Archive for March 10th, 2010

It’s hot and it’s selling fast . . . the Earle Page College discount card, that is.  The card entitles card holders to generous savings while at the same time raising money for children’s medical research.

Funds are being raised for the annual Earle Page College Coast Run fund-raising campaign and special offers are in abundance – including  free safety and tyre inspections, discounts off textbooks, liquor and clothing, and savings at local restaurants.

Last year the fundraiser generated more than $30,000 for the Children’s Medical Research Institute.

Culminating each September in the Coast Run itself (from the University of New England to Coffs Harbour), the campaign has a variety of fund-raising components.  One of those is the Coast Run discount card.

At a cost of just $20, the card entitles its holder to discounts at about 50 businesses around Armidale.

“The card is a fantastic way for students to save money and, at the same time, to help support medical research,” said this year’s Discount Card Coordinator, Michael Fraser.

“It’s an investment. One student last week saved $148 on her textbooks. As well as the 15 per cent discount at the United Campus Bookshop, the card can be used multiple times at the participating businesses until the end of November.”

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Jim Barber, is the Coast Run’s Patron. Professor Barber bought one of the discount cards last week when he officially launched this year’s campaign. “We hope to raise a record amount of money this year for the Children’s Medical Research Institute,” he said.

The card is available from the Earle Page College office (phone 6773 5300), and will be on sale in the first few months of this year at Armidale’s Markets in the Mall and Autumn Festival.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, showing Professor Jim Barber purchasing his Coast Run discount card from the Earle Page College Coast Run convener, Lauren Nay, expands to include the Coast Run discount card coordinator, Michael Fraser.

A collaborative research project that is paving the way for 21^st century developments in distance education, both within Australia and abroad, has been officially launched at the University of New England.

The project – led by UNE and named “DEHub: Innovation in Distance Learning” – involves UNE, Charles Sturt University, CQUniversity, the University of Southern Queensland, and New Zealand’s Massey University. Together, these universities form a “hub” of research-based expertise on new developments in distance education practice. Work on the project began last year with Commonwealth Government funding of $3.5 million.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Jim Barber, who officially launched the project during the ceremony at the end of last month, said the “Hub” was a “research-and-development engine” behind a global educational movement towards distance education. He said he was very pleased that UNE was “part of a consortium at the forefront of this development”.

Professor Barber said that the reality of education today was that people could be “separated by space and time and nevertheless be part of the same learning network”. “It is now possible, through technology, for students to do all of the social networking – and for academics and educators to exert all of the personal influence – that they have traditionally engaged in,” he said. “We can talk, we can interact, and we can do it in real time.”

The guest speaker at the launch was Professor Asha Kanwar, Vice-President of the Commonwealth of Learning – an international organisation that, by encouraging the development and sharing of open learning / distance education knowledge, resources and technologies, aims to improve access to education and training in developing nations.

“Distance education at every level – even non-formal education – is a major tool in the development of these nations,” Professor Kanwar said. “We need high-quality distance education – with research to support it. This is where DEHub comes in; I’m very glad that Australia has taken a leadership role in this respect.”

Professor Kanwar, who is based in Canada, said that the project was particularly exciting because of its collaborative nature – something relatively new for higher education institutions.

UNE’s Professor Belinda Tynan, the Director of DEHub, said that she and her colleagues were hoping to be able to work with the Commonwealth of Learning in helping to provide access to education for “a whole range of people”.

Professor Tynan (pictured here) confirmed that the DEHub project was a true collaboration, with the participating institutions “leading it together”.

The representatives of those participating organisations who attended the launch were Professor Phil Candy, the University of Southern Queensland’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Learning), Professor Mike Keppell, the Director of the Flexible Learning Institute at Charles Sturt University, Dr Leone Hinton, Director of Strategy, Quality and Review at CQUniversity, and Associate Professor Mark Brown, Director of Blended and Distance Education at Massey University (NZ).

Other special guests included representatives of the Cunningham Library (Australia’s most comprehensive educational research library), Victoria University, and AARNet (Australia’s Academic and Research Network).

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Professor Belinda Tynan speaking at the launch of the DEHub project. Clicking on this image reveals a photograph of Professor Tynan with (from left) Professor Jim Barber, Professor Graham Webb (UNE’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor), and Professor Asha Kanwar.