The Jasper Adult Learning Centre opened its doors Feb. 4, inviting a broad spectrum of community members to a dialogue intended to help guide its programs over the next three years.
About 40 people packed into the centre to take part in the conversation, providing them an opportunity to weigh in on several questions related to adult education in Jasper.
Participants were asked to ruminate on what they think are the most useful educational opportunities for adults, what barriers prevent people from perusing continued learning and what the future of adult education might look like.
Kristin Ward-Diaz from Alberta Culture and Tourism hosted the evening. Alberta Culture and Tourism supports learning centres like JALC across the province, and Ward-Diaz said Feb. 4 was one of the best turnouts she’s seen for a community of Jasper’s size.
She applauded Jasperites for their investment in making education a priority in their community, and said she thought the diversity represented in the room would mean valuable feedback for JALC.
“There is value in knowing your community, and the individuals who comprise it. Everyone in the community has a valuable perspective, and we want to get as many of those tonight as possible,” she told the crowd.
The dialogue had everyone split into eight groups, with the same questions posed to each one. Facilitators kept the conversation moving and on time, ensuring everyone could cover all of the questions in the approximately two hours of discussion time.
Discussions at different tables varied wildly, but a few themes sprung up repeatedly. Many groups touched on the fact that, for a variety of reasons, many people are too intimidated to pursue continued education at a place like JALC.
“I think we had an ‘aha’ moment here. That was this recognition that a lack of positive learning experiences in someone’s life influences their interest in other kinds of learning,” the head of one table reported back. “There can be a lot of fear coming into the learning.”
And while intimidation and stigma do represent big barriers for some, Jasperites weren’t without their solutions.
Leslie Dolan, the employment coordinator at JALC, said her group talked about how the centre needs to creatively meet a diversity of needs in a community like Jasper.
“We talked about how important it was to have fun in learning and that learning doesn’t have to look like our ideas of what that might be,” she said, mentioning that many thought taking learning out of the classroom is important to accomplish that.
Many also pointed to the tourism economy in Jasper as vital, and that JALC should continue to provide as many opportunities as possible for people to gain skills in that sector.
Along with those sentiments, many also pinpointed healthy living, mental health and parenting classes as key areas that they would like to see JALC tackle in the future.
After the discussion wrapped up, Ward-Diaz said that she was impressed with the passion for learning that Jasperites displayed during the dialogue.
“This community champions literacy and embraces lifelong learning—based on the discussion of the really broad topics I heard tonight.
“People were talking about education from babies to seniors, I could hear it, and it was great,” she said.
Cody Murdock, a board member and treasurer with JALC, said that he thought the dialogue was incredibly valuable, because it did represent such a wide swath of the community.
“We’re all from different industries and different ideas, and it was great to hear what other people think of the same topics.”
With the community dialogue finished, all of the information from the session will be complied into a report that will be used to create a strategic plan that will guide JALC over the next three years.
Trevor Nichols
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