You're from Grande Prairie? What a coincidence!

Sometimes it takes a 700 kilometer journey to connect with colleagues and collaborators from one’s own turf. This was the case for four students from the Grande Prairie area who enrolled in the Werklund School of Education’s Master of Education program.

With a population closing in on 70 000, it is hardly surprising that Rikki Christie, Keenan Geer, Ryan Shelly and Chelsea Stone did not know each other until they met on the University of Calgary campus. But when you consider that three members of this troop are high school teachers and the fourth works as a parks and recreation coordinator, their worlds become a bit smaller.

Besides geography, what unites this group is their passion for outdoor education and adult learning.

“This program was the catalyst in bringing together educators and community stakeholders who are all involved in promoting healthy living practices in Grande Prairie. It has been great to connect with fellow Grande Prairie residents and work on topics that will have a clear and positive impact on the overall health of our community,” says Shelly.

Program Coordinator Gavin Peat was impressed with how the group come together as a team. “Teachers and outdoor enthusiasts sometimes struggle to implement the ideas we discuss in the program because they usually work in isolation so it was exciting to see how, through a variety of activities during last summer’s course and subsequent on-line coursework, they demonstrated a strong ability and desire to support each other.”

The blended nature of the Adult Learning specialization – classes offered both on-campus and online – was an important component of the program for Christie and her classmates as it enabled them to continue to earn a living while working toward their degrees.

“We're all very delighted that the University of Calgary offers a program that allows us to continue working full time, while taking graduate studies in a field that is very relevant to our work and personal interests.”

For his part, Geer valued the personal interactions he had during the program.

“The cohort has provided us the ability to work with so many different stakeholders in the outdoor community. We have people from government, parks, kindergarten, senior high, etc. We all have different optics to look at the course from and we have learned a lot from each other because of this.”

This is not to say the program was not without challenges. For Stone, travelling to Calgary was the biggest hurdle. “It is a really far drive and as a teacher we are not encouraged to take time off work during the school year so flights are really our only option.”

But Geer says the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.

“We are receiving a top-notch education and guidance from two extremely gifted instructors that make any distance traveled worthwhile.”

“I now have three good friends and I hope that if we have the opportunity to get together we will. We are planning on implementing programs into our schools and parks. I think we will stay in touch.”

And now this collaboration will not involve a 700 kilometer trek.

The Master of Education Interdisciplinary degree is a flexible, laddered program that allows students to progress through their courses with the same cohort and choose from several areas of concentration based on their learning interests. Areas of concentration are updated on a yearly basis.