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NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release

September 3^rd, 1999

Contact North/Contact Nord, Northern Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network, is pleased to announce the opening of its most recent Access Centre in Killarney located in St. Joseph’s School.

"We are very pleased to be working with St. Joseph’s School which has contributed facilities to house the technology required for access to the network," says Debra Betty, Director, Northeast Region. "Residents of Killarney will now have an opportunity to access secondary school and post-secondary courses and programs offered by educational institutions, without having to travel beyond Killarney."

"The centre will be staffed on a part-time basis by a Local Teleconference Assistant. This person will provide technical assistance during audioconferences, invigilate exams/tests, and provide information on distance education opportunities," says Betty.

"As educators, we believe that everyone should have access to education. We’re very happy to be part of a service that complements our own elementary school and enhances our community", comments Ed Burla, Principal, St. Joseph’s School.

For 13 years, Contact North/Contact Nord has continued to provide access for many thousands of learners to secondary school and post-secondary courses and programs, in English and in French, in small and remote communities. By using audioconference, audiographics and videoconference technologies, the Contact North/Contact Nord network serves not only the educational sector, but is increasingly being used by public and private sector organizations conducting their business at a distance.

In addition to the network’s continued support in providing access for Northern Ontario residents to education and training opportunities, the most recent Contact North/Contact Nord highlights include:

• 1997: expansion of its Centre for Innovation in Learning and its Centre of Distance Education for Secondary Schools

• February 3^rd, 1999, the former Minister of Education and Training, David J. Johnson presided over the launch of the first-of-a-kind Learning & Training Technology Labs in Sudbury and Thunder Bay

• March 4^th, 1999, at an international conference in Brunei, the Commonwealth of Learning recognized the network as one of the world’s three premier distance education institutions by honouring it with the Award of Excellence for Institutional Achievement in Distance Education

• June 1999: successful completion of a Wired for Learning: Technologies Working in the Classroom pilot project aimed at training teachers on how to use the Internet to enhance classroom learning

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