Overview

Winner of a 2004 Premier’s Award of Excellence (Gold), the Alberta Learning Information Service is Alberta’s gateway for career, learning and employment information and services. The site is provided through a provincial government partnership of Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry, Alberta Education, and Alberta Advanced Education and Technology. An advisory committee provides feedback and general direction to the web site administration. This committee is comprised of representatives from key career, learning and employment organizations throughout Alberta (e.g., Alberta Association of Career Colleges, Alberta College & Technical Institute Student's Executive Council (ACTISEC), Alberta Colleges and Technical Institutes, Alberta Committee of Citizens with Disabilities, Alberta Teachers' Association, Guidance Council, Career Development Association of Alberta, Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS)).

The ALIS web site provides information related to career planning, post-secondary education and training, educational funding, job search, labour market trends, and workplace issues. The site is organized under three tabs as follows:

• Careers: this section offers links to career planning resources and services;
• Learning: this section provides information about education, training, and student funding; and
• Employment: this section provides information about employment options, as well as economic trends and resources for business.

Career, learning and employment resources of particular interest to Kindergarten to Grade 12 educators are described in more detail below.

Visitors to the web site may also subscribe to two e-mail newsletters: e-CareerShop News (http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/career/cr/flyer.asp), a flyer that provides career, learning and employment information; and/or Update on ALIS, a quarterly newsletter that highlights what’s new on the ALIS web site. See http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/subscription.asp to subscribe.

If you require help navigating the site, want to provide feedback, or have specific questions related to student funding, Alberta scholarships, career planning, work search strategies or educational options in Alberta, visit the Contact ALIS page.

Career Information
http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/career/main.asp

The Career section of the site offers links to the most recent Career News articles as well as information in each of the following four categories:

• Career Services: This subsection of the site links visitors to provincial and Canada-wide career services information (see http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/career/cs/alberta.asp and http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/career/cs/canada.asp respectively). Access to information about government gateways, internships, and funding opportunities can be found. Career consultants can also be contacted. Of particular interest to K-12 educators are the sites:
  • CAREERS: The Next Generation is an industry-driven private/public partnership dedicated to the career development of Alberta's youth. Through this partnership students are better able to: connect classroom learning with workplace careers; explore career options through workplace internships; understand the world of work and become aware of specific fields where opportunities exist for future jobs. Information about how CAREERS can support your school is available at http://nextgen.org/Schools/tabid/177/Default.aspx. Information about the available programs (e.g., trades, health services, forester, road-builder, oil production field operator) can be found at http://nextgen.org/Programs/tabid/174/Default.aspx.
    
    
  • Central Alberta Career Prep, through the School Partnerships initiative of the Alberta Youth Employment Strategy, provides career guidance and planning information to Career Prep Partnership schools in Central Alberta. This initiative assists youth in developing career action plans before leaving Grade 12. Activities include but are not limited to: coordinating classroom presentations on Career Portfolios, Career Planning, Career Trends and Work Search; providing parent workshops such as "Guiding Youth" and "Debt Is a 4 Letter Word"; encouraging and arranging tours of the Labour Market Information Center (LMIC); developing “Career Corners” stocked with career development print resources; developing resources such as the "Pick Up and Go Kits" which consist of curriculum-aligned career-development lesson plans (see http://www.careerprep.ab.ca/pickupkits.htm); developing the Safety@Work web-based program (http://www.careerprep.ab.ca/saw/index.php) that enables students to navigate eight worksites and identify potential work related hazards (see facilitator’s guide at http://www.careerprep.ab.ca/PDF/Safety%20at%20Work%20Facilitators%20Guide.pdf) and ; and supporting the development of a "Team Career Prep, Career Leadership Training" program in participating Partnership high schools. Information about scholarships, career pathways, and tech prep credentials is also provided.
    
    
  • The Career Services Near You page lists all of the Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry service centres in the province (see http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/career/cs/abcareer.asp and http://employment.alberta.ca/cps/rde/xchg/hre/hs.xsl/3316.html).
    
    
  
  
• Career Planning Tools: This subsection provides access to tools designed to help youth and young adults enhance their understanding of themselves, their goals, and their strengths and abilities such as: CAREERinsite (this five step career planning tool outlines the need for self-reflection, information gathering, decision making and taking action, see http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/CAREERinsite/); NextSteps.org (this site provides career planning tools as well as career profiles and videos, and spotlights a different employer each month, see http://www.nextsteps.org/); and Destination 2020 (this tool is designed to help students: discover what skills they have and how they are building the skills they need for the job they want; and match their personality characteristics and interests to particular careers, see http://www.destination2020.com/).
  
  
• Occupational Information: This subsection features links to a variety of occupational information sources including:
  • Alberta Occupational Profiles, also known as OCCinfo, which describes the duties, working conditions, salaries, skills and education requirements, and employment outlooks for over 530 occupations;
    
    
  • Certification and Registration Requirements for Employment in Alberta, also known as CERTinfo, which answers questions about provincial legislation and regulations governing various occupations and provides contact information (e.g., see the regulations associated with early childhood educators at http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/certinfo/Content/RequestAction.asp?aspAction=GetCERTHTMLProfile&format=html&CERT_ID=539);
    
    
  • Alberta Wage and Salary Survey, also known as WAGEinfo, which allows the visitor to find wage and salary information by searching by job title, National Occupational Classification code, salary range or geographic area; and
  • Trade Up! (http://www.careersconstruction.com/), a site devoted to those who may be thinking of a career in construction. This site provides: information about designated trades and occupations including possible career paths; an opportunity to explore various virtual construction sites (e.g., see the residential construction site at http://www.careersconstruction.com/flash/explore_res.htm); and links to construction-related web resources.
  
