Management Training at a Distance for Inuit Administrators: The Atii Pilot Project |
VOL. 9, No. 2, 21-34
Despite its international surge in application and remarkable progress towards extending educational opportunity to rural communities in developing countries, distance education has made relatively few inroads into Inuit settlements across the Canadian North. With the advent of the new self-governed territory of Nunavut to be established in 1999, however, there is a need is for a vastly expanded cadre of trained Inuit administrators. Given the current paucity of Inuit university graduates and low high school completion rate, it is estimated that only 15% of the projected 500 to 1,000 new positions to be created will be provided from this pool. Adult education is thus expected to play an increased role for pre-employment training or for upgrading capabilities of existing Inuit managers. Within this context, distance education offers many advantages in relation to conventional classroom-based training. This article describes one such prototype for Inuit Management upgrading at a distance, the Atii pilot project, carried out in 1993, and its potential for meeting at least part of the daunting training needs for Nunavut's development.
En dépit d'une remarquable expansion à l'échelle internationale et de nets progrès en termes de sa disponibilité pour les populations rurales des pays en voie de développement, la formation à distance n'a fait que de modestes progrès parmi les communautés inuit du Nord canadien. L'autonomie du territoire de Nunavut, prévue pour 1999, exigera une hausse sensible du nombre d'administrateurs locaux compétents. Le nombre restreint de diplômés universitaires inuit et le faible taux d'achèvement de programmes de niveau secondaire permettent de prévoir que seulement 15% des 500 à 1 000 postes créés seront comblés par les autochtones. C'est à dire que l'éducation des adultes aura un rôle important à jouer dans la formation préalable à l'emploi ou dans le perfectionnement des gestionnaires inuit déjà en poste. La formation à distance présente, dans ce contexte, de nombreux avantages sur la formation scolaire conventionnelle. Le présent article décrit le projet pilote Atii, expérience de perfectionnement à distance pour gestionnaires inuit menée en 1993, et examine ses applications éventuelles aux importants besoins de formation soulevés par le développement de Nunavut.
The self-government and Nunavut Land-Claim agreement in 1993 will result in the establishment of a new territory in the Central Arctic by 1999 to be known as Nunavut ("Our Land" in Inuktitut). As part of its implementation infra-structure, it will be necessary to establish management boards and local institutions, staffed by Inuit, to accommodate the new mandate. It has been estimated that at least 500 and possibly up to 1,000 new public sector jobs will be created over the next ten years (Atii, 1992). This represents a daunting challenge for the Inuit population of 17,500, particularly in the management sector, given that only a dozen or so university graduates have thus far been produced. High school completion rates are also low. For example, only 42 Inuit students graduated in all of the Northwest Territories in 1992/93 (personal communication, GNWT Department of Education, Culture and Employment). The scarcity of adequately trained Inuit personnel could thus well prevent them from assuming a dominant voice in influencing decisions related to the territory's development. Indeed, if the current trend in secondary and tertiary attainment levels is not reversed, and more pre-employment education and upgrading for those currently employed is not provided through adult training, it has been predicted that approximately only 15% of the new positions created will be filled by aboriginals (Atii, 1992).
Against this backdrop, accelerated management training of Inuit administrators has been identified as a priority not only in the Arctic but also in other Inuit communities in Northern Labrador and Nunavik (Northern Quebec). At the same time, it is recognized that traditional training delivery methods are costly in terms of bringing people out of isolated settlements to regional centres. It is also emotionally draining for family members who may be away from their homes for extended periods. Direct transfer of skills learned in large regional centres to small settlements may also be problematic. An alternative approach, to bring Inuit instructors across the vast distances between the scattered communities - equal to one-fifth the land mass of Canada - is also expensive and is further complicated by the small number of Inuit trainers able to deliver the necessary instruction.
