by Kathy Sullivan

100048809

EDUC 5153

Submitted to Gaye Rawding

December 2001

Table of Contents

Introduction Page 3

History of Distance Learning Page 5

A Case Study: Alberta 1923-1996 Page 6

Development of Provincial Networks Page 7

Early Online Learning Projects Page 9

Current Practice

Alberta Page 15

British Columbia Page 17

Ontario Page 17

Manitoba Page 18

Saskatchewan Page 19

Nova Scotia Page 19

New Brunswick Page 21

Quebec Page 23

Prince Edward Island Page 23

Newfoundland and Labrador Page 23

Yukon Page 24

Nunavut Page 25

Northwest Territories Page 25

Beyond Distance Education Page 26

Conclusions Page 28

Annotated Bibliography Page 29

Kindergarten to grade 12 students have traditionally been taught in classrooms with face to face contact with the teacher and other students. With the development of new technologies, the way we work, live and learn have changed, and one of the most visible changes in the learning environment is that teachers and students no longer have to be in the same time and space. Even when distance is not the issue, school-based learners no longer want to be restricted to "bankers’ hours". Like ATM machines that are available 24/7, educational institutions, in order to be relevant, have had to develop delivery methods that are flexible in terms of where and when a student accesses them. It is the "self-serve" of the academic world.

Just as the Internet has become an integral part of other aspects of our lives (banking, finding information, personal communication), it has changed how we think about the logistics of learning. The "self-serve" advantages are many: students arrange their schedule around other demands (jobs, medical treatments, parents who travel), they can collaborate with students in other geographic locations, they can learn from experts who prepare the material and correspond with the students at times other than regular school hours, and it allows students to feel control of the pace and content of their learning. For these and other reasons, many provinces have developed virtual schools, and all provinces have developed some form of online learning opportunities for their students in the elementary and secondary grades.

Online learning is well established at the post-secondary level. Some institutions, like Alberta’s Athabaska University, British Columbia’s Open University, and Quebec’s Télé-Université, specialize in online degrees. Almost all other Universities in Canada currently offer, or are planning to offer some courses online as an alternative to classroom-based courses. Some have structured certain degrees to be offered entirely online. The growth of such programs is staggering: for Athabaska’s online MBA program alon, enrolment jumped fifteen-fold from when it was launched in 1994 to 1997 making it Canada’s largest executive MBA program bar none. (John Schofield, "Back to School Online." Maclean’s Sept 6,99: 22-29) By 2002 it is estimated that 15% of all postsecondary students in the United States will be enrolled in online courses, compared to 5% in 1998. Interestingly, 40% of those currently enrolled in this type of course are over 40 years old. "This is a race that will go to the swift and the wise – and it’s borderless", states David Johnson, president of University of Waterloo. Many analysts feel that, just like manufacturing drove the world into the 20^th century, education will be the largest industry in the world by 2010, and that even if Canadian schools and universities do nothing to embrace online learning, it will still come to Canadian students, but it will increasingly be provided by non-Canadian institutions and corporations (John Schofield, 24)

Do Canadian public schools have the technology infrastructure to move swiftly and wisely? Through SchoolNet, by the end of this year, using funding from the federal government, provincial government, school boards and corporations, each of the country’s 250,000 elementary and secondary schools will be connected to the Internet. Many schools, especially those in urban areas, already have high-speed broadband connections, and in the most recent Speech from the Throne, the Canadian government committed to making this faster access widely available to every Canadian community, no matter how remote, by 2004. This will certainly provide the "highway", but many other factors will determine the success of wired education.

Does Canada’s long history of distance education provide strategies for this new version of off-site delivery? How are provincial ministries of Education fostering the growth and development of online courses? How are teachers learning how to create online materials? What software is being used to facilitate the teacher-student interface? Where do we go from here?

While the federal government funds many advisory committees and research groups to oversee plans to involve all Canadian schools, progress towards the goal of providing high quality, flexible, coordinated, web-based learning alternatives to K-12 students has been inconsistent across the provinces and territories. There are highly successful initiatives that warrant examination, and there are some common issues that need further study. With the power of computers doubling every 18 months, the impact on education is also doubling in this time period, so the state of online learning in Canada is changing quickly and constantly. The following is a summary of the history and development of online learning programs, and a snapshot of where we are at the end of 2001.

Over the past 80 years of public education in Canada, the need to overcome geography has been the primary impetus behind distance education programs. Until the 1970’s, students in remote areas received their education almost exclusively through provincially developed correspondence courses, exchanging printed instructional materials for written assignments using Canada Post for delivery. As educational television was developed, some provincial Departments of Education began to include elements of "audio-visual" in the design of distance learning materials. In the mid 1980’s, print materials were supplemented by audio-conferencing and fax machines. These technologies made group instruction possible at a distance, but phone equipment and long-distance charges were expensive and sometimes unreliable, so mail-delivered printed materials continued to be widely used.

