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(Wolfville, NS) - How
do you teach students about the world of business when it changes
more rapidly than the school calendar? An Acadia University business
professor, Dr. Conor Vibert, has developed an innovative multimedia
education tool to address this issue. Acadia’s Office of Technology
Transfer and Innovation (OTTI) recently reached an agreement with
Thomson Nelson, Canada’s leading educational publisher, to
co-distribute Dr. Vibert’s Acadia Management Interview Series Video
Database (AMISVD).
The AMISVD is a series
of video interviews with industry leaders and top executives,
archived into a user-friendly, web-based interface that allows users
to search interviews by keyword and subject. The AMISVD provides
business students with an innovative new way to access course
material and learn about the world of business from those who know
it best.
Dr. Vibert generated
the idea for a database to capture the knowledge and experience of
the many executives who regularly visit Acadia, and to make that
information relevant and engaging for students who are steeped in
constant multimedia input. “There are fundamental concepts that
underlie business today in the same way that they did decades ago,”
says Dr. Vibert. “However, technological advances have changed the
way that these concepts are understood, developed and applied, and
the skills needed to use these resources effectively must be adapted
to the technology and information-rich world.”
Thomson Nelson
publisher Veronica Visentin says the AMISVD will support a host of
Thomson Nelson textbooks. “Instructors will be able to search
through a range of businesses, and actual business situations, and
use the videos to complement their lectures,” she explains.
“Students will see business concepts come alive during interviews of
executives sharing their experiences.”
Acadia University
takes pride in its entrepreneurial sprit, which is facilitated by
its unique technology-rich learning environment. The AMISVD was
initiated through a grant from the McConnell Foundation, bringing
executives from across Canada to the University to share information
about their companies, industries and career choices with students.
As organizer of the speaker series, Dr. Vibert saw an opportunity to
use Acadia’s teaching technology strengths to create a multimedia
learning tool which could contribute to students’ understanding of
modern business practices, in a way that existing teaching resources
could not. With the help of Acadia’s Office of Technology Transfer
and Innovation (OTTI), Dr. Vibert then negotiated a Canada-wide
distribution arrangement with Thomson Nelson.
The AMISVD has evolved
through collaboration with Acadia’s Manning School of Business
faculty Dr. Ian Hutchinson, Prof. Paul Callaghan, Dr. Terry
Weatherbee and Dr. Steven Ash, along with Dave Sheehan and Christian
Taylor from the Acadia Institute of Teaching and Technology.
About the Thomson
Corporation and Thomson Nelson
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com),
with 2004 revenues from continuing operations of $8.1 billion, is a
global leader in providing integrated information solutions to
business and professional customers. With operational headquarters
in Stamford, Conn., Thomson (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) has approximately
38,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130
countries. Its learning businesses and brands serve the needs of
individuals, learning institutions, corporations and government
agencies with products and services for both traditional and
distributed learning. As part of the Thomson Corporation, Thomson
Nelson (www.nelson.com)
is a leading provider of books and online resources for the
educational market in Canada, maintaining over 30 interactive
websites and publishing a wide range of core and supplemental
electronic products.
Acadia University,
in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, has long been recognized as one of
Canada’s premier undergraduate institutions. With its nationally and
internationally recognized research initiatives, small class sizes
and technology-rich teaching and learning environment, Acadia offers
students an experience which includes academic achievement combined
with personal growth and development. For more information about
Acadia, visit www.acadiau.ca.
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