Despite the international surge in application and the remarkable progress toward extending educational opportunity to rural developing country communities (Coldevin, 1993), distance education has made relatively few inroads into Inuit settlements across the Canadian North. Indeed, its precedent consists mainly of the testing of one-way video and two-way audioconferencing during the "Inukshuk Project" from 1978 to 1981, which paved the way for the formation of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation or IBC (Valaskakis, Robbins & Wilson, 1981). The project linked six communities in three Arctic regions via the ANIK-B satellite. Video productions broadcast were mainly devoted to traditional life skills and entertainment (crafts, songs and dances, and hunting and fishing skills), substantially delivered in Inuktitut. More relevant to distance education, a series of interactive meetings was regularly held between community groups such as hunters and trappers associations, Senior Citizens' organizations, women's auxiliaries, and student associations. Often discussions would be triggered by topical video tapes. The project might be termed "informal" distance education in the sense that no accredited recognition of the learning experienced took place. Nonetheless it was successful because it provided opportunities for active community participation and live feedback from facilitators and other participants (Stiles, 1984).
It was in this context that Atii Training Inc. formulated a proposal in 1992 to coordinate a pilot project to design and deliver three Northern management training workshops at a distance. Through this project, the feasibility of providing management training at a distance in a Northern aboriginal context could be evaluated.
Atii was founded in 1987 as an umbrella organization to assist its Inuit member organizations to deliver management training to their staff. Prior to this project Atii had coordinated the delivery of 71 face- to-face management training workshops between 1987 and 1992.
Interviews with several project staff plus a review of project documents established three underlying assumptions regarding the benefits of using a distance training delivery system rather than face- to-face methods in this context. One, it would permit urgently needed management training to be delivered to significantly greater numbers of the target population. Two, the training could take place over a much shorter time period. Three, instruction delivered at a distance would be at least as effective and more efficient than comparable face-to-face training.
The project involved three workshops in total. The second and third workshops were delivered and evaluated by Universalia in the fall of 1993, the report of which forms the basis of this article.
The project was funded by a variety of donors, the largest being the National Aboriginal Management Board of Pathways. Other donors of financial and in-kind contributions included Atii, Arctic College, Labrador Community College, Kativik School Board, Kativik Regional Government, Television Northern Canada (TVNC) and its members, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), and NorthwesTel.
Of the two workshops considered in this article, one was delivered in English entitled, Developing Management Skills with People. The second was an Inuktitut version of the same workshop. Trainees gathered in small groups (typically 4–11 people per group) in a learning centre in their community. Participants and a group facilitator met for four hours each day over a two-week period (ten days), leaving them free to attend their workplace for part of each day. Each session consisted of live instruction delivered by television interspersed with group and individual learning exercises. Individual student feedback was provided through telephone links to the instructors but was heard simultaneously by all participants at all sites.
The English version of the training was delivered to 76 participants at twelve community sites. Sixty-three (83%) completed the workshop. The Inuktitut version was delivered to 43 participants in six community sites. Forty-one (98%) completed it. The participants were drawn from a wide range of backgrounds that included those already in management positions for a number of years, those newly appointed to one, and those aspiring to one. Figure 1 shows the participants' self-estimate of their familiarity with the subject-matter material prior to the start of the course. The response pattern is strikingly uniform across both learning groups.
The instructional sections of the training were broadcast live from Iqaluit in the Northwest Territories over TVNC, which reaches an audience of 110,000 across the Arctic as well as viewers in Southern Canada who receive satellite services. The broadcast crossed four time zones to reach all the participant trainees. Inuit Communication Systems Ltd. (a subsidiary of IBC) was contracted by Atii for television production; the company worked with IBC's TV studios and staff to produce the live segments.
Two sets of two instructors were hired, one set for each workshop. Each set of instructors included one Inuit trainer.
The on-site group facilitators were provided with training at a distance prior to the start up of the course. They were paid for both the training and the actual facilitation of the course. They came from a variety of backgrounds but were not expected to be content specialists. Their major responsibilities included managing the site facilities and facilitating participant activities, which included group discussion, role playing and exercises, and generally keeping the learning process on track.
