KAMLOOPS – Joining Thompson Rivers University’s growing research team will be Norman P. Friesen, whose five-year renewable position as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in E-Learning Practices was announced this morning by federal industry minister Maxime Bernier.

“The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of investing in university research,” said Mme. Bernier, who is also the minister responsible for the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program, which will support Friesen’s position with a half-million dollar grant. “This investment will enable our universities to develop the expertise and innovative ideas that fuel economic competitiveness and create new jobs for Canadians.”

An example is technical e-learning standards, which provide ways of ensuring e-learning technologies meet Canadians’ needs, and work together effectively. The potential proportional cost savings from the standardization work to which Friesen, a delegate to ISO (International Standards Organization) contributes, is conceivably
in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The advancement of e-learning technologies also holds major implications for the university, mandated by government in April 2005 to serve the
some-10,000 distance and on-line learners formerly served by the now-disbanded BC Open University, but the value of Friesen’s work at TRU is expected to have many benefits for students and the research community.

“Having such an accomplished research chair with an e-learning focus on campus will definitely help us to develop more effective teaching and technology applications and practices,” noted TRU-OL VP Judith Murray. “The e-learning process is led by technology, but both the process and users prompt new uses of technology and new
combinations of new and old, which is what open learning is all about. Dr. Friesen will definitely help us to lead the way in open learning, here and around the globe.”

Friesen, who noted that, for instance, e-learning presented an enormous opportunity for disabled learners, explained how he would boost TRU-OL’s ability to help open learners get the education they need in the best possible way. Besides his work on the technical, standardization side, Friesen plans to do this by restoring to the study of e-learning an emphasis on human culture, action and meaning by employing approaches to which human interpretation, experience and everyday activity are central.

“As Canada Research Chair in E-learning Practices, I will use a range of interdisciplinary methods to illuminate the human aspects of e-learning, and to improve e-learning from the perspectives of both technology and practice. I will integrate my own research program with the priorities identified in TRU’s strategic plan in order to study
existing and exemplary teaching practices incorporating new technologies as they relate to TRU-OL’s curriculum of courses and to e-learning concerns generally,” he said.

“On a wider scale, Dr. Friesen joins three other Canada Research Chairs at Thompson Rivers University who are bringing new expertise to the university and engaging with others to expand our capacity for world-class research and graduate studies,” said TRU research AVP Dr. Nancy Van Wagoner. “Dr. Friesen’s work is really exciting for us because Thompson Rivers University will be leading the way in best practices in the use of technology for teaching and learning. Through research collaborations internally and around the world, Dr. Friesen and his colleagues will be evaluating and redefining the value of technology for education. TRU has a dynamic research environment and his contribution is important to our continued and growing success.”

Dr. Friesen will establish a centre for studying e-learning technologies and practices which will
function as an international network of those studying e-learning technology design and use, aid the development of technical e-learning standards, and help with research and development of best practices in e-learning activities and applications employed at TRU, in the Kamloops
area, and beyond.

For more information, please see backgrounder
or contact:
Dr. Norm Friesen at 250-377-6256 or by email.
Dr. Nancy Van Wagoner at 250-828-5410 or by email.
Ms. Judith Murray at 250-852-6286 or by email.

Photo available on request.