YINCOUVER

COMMUNITY
COLJ.EGE�
VOLUME 1 NUMBER 5
AUGUST 1987

Planning Service
Gets Green Light

The Continuing Education Divi­
sion at VCC has been given the
go-ahead to establish a planning ser­
vice for conferences. Program direc­
tor Jan Kotaska said the service would
be especially valuable to outside
groups and organizations who don't
have the time or experience to stage
conferences properly.

Jon Wash bum has now dedicated himself to the Vancoul'er Chamber Choir. but he says he '/I miss the
job of teaching.

Washburn to Pursue Full-Time Music Career
A noted nineteenth century English
writer once said friendship "was like
sound health; the value of it is seldom
known until it is lost." Both teachers
and students in the music department
of K ing Edward Campus can appreci­
ate that sentiment. They've lost a
longtime friend in Jon Washburn, who
left the college several months ago to
pursue a full-time music career.
Washburn joined KEC's music divi­
sion in 1973, when it was still situated
in the huts of the old campus. In the

• Sylvia Russell (right)
elected alumni
President
• College
President
looks ahead
• NewAIDS
policy for VCC
• Hilary Hannigan and
the Pacific Rim

"Beginning this fall, we're going to
start offering comprehensive confer­
ence planning and co-ordination.
We'll be able to provide a wide range
of services, including registration,
advertising, food services, and so on.
But we'll also do smaller jobs too,"
explained Kotaska. "The great benefit
about our services is the cost; we don't
ask for the high prices you'd normally
pay to hold a conference."

ensuing 14 years, he's lived a double
life as an educator, and as a choral
leader.
His work with the Vancouver Cham­
ber Choir has now become a consum­
ing passion. "Besides, there are just
too many (school) appointments and
board meetings to handle, and the
chamber choir business finally forced
me to make a decision to leave."
eopl app
t
�
ointed by
Washburn, however, acknowledged thhe Ministry of {d ucat1
on to serve
e 1987-88
on
his time at the college has been a rich
Va
ncouver c
C
and rewarding experience. "And I'm a o ll e g e B oar d ' si· x a 0mmunity
r e ba c k fo
nother term
really going to miss working with the
r
.
students. I really love teaching, and
_VBC profess
get a kick out of it when they learn Elizabeth Jar or John Ch a pman
business womavis 'ca homemaker, and
something.''
Washburn was born July 4, 1942 in return to the n olle�n Mi/Jer will
the state of Illinois. He was on his will Tony SauB d gain this year, as
:
way to earning a Master's Degree in consultant Hn%:� lawyer, business
o
pe
Wc
ot�ersp
musicology from Northwestern travel agent B
arbara Spitz. oon and
University in Chicago when sud­
denly, he changed schools in mid· e T he new members of th
e
lu
stream. In 1967, Washburn received b de Stan Hecker a schoo Board in­
usinessman
l teacher
D
his MA from UBC, the school's Pr
es ton, a ban o ja Brandes, Ruth'
very first graduate student in Pa
k
ul Taylor, an :f,.:1�al, business man
musicology.
d De 0rah Re
la wyer.
es-Lee, a

��: !��rdAnnounce?

(Continued on back page) J �
� ��------__
____
.
_J

VCC-VANCOUVER VOCATIONAL INSTITUTE
. ---- IJBRAR't ..-AUG 2 7 1987

_j

Gallagher Believes Colleges Can Play A Vital Role

(Continued from inside page)

Because many students lack the
basics when entering into a course,
foundation programs also need to be
enhanced. Gallagher points out that
those who have made only minimal
school preparations are likely to expe·
rience a minimal chance of sustained
success. Consequently, students must
be convinced that formal education
doesn't end with the presentation
of a diploma or degree. Colleges
have a responsibility to show the
learning process is both continuous
and life-long.
In expanding his argument, Gallag­
her said colleges should pay much
greater attention to the need for
non-technical upgrading. Many col­
leges now play an active role in
upgrading, as distinct from pre·
employment education. But much
of this upgrading has to do with
work-specific, technical competence.
Broadening the range of career op·
tions for people is still a sadly neg·
lected issue.

