Project Updates
June, 2009
A Very Successful Year for ARC-BC!
Our first "official" year has come to a close and we have reason to celebrate! By the end of June, we have 48 school districts that have joined the ARC-BC Community with over 1340 registered users. Our collection has grown steadily over the past few months, with users now adding their own materials through the Contribute to Collection feature.
Over the summer, the ARC-BC provincial team will continue to work hard to add new textbooks and novels to the collection. We will also be working towards launching ARC-BC v.2.0 early in September. The updated version will contain better activity reporting features, and, responding to user feedback, a more enhanced community area and better interface.
Thanks to all our users who submitted their year-end ARC-BC user survey – it gave us much needed information on how you have used the repository in the past few months. For those who indicated they needed additional training on ARC-BC, there will be many online training opportunities throughout the September and October months to help you either get started with ARC-BC or to reacquaint yourself with how to use it appropriately and effectively. Check out the SET-BC Upcoming Events calendar to find those online sessions.
For more information on ARC-BC or to see if your school district is a member of the ARC-BC Community, please visit the ARC-BC website.February, 2009
ARC-BC Welcomes the Next Ten School Districts
The roll out of ARC-BC across the province continued on February 2nd as ten new BC school districts began registering users interested in accessing alternate format materials for their students with perceptual disabilities. SD#22 (Vernon), SD#33 (Chilliwack), SD#34 (Abbotsford), SD#37 (Delta), SD#42 (Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows), SD#44 (North Vancouver), SD#46 (Sunshine Coast), SD#57 (Prince George), SD#68 (Nanaimo – Ladysmith) and SD#73 (Kamloops – Thompson) have put their ARC-BC plans into action as their district contacts oversee the training and registration of various user groups. Some districts are hosting face-to-face informational meetings and training sessions while others are using the availability of online informational sessions to educate their users on not only how to use the repository effectively but which students, according to copyright, can use the materials in the classroom.
As of the end of January, ARC-BC has over 400 users with the numbers of daily downloads increasing exponentially as each group of school districts begins accessing the collection. The next group of districts, set to begin access in March, currently includes SD#6 (Rocky Mountain), SD#10 (Arrow Lakes), SD#38 (Richmond), SD#40 (New Westminster), SD#48 (Sea to Sky), SD#61 (Greater Victoria), and SD#78 (Fraser-Cascades). We will be welcoming them on board very shortly!
January, 2009
ARC-BC Officially Opens to Ten BC School Districts
With the ARC-BC Pilot Project now concluded, the first group of ten BC school districts to join the ARC-BC Community are now accessing its alternate format collection. Educators in SD#8 (Kootenay Lake), SD#19 (Revelstoke), SD#23 (Central Okanagan), SD#43 (Coquitlam), SD#47 (Powell River), SD#62 (Sooke), SD#63 (Saanich), SD#72 (Campbell River), SD#85 (Vancouver Island North) and SD#100 (Independent Schools) will now be able to register to use this resource with their students with perceptual disabilities.
The Pilot Project school districts, after successfully implementing ARC-BC in their districts from September to December, have made a number of suggestions and recommendations for districts who are just beginning the process. These are available on the ARC-BC Support Resources page in our SET-BC Learning Centre. This page also offers a variety of support resources for those new to ARC-BC or those interested in obtaining more information on the repository or on alternate format materials in general. For more information on ARC-BC, visit the website at www.arc-bc.org.
December, 2008
Ten More School Districts Joining the ARC-BC Community in Early February 2009
With the January 2009 launch of ARC-BC just three weeks away, we are delighted to announce the second group of ten school districts who have joined the ARC-BC Community. Their users will begin accessing the repository no later than early February 2009. The next group of school districts include.
SD#22 (Vernon), SD#33 (Chilliwack), SD#34 (Abbotsford), SD#37 (Delta), SD#42 (Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows), SD#44 (North Vancouver), SD#46 (Sunshine Coast), SD#57 (Prince George), SD#68 (Nanaimo - Ladysmith) and SD#73 (Kamloops - Thompson).
As we welcome this next group to the ARC-BC Community, we also wish to extend our sincere thanks to the eight original school districts who participated in the ARC-BC Pilot Project. These districts will be finishing the trial phase by December 19th. These districts have provided invaluable assistance and support in the early planning and design phase, have contributed many of their own alternate format materials, and have helped test the use of the repository over the past three months. The ARC-BC Provincial Team sends its sincere appreciation to these districts for their hard work and support throughout the past year - we couldn't have done it without you!
October 26, 2008
Applications to join the ARC-BC Community from BC school districts have been submitted since they became available at the beginning of October. We are very pleased to announce the next ten school districts that will begin accessing ARC-BC in January 2009. These districts are:
SD#8 (Kootenay Lake), SD#19 (Revelstoke), SD#23 (Central Okanagan), SD#43 (Coquitlam), SD#47 (Powell River), SD#62 (Sooke), SD#63 (Saanich), SD#72 (Campbell River), SD#85 (Vancouver Island North) and SD#100 (Independent Schools).
Other BC school districts that are interested in beginning accessing the repository beginning in February 2009 are asked to submit an ARC-BC Community Application as soon as possible. Please direct any questions about this application or ARC-BC in general to arc@setbc.org.
Over the past few weeks, the eight Pilot Project school districts have been very busy locating and downloading alternate format materials for their students with perceptual disabilities. During the period between October 1st and October 22nd, 102 users registered from those districts, downloaded almost 700 individual alternate format files. The rate of user registrations is increasing significantly as the Pilot Project school districts move through their training plans adding more user groups week by week. Many BC students are reaping the benefits of all the hard work the Pilot Project teams have put into bringing ARC-BC into their schools.
