EDUCATION: The Centre for Distance Learning & Innovation
10/06/2014
Young, aspiring musicians in small and remote communities across the province face different challenges than those of their metropolitan peers when it comes to learning their craft. Like many other school subjects, small class sizes in smaller, more remote communities make specialized teachers rare. This means training in styles of performance like jazz or violin would require long trips by car, plane or snowmobile to reach an area with more training options.
“For students in rural communities, there’s very little opportunity to study a variety of musical styles and musical instruments, or any kind of variation off the norm with respect to the arts,” says Andrew Mercer, an online music educator with The Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation (CDLI). “If the only guy in town plays accordion, and you really want to play harp, well, you’re out of luck.”
That’s where the CDLI—a division of the K-12 Branch of the Department of Education—came in. It was founded in 2000 to develop and deliver distance education courses to students attending high schools in rural, remote and isolated regions of the province.
Mercer says the desire for educational equity in the province has pushed the limits of online music education.
“Students are in way more control now. Not only are they able to choose the discipline they want to explore, they can choose the level of the tutor, and refine where they want to be,” he says.
The learning opportunities available in the smallest schools are now impressive for a school of any size. Students can collaborate on projects with other students across great distances. They’ve also, in the virtual classroom, been able to learn directly from musicians like Joel Plaskett, Lights, Danny Fernandes, and other international recording artists.
Recent additions to CDLI include internetassisted weekly private lessons from professors and graduate students at Memorial University, ensuring that students across the province can grow into musicians, no matter how remote their home.