Addressing Regional Labour Shortages

The Issue

Within northern areas, there is significant demand for labour related to reclamation and reforestation. However, there is a lack of quality training available and a lack of capacity to deliver reforestation skills to Indigenous communities, many of which are rural or remote. 

In particular, more conventional, non-interactive and non-immersive virtual training methods have failed and do not have strong links to employment skills and cultural or ecological contexts. 

But creating immersive content has required custom software development that does not allow for changes or updates without in-depth technical knowledge. Creating immersive content has been out of reach for most institutions, or for instructors without technical know-how.

What We Investigated

For this project, a team of instructional designers and subject matter experts developed immersive training utilizing 360° video technology to provide a superior and culturally appropriate learning experience. The technology was designed to allow trainees to digitally access content that is typically only available in the field. NAIT utilized existing materials, previously used with community partners, to form the curriculum for the reforestation and revegetation courses, identifying clear objectives and outcomes to meet training needs and address the skills gap. The courses focused on plant identification, seed collection and seed extraction. 

In parallel with the course development, the project also worked with a software development team to create a tool kit for instructors who do not have expert-level technical capabilities to be able to include 360° video technology in their courses. The objective of the tool kit was to support instructors and trainers to create and edit 360° scenes on their own without requiring software developers to create or update a customized solution. The tool kit supports course instructors to create new pieces of immersive content as required to meet the training requests of various communities.

The intent behind the project was to use this tool kit to move away from static training materials to adapt to changing best practices and training needs without immense costs and time. This would allow educators to tailor training to address labour skills gaps and provide cultural and ecological contexts for participants.

What We’re Learning

Tailor timelines to projects

Project staff felt there was not enough time to develop and pilot the courses and tool kit within the allotted funding period. They were also challenged by the funding being aligned with the fiscal year rather than the calendar year. As a result of this, the course content and tool kit were created, but samples of the courses were only beta tested with a small group from Aski Reclamation Ltd. (an environmental and reclamation business in Moberly Lake, BC and operating within Saulteau First Nations’ Traditional Treaty 8 Territory). Courses integrated ecological and First Nations’ knowledge with industry demands and best practices. Though the beta-test cohort was small, participants expressed enthusiasm for the full version of the course. 

Consider compatibility with other institutional systems early

Project staff emphasized the importance of ensuring digital platforms are compatible with those in use more broadly in the institution. For instance, there was a push to design the application in a specific learning management system. However, as the project moved forward, project staff learned that the institution was moving to a new learning management system, which would negated any work that was specific to the original system.

Why It Matters

Rural and remote Indigenous communities have training and skills development needs that require innovative delivery media, like 360°, immersive virtual experiences. This project matters because it created content and tools that utilized a new technology to meet a regional skills need in a culturally appropriate way, and also to impart technological skills to the instructors to improve the impact of their work.

State of Skills:
Sustainable Jobs for Economic Growth

Green-related skills and knowledge are growing in significance and are becoming widespread across many sectors and occupations, requiring more workers to upskill by building upon their existing competencies.

Read Thematic Report

What’s Next

NAIT planned to pilot the courses and anticipated there will be additional training opportunities offered to other communities. NAIT expects that the course content will be revised based on the feedback received from the pilot, and offered to other partners in the future.

NAIT has also secured funding from the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta to develop two additional courses with immersive, 360° content using the tool kit. Once those courses are complete, all the developed courses will be offered as a certificate program in reforestation.