Jais' Story

Jais’ Distance Education Story
Jais is new to Yellowknife, only arriving in April of last year. During this last year she completed her maternity leave and began studying at a distance in the Early Learning and Childcare program. Jais explained that she is a full-time student and mother to a young child. Jais also works full-time during the day and then comes home after work to take care of her family. Two nights a week she attends classes in her program at a distance. When asked about how she was balancing her school/family/work life balance Jais says, “I don't know how but I'm doing it.”
When asked why she chose distance education instead of the face-to-face program, Jais says, “I don't have time to do that full time [face-to-face] study. I have to work and I have a kid also.”
Jais noted that “observing the child like that is the most important” and says that paying attention to the “micro details” provides important information about a child and how they interact with their environment. For example, Jais says, “we should observe like which hand they are using [and] how they are using it,” because these things are important in assessing students and providing feedback about children in Jais’ Montessori classroom. Jais said, “I’m learning a lot” and provided a recent example of when a child developed pink eye. Jais was not familiar with pink eye and used the experience to research and further understand this infection.
Engagement
When Jais was asked about what personal beliefs have helped her reach her goals, Jais indicated that she is very focused on her family and on the children in her program. Jais indicated how much she loves being with children in her job and said that “they all love me back and I feel so great.”
Supportive Relationships.
When Jais was asked about what helps her be successful in her program, she indicated the importance of instructors. She said, “the instructors are very supporting.” One of the instructors told Jais that, “whenever we have some questions we don't understand [or if] we need a little help just leave a message and [the instructor will] just reply back and the same with [another instructor], I just email him whenever I need [to].” Jais also indicated that she receives support from the program administration. “Since I enroll[ed] in this course I was actually in touch with Elrica, she was helping me. Like, what to do, what are the next steps? So, she's pretty good.”
Jais also emphasized the importance of her mother with regards to being successful in her program. “My mom is here and she's helping me … it wasn't possible to keep sometimes for myself, for my study.” Once Jais’ mom arrived in Yellowknife, Jais decided to enroll in the Early Learning and Childcare distance program. She feels with her current job at Montessori she can put what she learns at school into practice at work. Jais puts learning into practice through her reflections in her competency assessment profile (CAP) journal.
Course Content and Resources.
Jais has been provided with a lot of useful information and appreciates the documents and resources she has received throughout her course work. For example she received articles on report writing. The resources “are really very useful, but we need some time to read everything. So, there are so many useful things I found [and] … they are really, really helpful. They're gonna help me in my profession.” Jais has begun organizing her resources and says, “I am actually putting them in a folder in my computer, biweekly, so whenever I do have some time, I will print them all and I'm gonna make a file for myself and my boss.” She has chosen to create a file system so that she can go back to read through the information when she has more time to review the documents. Jais says, “I’m running out of time … I'm putting those links [in the folder] so that in future, whenever I need to go through them so that I can use them.”
Assignments and Assessments.
Jais was asked about her thoughts on the competency-based assessment (CAP) approach for course assessment and evaluation. Jais says, “It was a completely new concept for me.” Jais adds, “The first week like it was very bad. I was just, I don't know how I just put the entries. I don't know what [to do].” Jais spoke with one of her instructors who explained the CAP and how grades were earned and is now comfortable with the assessment approach. Jais says that she appreciates the journalling because it allows her to self-reflect but would also not mind if she was required to write tests instead; she sees the benefit of each approach. “The CAPs I would say like, it has pros and cons. So, it is very time consuming because you need to think, you need to write, and it shouldn't be that lengthy. When you're writing, you need to be concise, so it is really time consuming but at the same time it is really useful. Because you reflect on so many things… there [are] little assignments that are teaching you … how you can do better in some of those situations that maybe you face, so that's kind of teaching you. I would say they are really useful, although they are time consuming, but they are really useful.” Jais adds, “We are learning from our experiences and we are giving them thought, otherwise we are not going to think that because … nobody … has some time.”
Challenges.
When Jais was asked about challenges she faces, she says, “it's very hard for me to give some time to my family these days.” Jais balances work, with family commitments and her need to complete her CAP entries. She attends classes two evenings a week and also wants to build her resources for her children at Montessori. “I have never been so… busy in my life like I am these days.” Sometimes Jais studies until 11pm or midnight, always after she puts her son to bed. Jais said, “I'm just running behind time and the time is running behind me we are just facing each other.”
One Word to Describe Why You are Successful.
Jais was asked to chose one word to describe herself. She chose two; her two words were “honest” and “brave”.
Most Important Thoughts from the Interview.
Three things Jais wants me to remember about our time together: “I am going to be professional, with this course [program], and focused .... I'm learning so many things; I'm very grateful.”
Final Thoughts.
Jais holds a Bachelor of Information Technology from her country of origin but the Early Learning and Childcare diploma will be her first Canadian-earned credential. Because of her previous degree, Jais has no issues with any of the technology needs or applications in the program. Jais just needs to spend some time with the technology and then is able to navigate the environment successfully. When asked about the differences between her Canadian studies and those in her country of origin, Jais indicated: “we were used to have a lot of burdens during our studies, it's not like here. Here, [in Canada] it's …pretty….easy, like, no pressure … there was a lot of pressure over our heads [in her country of origin] because we were learning three languages at the same time. Now you imagine, so we started learning our national language, our mother tongue language, and English at the same time and once you start doing the math… there was a lot... [I studied] six days in a week.”