COMMUNICATION THE KEY
Undeniably, many individuals are
stuck in their jobs or careers, but it's
not because they don't possess techni­
cal skill or potential. Gallagher states
such people "have been the products
of an educational system geared to an
industrial rather than post-industrial
society. They have not learned to
communicate well. They have not

developed interpersonal skills. They
have not learned how to learn. And in
many cases, they have been led to
believe that their progression has
been thwarted by technical skill obso·
lescence, rather than by a lack of
development of the non-technical
skills necessary for advancement
today."
If the college education system is to
respond to these new demands, admin­
istrators will require a practical, plau­
sible plan to implement. Not one that
would simply inject more "general
education" into current programs.
But a plan that would focus more on
the learning process than the actual
content of programs.
Such a shift would, in turn, prompt
other aspects of education to be
re-examined. As an example, Gallag­
her suggests it might be useful "to
adopt the stance that colleges will
have no graduates, but that all college
students are on an educational ven·
ture without end, and that all the
diplomas and certificates they receive
are therefore interim, provisional, or
transitional."
And what of the changes in college
operations? To begin with, discrete
instructional programs could be elimi­
nated, or replaced by a single college
criteria for all. There could be greater
opportunity for students to demon­
strate abilities without taking courses.
Equivalent credits could be awarded
for assessed life experiences.

Washburn On His Way
( Continued from cover)

Several years later, Washburn began
his professional music sojourn by
forming Hortulani Musicae, a small
group who performed renaissance
and baroque music. In 1970, he cre­
ated the Vancouver Society For Early
Music, and the following year brought
together talented people for what was
to become his most ambitious project,
the Vancouver Chamber Choir.
1988 looks like a hectic year for Jon
and his choir, with more than 60 per­
formances already slotted on the cal­
endar. In January, the chamber choir
will perform at a festival in Calgary,
shortly before the city plays host to
the Winter Olympic Games. A tour of
the Atlantic provinces follows in
March, and next October the choir
will be singing classic pieces from

Bach, Brahms, and Debussy, as well as
Canadian compositions, during a
month-long tour of China.

THE SOCIAL DIMENSION
OF LEARNING
In the near future, learning in the
community or workplace could be­
come as legitimate as on-campus
studies. That means an acceleration
to more individualized learning.
Gallagher clearly believes colleges
"should be much more imaginative
and deliberate in building oppor·
tunities for the social dimension of
learning."
Without question, faculty members
will play an integral part of this transi­
tion. The definition of college teach­
ers would be broadened to include the
roles of tutor, coach, manager of
resources, facilitator and organizer.
If Canada is to react to these chal­
lenges, our colleges and institutes must
look again at what post-secondary
education ought to be. It's the most
important issue now facing educators
and administrators.
Gallagher feels the most realistic
and credible approach to this problem
is to hand over the leadership reigns
to schools who take pride in being
a step ahead. "Within those institu·
tions, there are individuals and groups
who have already manifested educa­
tional leadership, who have converted
visions into realities, and who can do
so again. It does not seem unrealistic
to propose that four or five institu·
tions in different provinces, but in
regular contact with one another,
could advance the redirection of col­
leges significantly in a five-year per·
iod. The subsequent steps would be
much easier."
People everywhere are pleading for
fundamental change in education,
and Gallagher envisions colleges as
the prime source for seizing this mon·
umental opportunity.

WIINCOUVER
COMMUNITY

COLLEGE�

Spectrum is published 10 times a year by the Public Relations
Department of Vancouver Community College for our 1500 part­
time and full-time employees. Information for news, features and
coming events should be directed to:
Wayne Dede, Continuing Education
Stephanie Jewell, VVI
Bruce Watson, KEC
John Howard-Gibbon, Langara Campus
Our correspondents welcome your comments and suggestions.