Territorial Colleges name three instructors as Outstanding Adult Educators

WHITEHORSE - One instructor from each of Canada’s Territorial Colleges has been named as an Outstanding Adult Educator. The instructors and their work will be highlighted this afternoon at the closing ceremony of the first ever Northern Adult Basic Education Symposium, a professional development conference held at Yukon College this week.

Adult educators perform a vital role in the north, providing adults with an opportunity to improve their literacy, numeracy and essential skills levels as they work toward employment or pursue further educational opportunities.

The award-winning instructors are Patty Moore, instructor/coordinator at Yukon College’s Haines Junction community campus, Bryan O’Hagan, Developmental Studies instructor at Aurora College’s Thebacha Campus in Fort Smith, NWT, and Rex Willie, instructor at Nunavut Arctic College’s Arctic Bay campus.

The award has been created especially for the Symposium and recognizes dedication, passion, commitment, community engagement, creativity, caring, and resourcefulness in an Adult Educator who is a role model for students and colleagues, is an active learner themselves, and is responsive to the needs of their community.

“This week has focused on bringing together adult educators to share the success stories and challenges of their work. An important part of this is celebrating those among us who exemplify the very best of all that we are striving to achieve,” said Tosh Southwick, Director of First Nations Initiatives and the School of Academic and Skill Development at Yukon College.

Patty Moore has been based at Haines Junction Community Campus since 2006. She has been instrumental in developing and coordinating two NABE programs at the campus - Cultural and Heritage Interpretation, and Home Support Worker.

“Patty is an inspiration to us all. She is dedicated, creative and resourceful in bringing an impressive range of people together to deliver programs that respond directly to needs identified by her community. Patty always puts students first and works hard to find the best approach to meet their educational goals.” said Brad Martin, School of Community Education and Development Chair, Yukon College.

Bryan O’Hagan has taught upper level Adult Literacy and Basic Education (ALBE) Math and Science at Thebacha Campus for more than 15 years.  He uses hands-on experiments for science and concrete manipulatives and demonstrations in Math to break down complex concepts for students, such as having students work with toy race cars and a radar gun to demonstrate velocity and speed.

Rex Willie is based at the Nunavut Arctic College Community Learning Centre in Arctic Bay, Nunavut. He has forged partnerships with Inuit Heritage Trust, Nunavut Youth Consulting, and Carleton University to develop a community-based cyber-cartographic mapping project using current technologies familiar to youth in everyday life to maintain and foster valuable cultural ties. This process of active learning through identifying and mapping places of cultural importance not only engaged youth, but Elders and cultural knowledge experts.

The three recipients will each receive a miniature Yukon First Nations paddle, custom made for this event by carvers from the Northern Expressions Cultural Society in Whitehorse.

The first ever Northern Adult Basic Education Symposium (April 29-May 1, 2014), held at Yukon College, brought together over 260 adult education practitioners from across the three northern territories to share new and innovative ideas, research and best practices. NABE programs and the Symposium are funded by a $27 million investment by the Government of Canada over five years through the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor).

The Outstanding Adult Educator awards are sponsored by the Canadian Association for Studies in Adult Education (CASAE).  CASCE was founded in 1981 to promote the study of adult education and networking among adult educators in Canada.  Since then, CASAE has played an active role in advocating adult education as a field of study and practice at both national and international levels.