Educators and staff with Nunavut Arctic College from all over Nunavut are gathering this week for their third tri-annual Professional Development conference. This year’s theme is Katinniq: Connecting Communities.

The College Foundation Program offers students the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to be successful in a post-secondary program. It will assist students to attain the necessary academic prerequisites for college programs in areas such as math, science, and communications and to enhance the Essential Skills that are applicable to all occupations. In addition, this program supports students by including services ranging from college orientation, study skills, tutoring, counseling (academic, personal, career advice), and work experience while gaining academic qualifications.

Interested Nunavummiut should submit their applications for the College Foundations program right away, as there are only a few weeks left until classes begin!

Social capital? What the heck is that? In a world that centres on economic development and growth it seems that even our relationships with others is now “capital!” But if you look past the jargon I think you will find a principle for adult learning that we at Arctic College have recognized for a long time: connecting and building relationships with fellow learners and with instructors is an important factor in student academic success. And now with the increased use of social media tools we have even more resources available to us to help build learning connections and communities.

On Friday June 24th, in Akureyri, Iceland, Rebecca Jones, Karen Inootik, Jennifer Kadjuk and Paul Berger presented preliminary results from research they are conducting on recruiting more Inuit to teaching. The research aims to understand what draws Inuit youth to teaching and what barriers exist that stop them from pursuing teaching as a career.

It is also meant to increase interest in teaching among young people. The presentation, called Collaborative Teacher Recruitment Research in Nunavut, was part of the 7th International Congress on Arctic Social Sciences, a conference held every three years by the International Association of Arctic Social Sciences.