  
• Career Resources: This subsection, designed primarily for counselors, teachers, career and human resource practitioners and employers, provides access to: Alberta-made career products including books, magazines, posters, and electronic flyers; as well as information about Alberta’s Career Week, and Career Development Association activities and conferences. The ALIS user guides are especially useful as ‘quick references’ to relevant materials (see the educator user guides entitled, “High School Transition: Getting Started on Your After-Grad Journey” and “Gathering Tools for Engagement and Empowerment” at http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/pdf/career/transitionsguide.pdf and http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/pdf/career/empowermentguide.pdf respectively).

Learning Information
http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/learning/main.asp

The Learning section of the site offers links to the most recent Learning News articles as well as information in each of the following four categories:

• Education and Training: This subsection features links to:
  • Educational Program Information, also known as EDinfo (http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/edinfo/Content/RequestAction.asp?format=html&aspAction=GetHomePage&Page=Home) which provides current facts about post-secondary education and training options in Alberta as well as distance learning programs in Western Canada;
    
    
  • the “Study in Alberta” section of ALIS which is designed primarily for those considering moving to Alberta to study. This series of pages: describe the post-secondary education system in Alberta, suggest reasons why one might want to study and live in Alberta, and suggest some things to think about and do prior to engaging in further studies in Alberta;
    
    
  • Alberta post-secondary institutions’ web sites, important dates (see http://www.elaa.ab.ca/images/pdf/2007%20elaa%20poster.pdf); and application/admission requirements (see http://www.advancededucation.gov.ab.ca/pubstats
    /PostSec/2005admissions.asp).
  
  
• Financial Assistance: This extensive subsection provides information about various forms of financial assistance for students interested in pursuing further post-secondary education and training (i.e., loans, scholarships, grants and/or bursaries from government and/or private institutions).
  
  
• Transfers: This subsection focuses on information of value to those who might start learning at one institution, and then move to another. It provides links to: Alberta’s Transfer Guide which describes course and program transfer agreements between many of Alberta’s post-secondary institutions; and Alberta’s International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS), a service offered by Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry which compares educational qualifications from other countries to provincial educational standards.
  
  
• Online Student Services: This subsection links users to: online applications for admission to Alberta’s post-secondary institutions; information about admission procedures; an electronic application for student financial assistance; information about the various means to request high school transcripts and/or Alberta Student Numbers (e.g., mail, in-person, online, fax); and an online estimator that helps low-income Albertans determine the level of financial support they might be eligible for.

Employment Information
http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/employment/main.asp

The Employment section of the site offers links to the most recent Employment News articles as well as information in each of the following four categories:

• Job Postings: This subsection provides links to several student and Alberta job banks (e.g., CareerOwl at http://www.careerowl.ca/careerowllite/, the University of Alberta’s Career and Placement Services at https://smoor.expressapps.ualberta.ca/ReCaPS_Prod/job_postings.htm; Alberta Job Centre at http://www.albertajobcentre.ca/ and AlbertaJobs.com), employment agencies, regional newspapers’ web sites, and job search resources (e.g., see the “Job Seeker’s Handbook: An Introductory Guide to Finding Work” (Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry, 2007) at http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/pdf/cshop/JobSeekers.pdf).
  
  
• Self-Employment and The Workplace: Those interested in starting their own business prior to or on graduating from high school or those who might already be employed will benefit from the resources found in these two subsections. Visitors can find basic information about starting a business as well as information about employment standards, employment insurance, labour law, immigration requirements, disability insurance, liability issues, and protection in Alberta and Canada.
  
  
• Labour Market Information: This section provides information about employment trends, economic activities, as well as industry and business innovations and will be of interest to those who might still be undecided about their futures.

Special Features, Useful Links, Weekly Tips, Featured Occupations and Video Career Clips
http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/main.asp

The ALIS home page (accessible by clicking on the ALIS logo in the top left corner of every page on the site) provides “quick links”, found in the right and left margins, to a:

• range of frequently-visited special features and useful web sites (e.g., Career Information Hotline, Students Finance, EDinfo (information about post-secondary programs in Alberta), CERTinfo (a directory of provincial certification and registration requirements for a variety of occupations), Job Postings, Alberta Labour Market News, Alberta Apprenticeship, Career, Learning and Employment Tip Sheets and Alberta Transfer Guide);
  
  
• weekly tip (e.g., the tip for the first week of January 2008 was related to managing change whether that change involves starting a new job, going back to school or changing careers, see http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/tips/archive.asp?EK=143 for tips related to building support networks, managing stress, and developing decision-making skills);
  
  
• featured occupational profile (e.g., the featured occupation for January 3, 2008 was Community disability services practitioners, see http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/occinfo/Content/RequestAction.asp?aspAction=GetHTMLProfile&format=html&occPro_ID=71002325 which outlines the typical duties and working conditions that can be expected, desirable personal characteristics, education requirements, employment and advancement information, anticipated salaries as well as related occupations or fields of study); and
  
  
• career video clip (e.g., the approximately six minute video clip for January 3, 2008 featured a female crater who shared her carpentry career pathway, see http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/video/main.asp?EK=370).