October 24, 2008
The trial of the ARC-BC repository is in full swing as the eight Pilot Project school districts are successfully registering new users who are searching and downloading alternate format materials on a daily basis. There are currently 102 registered users who, from October 1st to October 22nd, downloaded over 700 alternate format files. The number of users and downloaded files is growing weekly!
The few "bugs" in the new repository have been worked out and everything is moving very smoothly towards the addition of ten new school districts in January 2009. Applications to join the ARC-BC Community were available at the beginning of October and already many school districts have applied to be part of the first group to be added. For those districts that have not yet applied, application packages can be downloaded from this area of our website or from the home page of ARC-BC (www.arc-bc.org).
Many people around the province have attended the series of online informational meetings and more have been added to the schedule – please see the SETonline schedule in Upcoming Events for new dates and times. Several districts have booked specific online sessions as a way of presenting ARC-BC to their district users. If you would like to arrange a demonstration for your district, please contact us at arc@setbc.org.
The ARC-BC Pilot Project group is scheduled to meet once more, online, on November 4th. At that time, the participating districts will be offering concrete feedback and suggestions for the repository as well as examples of how the availability of these alternate format materials has helped students in their districts.
It has been a very busy and exciting few weeks as we see the results of the last 18 months of hard work! Congratulations to the Pilot Project school districts for providing much appreciated help and support and to the ARC-BC Provincial Team for turning the vision into reality.
September 22, 2008
ARC-BC has been launched! On September 8th, the eight school districts involved in the ARC-BC Pilot Project met online for their first look at the repository. The development of the repository took longer than expected but it did go “live” just in time for that meeting. Project teams were shown the various areas of the repository and were able to offer initial comments and observations. They were also able to submit an ARC-BC Community Application during the past two weeks so that teams and users in their districts could begin accessing the repository and downloading alternate format materials. The pilot project school districts will be testing and providing feedback on ARC-BC until December 2008.
ARC-BC is located at www.arc-bc.org and regular online informational meetings have been scheduled for anyone interested in more information or would like to see how to access and search the collection (see Online Sessions). All other BC school districts are invited to join the ARC-BC Community beginning in January 2009. ARC-BC Community Applications for school districts will be available beginning September 30, 2008.
In addition to the exciting September launch, we have added two new members to the ARC-BC Provincial Team. In the summer, Lu Liu joined Victoria Baker and Nancy Zhang to help out with alternate format production, and, at the beginning of September, Debbie Sitar joined PRCVI and will be helping oversee the development of the project in the coming year. Welcome to both!
February 14, 2008
The ARC-BC Pilot Project held an interactive online meeting and teleconference Wednesday, February 13th to make final decisions regarding the design of the digital repository. Representatives from all eight participating districts attended the meeting from their locations all around the province. The status of the project was shared - information on the specific blueprint for the repository was described and an updated timeline for repository construction was highlighted. Team members also discussed three main areas of the project that required final decisions - the process for district access to the repository, methods for acquiring existing district resources, and initial training plans for their district staff. As with the first, face-to-face meeting, district teams provided excellent suggestions and guidance which were immediately incorporated into the digital repository plans.
The updated timeline will see the following activities over the next few months...
- the respository, with plans now complete, will be constructed
- existing sources of alternate format materials, including PRCVI's list of electronic text and those resources currently existing in BC school districts, will be obtained and form the foundation for populating the repository
- ARC-BC production assistants will begin the process of gathering, creating and cataloging alternate format materials
- Packages of training materials will be created to meet the diverse training needs of districts
The ARC-BC Pilot Project group will meet again on September 8th when the trial will begin and team members trained on accessing, searching, and downloading materials from the repository. The trial is expected to run September - December 2008 with the projected opening of ARC-BC to all BC school districts being January 2009.
December 7, 2007
Representatives from eight school districts met for two days at the SET-BC Provincial Centre as part of the ARC-BC Pilot Project. The two day meeting was a terrific opportunity for teams to discuss the many issues associated with the design and access of the alternate format repository. Teams participated in a number of activities designed to gather specific information on district activities creating alternate format materials as well as suggestions for repository design to ensure secure access and high quality, appropriate materials. The information and discussions were invaluable for the ARC-BC team as the project is moving quickly through the design phase.
The next activity planned for the Pilot Project group is an online meeting and teleconference scheduled for February 13th, 2008. The tentative repository design and user interface will be shared at that time and specific plans to ensure secure district access will be finalized.
Click here for more information on the ARC-BC Pilot Project meeting.
November 28, 2007
The ARC-BC team was pleased to receive and review many excellent applications for the upcoming pilot project. We'd like to extend our sincere appreciation to all districts who took the time to compile and submit an application. The review process was a difficult one since most school districts are already actively involved in acquiring, creating and using alternate format materials with their students. Many districts are also well on their way to coordinating their own alternate format repositories. Unfortunately, the ARC-BC pilot project can only involve representatives from eight districts. Selection of these districts was based on the criteria outlined in the pilot project application.
The following school districts will be participating in the ARC-BC pilot project...
- SD 69 - Parksville-Qualicum
- SD 71 - Comox Valley
- SD 36 - Surrey
- SD 35 - Langley
- SD 67 - Okanagan-Skaha
- SD 5 - SE Kootenays
- SD 51 - Boundary
- SD 28 - Quesnel
Teams from these districts will be meeting for the first time on December 5th and 6th, 2007 at the SET-BC Provincial Centre. Meeting discussions will focus on identification of repository access procedures, design of the repository user interface, and prioritizing initial alternate format materials. If you have any questions about the pilot project, please contact us at arc@setbc.org.