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Online courses stress the environment
Caezer Ng
for Spotlight
Teach a course on carbon footprint reduction, and then follow up on this preaching by offering this service through online courses, available through Northern Lakes College.
“It’s the first time we’ve done this,” says Edith Mackenzie, coordinator for Workforce Development at the college.
There were interests in these courses for a number of years in northern Alberta, Mackenzie says, but getting people together into one session was difficult.
By offering online courses, applicants will be able to learn more about a particular subject by using their computer. There are two upcoming environmentally-focused courses online: Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency Series, which includes solar strategies, and Transform Your Yard.
The Carbon Footprint Reduction series is divided into three parts, as part of the Alternative Energy series. It focuses on calculating a building’s carbon footprint, saving electricity, heat, and water. These three courses will be taught by Godo Stoyke, an award-winning environmental researcher and presenter.
There are four courses in the solar electricity unit: an introduction to solar electricity, personalizing applicants’ solar electricity needs by ‘bringing in your own bills’, making a house solar ready, and information on how to hook a person’s home to Alberta’s power grid. These will be taught by Gordon Howell, a solar electric systems specialist with more than 15 years of experience.
“Regulations and rules changed in Alberta,” Mackenzie says.
Before 2009, this province’s regulations made it difficult to hook one’s own solar-generated electricity to the power grid. On Jan. 1, 2009, the provincial government eased up on these rules and made it easier for people to connect their electrical needs to the sun.
Transform Your Yard is a course taught by Ron Berezan, owner and operator of The Urban Farmer. Berezan, an experienced gardener with over 20 years of experience, will teach strategies on developing a garden’s permaculture. It is a three-part series that focuses on principles of ecological design, water-wise gardening, and creating an edible landscape.
“The water conservation within the town of Slave Lake will help its citizens do better with what we have,” Mackenzie says.
Northern Lakes will guide applicants to hook them up to a program called Centra. Through Centra, both students and instructors will come together online to begin the course.
It is done through voice conferencing. Instructors will run their Power Point presentations with their students as they listen through speakers. A microphone is also a requirement so students can pitch in to generate discussion.
The Power Point slideshows are also interactive since presenter and recipient share the same screen. Viewers from both sides can move objects around on the screen.
These courses provide students with “access to experts,” Mackenzie adds. Between these two courses there are three instructors, and they are all based in Edmonton.
Mackenzie went through one of these online courses in autumn 2009, and her experience was a positive one.
“I encourage people to try this,” she says of online courses, “because it reduces a person’s carbon footprint; we can do with less travelling.”
Berezan’s three sessions will be offered March 16 and 30 and April 20, while Stoyke’s three sessions are slated for February 9, 16 and 23. Howell’s sessions will take place March 10 (Grid Connected Solar Electricity), March 24 (Bring Your Own Electricity Bills), April 14 (Making Your New House Solar Ready) and April 28 (How to Connect to Alberta’s Electric Grid).
More information is available by telephoning Workplace Development at 780-949-8704 or by emailing wfdev@nor thernlakescollege.ca
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