Clarica Scholars Program

Clarica Life Insurance has established a partnership with Acadia University and the University of Waterloo aimed at enhancing the integration of information technology in secondary schools across Canada and better preparing students for opportunities and challenges in the workplace.

Called the Clarica Scholars Program, the partnership will identify, train and support a core group of teachers and students from secondary schools across Canada, to prepare and encourage them to assume leadership roles in advancing technology integration and content development within the classroom. The announcement was made in Toronto at the annual conference of the TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence, a forum for leading research and practice in online education and training.

Hubert Saint-Onge, Clarica's Senior Vice President, Strategic Capabilities, said, "Clarica Scholars Program is the first nation-wide program in Canada that will help teachers and students to work in new ways by bringing tools used in the workplace into the classroom."

He said Clarica recognized the opportunity to bring together a leading liberal arts university and a leading research university, each highly regarded for computer applications in education. "By linking the strengths of these two universities, each with their own different experiences and learnings, a strong partnership has been formed to carry forward this new program for Canadian educators and their students."

The Clarica Scholars Program consists of two one-week sessions in 2001 and 2002, involving ten teams of four -- two teachers and two students -- from secondary schools across Canada. Teams will be selected based on the submission of a project idea in a target discipline. At Acadia, the focus will be on comprehensive immersion in all aspects of technology use in the school. At Waterloo, participants will design, develop and evaluate learning support software for their classes. In addition to the training week, teams will receive continuing assistance to share ideas, continue technical development, evaluate projects and to share the resulting learning support systems with other Clarica scholars.

"We're looking forward to this opportunity for our departments at the University of Waterloo to interact with leading teachers and students on a national level", said Dr. Tom Carey, Director of the Centre for Learning & Teaching Through Technology. "We've been working with our own students and instructors to develop high quality learning support software, and now we can share this expertise with our secondary school partners."

Jennifer Bolt, Director, Acadia Institute for Teaching and Technology, said, "the program brings teachers and students together to ensure that the benefits have a long-lasting effect in classrooms. This partnership has already worked well at Acadia. Students provide technology support leadership while teachers create and organize learning activities."

The goal of the Clarica Scholars Program is an advanced secondary school educational environment in Canada with teachers and students capable of championing the use of technology in the classroom. The program complements Clarica's leadership in integrating knowledge management and e-learning for individual and organizational capability development - using technology to help staff learn, share and interact with one another.

Clarica has committed total funding of $600,000 for the two-year program that will provide teachers and students with recognition as Clarica Scholars in Teaching and Technology. Application forms for school teams and details of the program will be available in December on the web sites of Clarica and the two universities.

Acadia is a leader in innovation and excellence in the classroom. The university provides students with world-class access to information and technology through its Acadia Advantage program, which links students to a network of resources using notebook computers. The University of Waterloo is highly respected for its leadership and innovation in many branches of research, including the new knowledge and information technology areas. The Centre for Learning & Teaching Through Technology was established in 1999 and is the focal point for UW's strategic capability for innovation in learning technology.

Clarica has provided insurance and investment solutions to Canadians for 130 years. As well as individual and group insurance, Clarica provides a full range of wealth management products. In Canada, Clarica serves nearly 3 million customers through 7,300 staff, agents, financial planners and group representatives who operate out of 90 offices across the country. In the United States, Clarica operates from two mid-western locations to serve 250,000 policyholders.

For further information: Nicholas Thomas, Media Relations Manager, Tel: (519) 888-3160, E-mail: nicholas.thomas@clarica.com; Pierre Saulnier, Director, Public Affairs, Quebec, Tel: (514) 282-6114, E-mail: pierre.saulnier@clarica.com

Clarica Scholars Program established in partnership with Acadia University and University of Waterloo Information Technology Integration WATERLOO, ON, Nov.7