A collaboration between Golden Hills School Division and the Royal Tyrrell Museum to bring palaeontology into the classroom is branching out beyond the province.
    This week CampusNorth announced it will be offering an online palaeontology course aimed at students in Grade 9-12.
    CampusNorth provides curriculum to public, charter and virtual schools throughout the United States.
    “We are excited to be working with The Royal Tyrrell Museum and Golden Hills School Division to produce this innovative course,” said Matthew Birks, CEO at CampusNorth. “We believe this is the first curriculum development partnership of its kind and we are proud to be able to share the depth of knowledge and expertise at The Royal Tyrrell Museum with a wider audience.”
    Jason Martin, operations and finance director at the Royal Tyrrell Museum explains in 2005 the museum and Golden Hills collaborated to introduce Palaeontology 15 and it became accredited by Alberta Education.
    A few years later, in 2010 the Grade 11, or 25 level, course was developed accredited.
    The museum also offers workshops as part of both programs, which can be delivered at the museum or through video conferencing.
    He said CampusNorth creates online electives for American high school curriculums, and was considering developing a palaeontology course. They became aware of the Tyrrell and Golden Hills collaboration, and approached the museum.
    “We thought it would be a great opportunity to educate American high schools and utilize some of the content we already created, so we allowed them to acquire the course,” said Martin. 
    Some of the content had to be supplemented to meet the requirements of the varied curriculums. The Tyrrell was able to help with this.
    “We created six videos of our scientist we show as part of the online course to supplement the information on the course. Our actual scientists are talking about how they actually use the different topics in the course in their day to day research,” said Martin. “Now a student can read the text and follow it up by watching the video online.”
    He said, as developers Golden Hills and the Museum are privy to some royalties from the courses.
    “It is a real win-win. CampusNorth wanted experts to create a palaeontology course and they got that, and Golden Hills and the Royal Tyrrell are dedicated to providing education and as a bonus it is a revenue generating opportunity for us that would otherwise not be there.”
    He adds that he has become convinced that collaboration is a great way to develop these types of programs rather that creating everything from scratch.
    CampusNorth is headquartered in Calgary and provides curriculum content throughout the United States.

Michael James
The Drumheller Mail

    A local to the area will be starting his first day as the new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Town of Hanna in April.
    Kim Neill, a native of Morrin, was named as the replacement for retiring CAO Geraldine Gervais at the February 12 meeting of Town Council.
    “We’re looking forward to him coming in, not that we want Geraldine to leave, but he’ll help us move the town forward in the direction we want to go,” said Mayor Mark Nikota.
    “It’s a big transition. We hired a professional company to find the right person for us. The Council and community has a certain direction and vibe, so you want to find the right person who will have the same vision. You need to cast a wide net to find the best candidate and I think we got that.”
    Neill attended the University of Alberta where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Recreation Administration, majoring in management and supervision. He has also completed his Local Government Certificate and a certificate in Municipal Management and Leadership at the University of Alberta Business School.
    He worked for the Town of Hanna as the Director of Community Services in the 90s and spent the last 13 years working in the same capacity for the Town of Stony Plain.
    Gervais announced her retirement after serving the Town since August 2004. In a letter to Hanna’s residents, Gervais expressed a desire to spend more time with her family.
    Afterwards, the process began to select a replacement.
    “People may not realize the job they do and key role they play. It’s the CAO that holds everything together. They bridge the gap between the community and council's wishes, and what is possible in the budget,” said Nikota. “It’s a very important job.”
    Gervais’ last day is scheduled for April 30. For the next month, she will instruct Neill on what he needs to know for the task ahead.
    “It’s great, we’re getting a local guy to come back. He went out into the world and got some experience, and now he’ll be bringing it back. He knows the area and the town,” said Nikota. “We’re expecting great things.”