Workshop participants received a printed, comprehensive Participant Study Guide, which included workshop objectives, schedules, reading, and exercises. The guide was designed specifically for the project and was translated into Inuktitut by a non-aboriginal distance education specialist.
Interaction between the instructors and participants was provided by fax and telephone. Each day the facilitators faxed a feedback sheet to the project management and instructional team. A telephone conference call involving a week.
The workshops were evaluated using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. These included a 60 item post workshop questionnaire available in English and Inuktitut, which contained both open and closed questions. Structured interviews were carried out with 16 participants in the English workshop and 10 in the Inuktitut workshop following the completion of their workshop. A further set of 15 interviews was conducted 6 months after the workshop. Interviews were held in either language. Data were also gathered by questionnaires and/or interviews from the course design team, facilitators, instructors, participant employers and project partners, and from a review of pertinent project documentation.
The evaluation was limited by several factors. The evaluation team was not formed until near the final days of the first English workshop thereby preventing evaluators from collecting data directly during these sessions. No pre- or post-tests of participants' management skills or knowledge were conducted (although self-tests were made available to participants). Therefore evidence of course impact is limited to participant estimates and employers' observations of the amount of learning that occurred and that was transferred to the workplace.
The evaluation covered many dimensions of the project including overall effectiveness and impact of the workshops, the effectiveness and impact of the workshops' design and delivery components, and management of the project. The detailed findings of the evaluation are contained in Universalia's (1994) final report to Atii. For the purposes of this article, the major conclusions and recommendations of the report are presented to assist in the design and delivery of other distance training projects in an aboriginal context. These conclusions are then discussed in relation to general issues of aboriginal distance education.
Employers, participants, and other training providers recognized that the delivery of management training at a distance to aboriginal communities in the North responded to an important need. As can be seen from Figure 2, both workshops were successful in meeting the participants' learning expectations, particularly those in the Inuktitut workshop.
Both participants and employers reported that a significant amount of learning had occurred and had transferred to the workplace. shows the report provided by eight employers selected at random and interviewed six months later on this issue.
In addition to the areas of improvement indicated in Table 1, employers reported improved employee self-confidence, which they attributed to the workshops.
As a result of the experience of these workshops, a significant degree of support now exists from both workshop participants and employers for training at a distance using the approach adopted by the ATII Project. For example, over 90% of participants recommended that the course be offered again at a distance.
Utilization of televised instruction, telephone/fax interaction, community learning groups with group exercises, local facilitators, and a specifically designed study guide resulted in a robust workshop design that was flexible enough to address the wide range of participant needs associated with different amounts of experience. The evaluation concluded that each of the design and delivery components was critical to the successful outcome of the course. Without any one of the components the success of the workshops could have been seriously jeopardized.
Rather than expressing a preference for a particular mode of instruction, the majority of learners indicated that they preferred a combination approach to instruction (i.e., television, group, and individual study of the manual) (see Figure 3). Participants reported that each experience provided a unique contribution to the learning process. Television provided access to qualified instructors and interviews and interaction with Inuit guest experts that would not otherwise have been accessible to most participants. It also provided a link amongst participants by showing pre-taped scenes of each community and conducting live interviews with participants about where they lived. These strategies also enhanced learner interest in the televised segment of the course. The group exercises, particularly role playing, were popular and provided the critical opportunities to: put course content into a local/personal context; encourage peer teaching/learning; and, in some communities, establish local support networks. The study guide (the design of which included northern aboriginal case studies and reference to aboriginal management styles) was a cornerstone of the learning experience. Six months after the workshops, many participants reported that the study guides continued to be a valuable resource.
The evaluation also identified several issues regarding the design and delivery of the workshops. These included:
Typically the development and delivery of quality distance education/training for use within aboriginal communities (i.e., that which is specifically designed for use in an aboriginal context) will involve establishing and coordinating partnerships amongst many different organizations, institutions, and individuals. This is necessary because there are few institutions or organizations actively concerned with aboriginal education and training that have the resources (both in terms of financial and experienced human resources in all the required locations) to design and deliver quality training through distance methods.
