Mount Allison University is committed to the success of the EvNet (Network for the Evaluation of Educational Technology) application in SSHRC's Strategic Research Networks in Education and Training competition. Consistent with its mission and profile as the premier small undergraduate liberal arts university in Canada, Mount Allison has been continually improving its teaching content and delivery systems.
In collaboration with NBTel, Mount Allison has over the last three years, invested over two million dollars to establish a fibre optic electronic network which links over 1,200 residence rooms, thereby creating a unique "virtual campus" and a "test bed" for multimedia courseware developments. In the latter context, Mount Allison has an active contingent of courseware development specialists who are not only producing electronic courseware, but conducting research in its effectiveness. These initiatives have had the financial support of both the University and the New Brunswick TeleEducation Network.
Most recently, Mount Allison has received financial support from both the private and public sector for its Multimedia Courseware Development and Research Centre, an enterprise that represents over 3.8 million dollar investment by the private sector partners, the federal and provincial governments, Mount Allison University and the Town of Sackville, New Brunswick. In particular, these initiatives have received strong and consistent support of the provincial government whose "information highway" strategy delineates a role for such a private/public consortium and partnership.
Given these commitments, Mount Allison has a strong and continuing vested interest in seeing that EvNet succeeds as a research network. To those ends, the University will provide infrastructure support which it normally provides to research institutes and programs presently operating on campus, including the administrative/financial services, physical office space, computing services and legal advice regarding intellectual property and commercialization (subject to the contingencies of the University/faculty association collective agreement).
Mount Allison University's participation in the EvNet program will be that of a major "test bed" facility for network products and research. This is compatible, coherent and complimentary with its mission of delivering the most modern curriculum in the most technologically advanced milieu in the country, a mission which resonates with the provincial strategy for economic development and the national commitment to economic competitiveness through R & D.
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