A new chapter will open for a post-secondary school when the Okotoks Public Library moves out of its present facility.
Bow Valley College is scheduled to move into the present library in January 2022.
“We are trying to grow the sense of community that a regional student has,” said Brad Mauro, Bow Valley College, regional stewardship manager for Foothills.
“We really are looking at the Okotoks campus as regional, we service the region around Calgary.”
The college’s move to the present library is part of the Okotoks Learning and Arts campus. The library will move to a complex under construction beside its present facility on Riverside Drive.
Meanwhile, Bow Valley’s present campus on Elizabeth Street looks virtually empty as the school students are learning online.
“We converted to online quickly as we could back in March,” Mauro said, when Alberta’s learning institutions were closed to in-person learning due to COVID-19. “Through adoption of new technology and rushed training we were able to get everybody focused on the platform, instructors and students alike, and we have just gotten better and better at presenting our online courses.”
The present campus has one classroom for about 20 students. When they move into the library in 2022 that will increase to four classrooms.
“Along with that we are going to have some flexible space for the students – an open space area with drop down study areas, lockers, etc.,” Mauro said. “It will feel much more like a true campus as opposed to an office where you put some desks in.”
Mauro said it is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of students enrolled at the Okotoks campus.
“Our practical nursing program and early-childhood education and development certificate programs are full,” Mauro said.
He estimated that would comprise about 60 students.
Come 2022, the college anticipates it will grow significantly – possibly quadrupling enrolment.
“What we are excited about is we have learned these online deliveries are a way to incorporate a flexible classroom where we can have students from different programs being in the same classroom studying online software with a headset and watching an instructor delivering a course whether it is from the Calgary main campus or one of the regional campuses," Mauro said.
“In doing this we will be able to increase our capacity – our course offerings.”
Mauro said Bow Valley College plans to embrace more technology classes.
“We want to have full cohort every semester in technology,” Mauro said. “In line with what the Province is trying to do with the growth of the economy.”
He said those will possibly include IT courses, design and drafting, interior design and others.
Mauro added the increase in enrolment and the location of the new campus near the downtown core will help liven up and give a small boost to the Okotoks economy.
At present there is the main campus at downtown Calgary. There are other sites at Cochrane, Strathmore and High River.
The tenants in the arts and learning campus will include Foothills School Division, Bow Valley College, the Okotoks Public Library and Community Futures Highwood. There will also be some commercial sites.
As well, there will be a revised Ethel Tucker Centennial Park and an outdoor plaza.
