Key Aurora College program goes more virtual with fewer instructors

Aurora College’s developmental studies program is transitioning to offer more online learning classes for the upcoming school year.

Developmental studies is the overarching school for upgrading education, where students can acquire prerequisites for the college’s post-secondary and trades programming.

A review of developmental studies was first initiated over the 2023-24 school year. The change is a cost-saving measure, the college told Cabin Radio by email.

One solution the college is pursuing to save costs is “vacancy management” – not filling vacant positions if services can continue without them.

In Fort Smith, this means up to three instructor vacancies at the Thebacha campus will not be filled this year.

The college says remaining instructors across its three campuses will be able to teach all scheduled in-person and online courses in an “all-campus approach,” rather than having three campus-based teams each teaching the same programming in person.

Who does this affect?

In the 2024-25 school year, there were 13.75 positions for staff in the school of developmental studies.

Aurora College has changed how it reports student numbers in recent years, so it’s difficult to determine how the student-to-teacher ratio will change.

In an internal spreadsheet emailed to Cabin Radio, the college indicated there were 201 students enrolled in Adult Literacy and Basic Education and access courses in 2023-24. Of those, 85 were enrolled at community learning centres (CLCs)– which had their own instructors, up until the closure of the CLCs at the end of this month.

Getting the numbers to line up is not straightforward. In January, Aurora College told Cabin Radio there were 22 full-time students and 30 part-time students enrolled in CLCs in 2023-24 – a total of 52 students, significantly different to the 85 reported in June.

The college added a note that while this was the number of students registered, some students were not actually taking any courses.

Meanwhile, in its 2023-24 annual report, the college indicated 202 full-time and 53 part-time students took academic upgrading, skill development and language proficiency courses.

In the 2022-23 annual report, when the college shared enrolment data by school of study rather than by course type, there were 105.8 full-time equivalent students enrolled that year.

The internal spreadsheet indicates there were 236 students taking developmental studies that year, 95 of them at CLCs, though the spreadsheet does not break down students by full-time and part-time study.

Pros and cons to online course delivery

College president Angela James was quoted as saying the move to more online programming, with vacancies left unfilled, will “streamline delivery and make better use of our subject matter specialist instructors.”

In a statement, James said the approach will free up funding for other things like IT and academic and wellness supports.

She touted the benefits of increased online learning opportunities for students, writing that students at all campuses will now receive the same quality of instruction, students won’t have to leave their home communities to access higher education, and courses will be less likely to be cancelled due to low enrolment. 

Yet the move to increased online learning also comes with challenges. 

“There are many reasons why digital learning doesn’t work for everyone,” stated NWT Literacy Council executive director Kathryn Barry Paddock by email.

She gave the examples of differing learning styles and abilities to concentrate and retain information from a screen, people living in potentially overcrowded housing who may not have a quiet area for study, people in need of support to learn, and those who may not have access to reliable internet.

The literacy council says its research with adult learners has shown the ability to build relationships with an instructor and other students is important to their success in school.

“Like all GNWT-funded agencies and departments, Aurora College is facing challenges as it finalizes its 2025-2026 budget, due in part to the GNWT’s Fiscal Sustainability Strategy and rising costs,” James said of the move toward increased online learning.

How does this tie in to the CLC closures?

The shift comes roughly six months after the college made the decision to close its community learning centres – physical centres in communities without college campuses, at which adults could complete academic upgrading.

At the time, a CLC instructor worried some students don’t have the computer literacy needed to succeed in independent online learning, a sentiment echoed by Barry Paddock, who pointed to computer issues as another potential reason online learning isn’t for everyone.

Aurora College’s CLCs will officially shut down on June 30, along with its literacy-level programming.

Jayne Murray, a spokesperson for the college, said the changes to the developmental studies department do not directly fill a gap left by the closure of the CLCs. Data indicates approximately half of the students taking Adult Literacy and Basic Education courses were enrolled at CLCs.

“It is expanding the options available to learners in all 33 communities of the NWT,” Murray said of the department’s move to the all-campus, online approach.

“Most of these courses were not available outside of in-person on campus previously, due to the need for subject matter specialist instructors.”

“Aurora College is changing its delivery method of academic upgrading to better meet the needs of adult learners in all 33 communities,” acting president Renee Closs said in a statement issued by the college after this article was first published.

Closs said the college had been working to “increase the number and scope of courses offered by distance delivery … to provide academic upgrading that supports pathways into trades, apprenticeships and post-secondary education programs to enhance career pathways.”

“Previously, Aurora College offered the majority of these courses only in person on campus, as they require subject matter specialist instructors. Offering the courses online increases the availability of academic upgrading to learners in all communities in the NWT,” Closs stated.

“Upgrading courses continue to be offered in person in Yellowknife, Fort Smith, and Inuvik.”

Reflecting on the changes at the college, Barry Paddock said: “There is definitely a loss of expertise happening in regards to adult learning in the NWT.”

The college is still accepting applications for the 2025-26 year, and won’t have final student and staffing numbers available until later in the summer.