Programmed learning modules began to be piloted in the early 1990’s but technical difficulties and quickly changing platforms mitigated against the wide-spread effectiveness of these products. Local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) came into use and provided the infrastructure to develop "distributed learning environments" within schools and among schools. In 1995, the World Wide Web became widely available and gave students access to an unprecedented variety of audio and video resources and information databases. The Internet extended the opportunities for students in schools, but it also provided access to students outside the school. Centralized, highly controlled correspondence courses could now be expanded to include web-based resources, CD-ROMs, chat-rooms, online collaboration and email.

Alberta’s correspondence school was established in 1923 in response to "frontier towns" where students lived too far apart to form a school district. This branch of the Alberta Department of Education was also important to students who attended schools that closed for the winter months (a practice that existed in some areas until the 1950’s). Over the years, radio was added (CKUA), and in the 1970’s television was tried but was later abandoned because students didn’t like the fixed schedule. Videotaped instructional material became available in the 1980’s (and continues to be popular). Teledon, Canada’s original computer network was used in 1980/81. In 1987, a task force was established to develop a vision for the Alberta Correspondence School. The resulting report, "Basic Learning at a Distance: Building New Partnerships" identified several major issues, including the need to decentralize learning services, and use new delivery methods such as audio and video conferencing, electronic mail, and telephone tutoring. The results of the three-year initiative included increased enrolment and completion rates that increased three-fold to ninety per cent. These changes lead to the development of local consortia to coordinate distance education courses, and handle the marking of assignments locally. This transformation of the mandate of the provincial Correspondence School lead to the formation of the Alberta Distance Learning Centre in 1991. It increasingly focused on exploring alternative delivery formats, including video and CD-ROMs.

The development of the infrastructure of telecommunications in Alberta has played an important role in the expansion of distance learning programs. Remote areas of the province initially had to pay long-distance charges to connect to the nearest dial-up service to access the Internet. The cost was prohibitive. Under the federal government’s Community Access Program (CAP), some communities used the start-up funds to develop freenets. SchoolNet, a joint initiative between federal government, provincial government and industry, began in 1993 to link schools and libraries across Canada. Alberta created its own Alberta SchoolNet Project which started with 30 schools in 1993, and expanded to 326 schools in 1996/97.

In addition to centralized, print-based correspondence schools, many of the other provinces developed provincial networks to distribute audio or visual resources. Newfoundland has used audio-conferencing through TETRA (the Telemedicine and Educational Resources Agency). Northern Ontario has also used audio conferencing through Contact North/Nord. Radio has been used by the Wahsa, a First Nations agency at Sioux Lookout, also in northern Ontario. Interactive television has been widely used through TVOntario (TVO). Manitoba and Saskatchewan have used video-conferencing to link small schools in order to offer a wider variety of courses to students. Manitoba Satellite Network (MSN) and Saskatchewan’s Communications Network (SCN) have sent televised classes to some jurisdictions on a fixed schedule.

These provincial networks have provided variety and support for distance education services and have led to the development of infrastructures for online learning. British Columbia has the Open Learning Agency and the Provincial Learning Network (PLNet); Saskatchewan has the Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN) and Community Net; Manitoba has both the Manitoba Satellite Network (MSN) and MINET, its computer communications network; Ontario has developed TVOntario and Contact North/Nord and ; New Brunswick has TeleEducation; Nova Scotia had Network Nova Scotia, and now has Ednet, its provincial computer network; Newfoundland and Labrador have TETRA and STEM-Net (Student/Teacher Education Multimedia Network); the Yukon has recently created YesNet, their territorial computer network. The computer networks are continually changing to meet the increasing demand for server space, email accounts and storage capacity as teachers and students work online. As bandwidth increases, allowing streaming video and free audio communication, the need for other audio-visual services is decreasing. It is probable that in the near future, computer networks will provide most of the resources used in education. Because of their importance, many provincial governments, unable to bear the high costs, have partnered with telephone companies (eg. Telus in Alberta, SaskTel in Saskatchewan, and MTT in Nova Scotia) to provide the T1 lines necessary for high speed, high quality networks.