As described earlier, Atii worked with several partners to complete this project. This type of organizational model for distance teaching, the characterization of which is best captured in Neil's (1981) typology of distance teaching systems as either a Dispersed Centre or Switchboard Organization model, requires skilled project management to ensure a successful outcome. Typically, the project manager will be dealing with different partners for funding, participant recruiting, designing, delivering, and accrediting the course to be offered. There is a critical need for the project manager to possess strong visionary and entrepreneurial skills to identify, establish, and maintain the necessary relationships between organizations and funders.
Two important lessons were learned in this undertaking. They are:
The successful completion of the two Atii workshops could not be replicated within the time frame committed to the pilot project. In fact, the work reported here could not have been accomplished without the extraordinary contribution of all project team members and partners. Although all partners and team members indicated a desire to participate in a similar project on another occasion, the majority noted that this could only be done if time frames were adjusted appropriately. It was estimated that an eight month time frame be allowed for future development of similar workshops.
A simple cost benefit analysis was carried out as part of the evaluation. Based on Atii's experience of delivering face-to-face management workshops in the same locations in which the distance model was used, a figure of $83/student/hour of training was arrived at. The figure may seem excessive to some readers, but allowance must be made for the extraordinarily high cost of travel in the Arctic. As shown in , the equivalent cost for the distance training model is $84. These costs include running a key coordinating organization such as Atii. They also reflect the conservative assumption that 75 people will take each course across nine sites. These figures include the cost of translating materials into Inuktitut so that courses can be delivered in either language, depending on demand. Finally, the costs assume that each course will be delivered for 40 hours over a ten-day period and that four courses will be delivered each year.
Table 2 reveals that there is little difference in the estimated total cost of designing and delivering workshops on a one-time only basis, regardless of mode of instruction. It should be noted that the face-to- face costs do not take into account the effects of inflation. Nor do they reflect "development costs." Development costs include such things as needs assessments, formative evaluations, and the time spent developing a custom computerized system to track the records of participants. Inclusion of these costs would bring the total cost of training per hour delivered face-to-face to $88. However, the additional costs have been discounted on the basis that much of the work (e.g., needs assessment, tracking system) could be used by either delivery system.
In comparing the costs for the two delivery systems, it should be noted also that in the distance training model a significantly greater proportion of each training dollar is invested in instruction related activities (83% compared to 41%). The proportionately larger investment of resources in course development in the distance model (nearly five times as great) significantly increases the probability of producing a course of higher quality. However, the higher front-end investment and the resulting increase in the quality of the instructional product and the consistency of its delivery is the expected outcome of a well-planned and suitably resourced distance training course.
In addition, the distance training model represents a potentially better allocation of limited non- financial training resources. For example, using the distance delivery model, the best Inuit instructors can be made available to all trainees, however remote their location. It would be unlikely that the best instructors would be available to visit nine communities for each course, four times a year. Thus, from these perspectives, using distance education methods for training purposes in the North represents a better investment of training dollars - even when the course is offered only once.
Table 2 reports the cost of delivering each distance workshop only once. However, some of the Atii face-to-face workshops were offered at least five times or more over a five year period. Figure 4 shows the impact on the cost per training hour per participant if an Atii distance training course were offered more than once.
It can readily be seen from Figure 4 that the impact of offering the same distance training workshop five times reduces the average cost per hour per trainee to under $65 per hour.
Significant savings of over $50,000 per course ($83 – $65 x 75) or $250,000 over a five year period would be realized.
Two further advantages accrue to using the distance delivery model. It permits funds to be invested in community-based employment and provides an enhancement of local community capacity beyond the direct benefits of the training itself. For example, community facilitators will be trained, paid, and will live in the local community in which they carry out their work.
Secondly, it is important to note that not factored into this costing model are the savings that accrue to the employer, who does not have to pay travel related costs and whose employees are available for at least some part of the working day.
