Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, good communication between the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Divisional Education Councils, schools, colleges and career centres is essential in providing quality services to northerners. One way the department is working to improve information to educational institutions is by making better use of technology. I would like to advise the Members of this Assembly of a recent initiative in this area. Education, Culture and Employment has just produced InfoDisc, a CD-ROM that contains program and administration information, including:
- the department's strategic plan;
- legislation such as The Education Act and The Public Colleges Act;
- curriculum documents for a variety of subjects, including 900 study modules for Career and Technology Studies;
- information on teacher certification;
- information on adult basic education and literacy;
- student support documents;
- career development resources;
- and information on Aurora College, Nunavut Arctic College and their respective science institutes.
In all, more than 60 documents appear on the CD-ROM. In the past, these documents would be printed on paper and distributed to the educational institutions that had a direct need for them. The CD-ROBM is also less expensive to mail than bulky paper documents, and is easy to update as information changes or new information is added. The documents on the CD-ROM will also be available through the department's site on the World Wide Web. Since many communities do not yet have the high-speed phone lines needed to log on to the Web, having the department's information on CD-ROM ensures more people have access to the same information.
The disc has already been distributed to Divisional Education Councils, schools, colleges, adult education centres and career centres. The department plans to periodically update and expand the information on the disc. Thank you.
--Applause