solutions Plain English, no jargon targeting NGOs,

related professionals, and eventually the general public through complementary NGO programs.

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What is an E-Course? Two Audiences

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General:General:Create Demand for SG SolutionsCreate Demand for SG Solutions For example, if a municipal planner wanted

to know more about green storm water management and didn’t want to get bogged down by flow calculations, he or she would take the general course.

The planner would have enough of an understanding of green storm water management to evaluate it and bring in the right team members.

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What is an E-Course? Two Audiences (cont’d)

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Expert:Expert:DecisionDecision MakersMakers Delivering SG SolutionsDelivering SG Solutions These set of courses would be designed by

peers for peers in the field, and would reflect smart growth and sustainability principles.

The latest thinking and analysis would go into the e-course content.

For example, a municipal engineer is considering green storm water management.

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What is an E-Course? Two Audiences (cont’d)

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Expert:Expert:Decision MakersDecision Makers Delivering SG SolutionsDelivering SG Solutions The e-course would be designed to meet or

exceed industry standards. The e-course would cover flow rate

calculations for the green storm water management example, and would provide the rest of the technical information in the language of the discipline.

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What is an E-Course? Two Audiences cont’

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E-Courses with Real Time Instructors & Peers E-courses in real time resemble an in-person

course, in that there is an instructor and peers to interact with at the same time at a designated time each day or each week.

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What is an E-Course? Typologies

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E-Courses with Real Time Instructors & Peers There are opportunities to ask questions from

both one’s peers and the instructor on the course material.

The interaction happens on-line through chat-room like postings that are only open to the learners or that occur in a live video format.

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Flex Time E-Courses with Instructors & Peers Flex time e-courses are set up in a similar

way to real time E-Courses except that the interactions do not happen at a designated time.

Learners and instructors pick up & respond to comments at their convenience by typing on a chat-room like posting board that is accessible only to registered learners.

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Flex Time E-Courses with Instructors & Peers The comments are organized along “topic

threads” under the topic headings and all discussions on the “chat boards” are placed under the proper heading.

There are set assignment deadlines.

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Self-Directed Studies On-Line Self-Directed Study courses involves

coursework developed and posted on-line. There is no interaction with an instructor or peers.

The coursework may be self-evaluated or marked by an instructor, depending on demand.

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Regional Workshops to Complement E-Courses There is the option of regular, in-person

workshops throughout the duration of e-courses if the course takes a few months to complete. For example, if it is a 12 week course, then perhaps a monthly workshop might be of value. Or such a workshop might be offered at the end of the course.

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Regional Workshops to Complement E-Courses A regional workshop could potentially

complement all types of e-courses. Sample E-Course www.training-innovations.com/online.html

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The e-courses will showcase Canadian projects, and in some cases projects from other jurisdictions, that are innovative and provide new solutions to old problems.

It is much easier to sell an idea if it has been demonstrated by others that a particular smart growth approach to development is feasible.

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Easier to Implement Smart Growth

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The e-courses will give easy access to leading edge, successful projects as well as very useful common sense projects. The case studies will be at users’ “finger- tips,” literally.

The material will be well-edited and updated regularly.

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Easier to Implement Smart Growth (cont’d)

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The showcased project may provide a project template for the problem that the consultant or municipality or developer is facing.

The “lessons learned” section will outline the process and the reasons for the positive outcomes, as well as potential challenges and pitfalls.

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NGOs will find it easier to develop programs for the general public around Canadian success stories.

On the ground implemented smart growth projects can give a real tangible understanding to lay audiences.

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Contact names of those involved in the case studies will be available.

There is less risk in implementing a project if a planner or a developer can call a colleague across the country and ask for more specific details and insight, in addition to the information in the e-course.

Peer-to-peer mentoring may be informal or, if there is demand, a more structured peer-to-peer program may be developed

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Less Risk In Implementing Smart Growth

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There is less risk in implementing a project if it has been implemented somewhere else. The implemented project can be pointed to and adapted to meet local conditions.

In order to implement smart growth principles, a municipality, developer or consultant does not have to take on a lot of risk all at once, but may wish to take on the role of innovator in one area to start.

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Less Risk To Implement Smart Growth (cont’d)

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Even project proponents who take some risks by being on the leading edge of implementing smart growth principles only once in a while will still greatly add to the momentum towards smart growth solutions, in concert with other proponents across Canada.

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Less Risk To Implement Smart Growth (cont’d)

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SGCN’s mandate is educational and capacity-building for the implementation of smart growth and sustainability principles in towns and cities.

SGCN will work in partnership with other national organizations to develop an e-course strategy for capacity-building that is learner-centred and that uses audience specific language and content. As such, it could be called a bottom-up approach.

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Smart Growth Role

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As an NGO, SGCN is a third party and is not restricted by a mandate to serve a particular membership, i.e., FCM serves municipalities, RAIC serves architects. SGCN can offer an array of e-courses that cover the entire spectrum of smart growth, not limited to one area of specialization.

SGCN can create a “one stop” learning centre, leveraging a variety of initiatives into a “one stop” resource.

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SGCN Role (cont’d)

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SGCN can also provide the forum whereby other national organizations can work together to create a series of on-line courses as part of their capacity-building initiatives.

SGCN will not be duplicating existing initiatives.

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SGCN Role (cont’d)

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To establish credibility for the courses, SGCN will invite national stakeholder organizations to sit on working committees pertaining to their areas of interest.

The working committees will vet the course content to ensure that the information is credible and on the leading edge.

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Partnerships

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There will be a meeting tomorrow morning, Saturday, at the Elgin Café with those organizations considering partnering with SGCN in developing this e-course capacity-building strategy.

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Partnerships (cont’d)

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DEVELOPMENT

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The conference proceedings will be used to write a business plan. Discussions will begin with potential partners Saturday morning.SGCN, with its partners, will apply for Infrastructure Canada’s Knowledge Building, Outreach and Awareness (KOA) Program funding. The maximum amount per successful proposal is $500,000 over 3 years.

Next Steps

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The Smart Growth Canada Network will be delivering the e-courses, in partnership with other national stakeholder organizations.The timeline depends on the potential partners assessing their own needs in more depth and SGCN working to coordinate those needs into a solid proposal for KOA.

DELIVERY

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The E-Course Capacity-building Strategy will help implement smart growth principles by means of an unprecedented effort to create a “one stop” learning resource.Such a capacity-building strategy has the potential to build considerable momentum by making Canadian success stories widely accessible to a variety of diverse audiences.

CONCLUSIONS

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development delivery conclusions framework introduction smart growth e-courses: building capacity...

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