The cost benefits of the distance training model accrue only in a situation in which there are significant numbers of people needing and willing to participate in training. However, predicted job openings in Nunavut alone, without considering the upgrading of those already employed, indicate that a potential demand exists in the North to realize the cost benefits offered by the distance training model for general management courses. The cost of more specialized courses that would have a potential market of less than 75 participants would require a further cost benefit analysis specific to the circumstances of that particular course.
The Atii pilot evaluation indicates that the project was important in several respects. Evaluation results clearly indicate that distance training or, perhaps more accurately, decentralized group training through distance methods, can be both effective and efficient in the aboriginal context in Northern Canada. There is every reason to believe that the model developed in this project, with the adaptations in design described in this article, is directly applicable to other aboriginal contexts in North America. This raises the interesting prospect of developing distance programming cooperatively and drawing on the resources of the different aboriginal organizations on a continent-wide basis - resulting in further economies of scale.
The essential conclusion is that the three basic assumptions made about distance training at the outset of this project were supported. That is to say: more people can be trained over a shorter period of time, and as least as effectively and efficiently, using distance delivery methods.
The project also addressed several larger issues that have been identified in aboriginal distance training and education (e.g., Wall and Owen, 1992). These issues arise from the understanding that education and training do not occur in a vacuum, but rather take place within the larger political and economic framework of society. For the Canadian aboriginal society, that larger framework takes in the concerns of aboriginal self-government, maintenance of aboriginal values, and economic development. Davies (1994) has stressed that for these reasons there is an important requirement for aboriginal educational projects to pay particular attention to WHAT is taught, by WHOM, and in WHAT LANGUAGE. The Atii pilot project represents what may be a unique attestation in distance training, namely, that aboriginal values can be incorporated into distance training projects, that these projects can be delivered effectively by aboriginal instructors in an aboriginal language, and that distance training has an important role to play in aboriginal economic development. All persons involved in this project recognize that it is very much only a beginning and one from which many lessons may be learned. Nevertheless, in retrospect it will probably be considered a milestone in the development of Inuit distance training.
Atii Training Inc. (1992). Maximizing Inuit employment in the Nunavut government. Ottawa: Atii Training Inc.
Coldevin, G. (1993). Distance education and other alternative learning strategies: Opportunities and constraints for Canadian official development assistance. Hull, Quebec: CIDA.
Davies, L. (1994). Electronic classroom, electronic highways: A study of aboriginal distance education in Canada. Paper presented at the meeting of the Canadian Association for Distance Education, Richmond, British Columbia.
Neil, M. (Ed.). (1981). Education of adults at a distance. London: Kogan Page. Stiles, J. M. (1984). Communications and information technologies and the education of Canada's native peoples. New Technologies in Canadian Education (4). Toronto: TV Ontario.
Valakakis, G., Robbins, R., & Wilson, T. (1981). The Inukshuk Anik-B Project: An assessment. Ottawa: Inuit Tapirisat of Canada.
Universalia Management Group. (1994). Final evaluation report of the Atii distance management training project. Ottawa: Atii Training Inc.
Wall, D., & Owen, M. (Eds.). (1992). Distance education and sustainable community development. Athabaska: Athabaska University Press.
Steve Gruber is a senior consultant with the Universalia Management Group, a federally incorporated Montreal based consulting firm focusing on organizational and human capacity development issues. In addition, he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Technology at Concordia University, Montreal, and is a director of the Canadian Association for Adult Education. His current interests include the innovative use and evaluation of technologies for distance education and training methods, and for the enhancement of organizational learning.
Gary Coldevin is a professor of Educational Technology, Concordia University. His active involvement in the Canadian North has been in the form of leading a ten-year longitudinal study of the effects of satellite relayed, southern television on Inuit adults and adolescents. He has also undertaken several assignments with various United Nations Agencies and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in both formal and non- formal distance education applications in developing countries. His current interests are in courseware message design factors, technology options for delivery, and provision for student support.