Pembina Hills trustees passed a motion at their Feb. 23 meeting authorizing the use of 11 Locally Developed Courses (LDCs) within local schools, particularly R.F. Staples School in Westlock.
In spite of the name, Locally Developed Courses can refer to any specialized course created by a school authority to provide students with unique opportunities to explore subjects outside of the provincial curriculum.
Assistant Supt. of Education Services Mark Thiesen explained that once a school authority has created an LDC, they submit it to Alberta Education for review.
Once the province has determined that the LDC isn’t duplicating the outcomes of another course, a course code letter is generated for the LDC that allows any other school division to provide credits to their students, Thiesen said.
Three of the courses — Musical Theatre Performance 15, 25 and 35 — were specifically requested by R.F. Staples School.
Thiesen said the school had been planning a musical theatre performance and the teachers wanted the students to earn credits for the time they put in practicing and rehearsing.
The remaining courses were focused on Film and Media Art studies, Social Literacy and an Introduction to System Scaffolding.
Thiesen noted that before a school can utilize an LDC to award credits, they must first get authorization from the school board.
“This is … one of those routines that you have to go through,” he said. “It’s a step-by-step process that was developed by the Ministry of Education.”
Trustee Maureen Schnirer asked if these were all online courses, to which Thiesen replied that they were more like a set of outcomes that are supposed to be achieved, as well as the assessment standards that are associated with that course.
Board chair Judy Lefebvre asked if Pembina Hills had ever created its own LDCs. Thiesen said that one of the forensic sciences courses had been developed by Pembina Hills, along with a chronic pain management course used by young patients at the Stollery Children’s Hospital.