The federal government’s Advisory Committee for Online Learning defines online learning as what occurs when education and training are delivered and supported by networks such as the Internet and intranets. It refers to both distance learning and the provision of technology-enhanced learning within a traditional classroom. Using this definition, Alberta is the Canadian leader in terms of the starting date, the number and the variety of online programs. In June 1998, over 20 online programs were operating in Alberta. Since then, programs have expanded and new programs and virtual schools have been established. By 1999, almost all of the jurisdictions in the province had either their own online program or had contracted with ADLC (Alberta Distance Learning Centre) Online or another jurisdiction to provide services to their students.

The most typical early projects (1995-98) were asynchronous programs using proprietary software to provide email messaging for assignments and teacher/student interactions. Chat rooms were also used for student/student and teacher/parent forums. Most of the projects also involved phone conversations, especially if the student was having difficulty. (Alberta Education, "On-line learning: best practices for Alberta school jurisdictions". March 1999, 27) Most students worked independently using materials and assignments sent to them by their distance education teachers. Group work was possible, but almost never a required element of the course. The majority of programs were operated by a particular school jurisdiction for its own students. Very few included students from elsewhere in the world. Materials were developed by teachers with little formal training in online education, and were mainly text-based. In some cases, students accessed course materials in print format and emailed the finished assignments to their teacher. The use of audio and video files was limited because of bandwidth available to students. At this initial stage, most students were using dial-up connections, although some were able to dial into the school LAN. The most common proprietary software used in Alberta online programs was First Class® and Lotus Notes®, and NetMeeting® was commonly used for videoconferencing. When synchronous instruction was used, LearnLinc® and Symposium® were the programs of choice. Because of the newness of these software applications, there were frequent technical difficulties and many teachers returned to using faxed pages to exchange material with their students. (Alberta Education, "On-line learning." 28,29) At this stage, few instructors used web pages to either display materials or student work. Email and chat rooms were the most popular applications.

Alberta’s list of schools with online courses or complete online programs include (in 1999):

Academy On-line (www.academyon-line.org ), ADLC Online School (www.adlc.ab.ca ), Calling Lake Virtual School (http://nsd61/virtschl/indes.htm ), CMOS Centre (http://cmos@cmos.org ), Computer Link, Cyber Academy, E-Quest, Fort Vermillion Distance Learning Program, Golden Hills Virtual School, Good Shepherd Cyber School, Holy Family Cyberhigh Virtual School (www.compusmart.ab.ca/hfcyberhigh ), InterEd, LearnNet (http://argyl.epsb.edmonton.ab.ca ), The Learning Line (http://compusmart.ab.ca/broxton ), Peace Academy of Virtual Education, School of Hope (www.schoolofhope.org ), St. Gabriel Cyber School, St. Paul’s Academy (www.redeemer.ab.ca ), Virtual St. Albert Catholic High School (www.sachs.st-albert.ab.ca/virtual/Teachers/admin.htm ).

British Columbia has been offering electronically-assisted programs for several years. In 1994, the 9 distance education schools began putting their courses on line, starting with the North Island Distance Education School of Comox, Vancouver Island. The school provided students with modems, Internet access and technical support so they could email other students and participate in online learning with their teacher. Similarly, the New Directions in Distance Learning project (NDDL) was designed to assist students in small secondary schools by providing contact with teacher-mentors (through email, fax, phone) supplemented by on-site facilitators. Originally, instruction involved a variety of media (television, whiteboard technology, audio and video conferencing, and print materials). In 1995/96, 450 students were enrolled in the program. Recently, NDDL has been restructured as CONNECT, an initiative that provides instructional programming to students and teachers. It is operated by a consortium of the distance education schools. It was developed as a partnership of the Technology and Distance Education Branch of the Ministry of Education, the Regional Distance Education Schools and Open School, a unit of the provincial network, The Open Learning Agency. Open School is mandated by the B.C. Ministry of Education to prepare teaching and learning materials in support of the K-12 school system in B.C. (www.openschool.bc.ca). It began offering "electronically delivered courses and continuous mediation and support" with courses offered at the high school level through OSCAR Online. Using WebCT, these were originally print-based distance education courses "with the benefit of electronic support". They included special projects, alternative units, course adaptations and resources posted online. Students had email links to their school, their instructor and their peers. They could participate in online discussion groups, and teleconference with outside experts. Each student required a computer with a CD-ROM drive and Internet access. The Distance Education School, through which the students were registered, provided Clarisworks®, FirstClass® Client tools and an account, course workbooks, videos, textbooks and resource kits (www.openschool.bc.ca/de/guidebook/connect.html). The cost of the OSCAR Entrepreneurship grade 12 course, as an example, was $64.95, plus $24.95 for each of two videotapes, plus $1.95 for a "Getting Started Guide".

The program is constantly growing, and on the 2000 website, many new courses were listed, but had the words "pilot" or "if available" beside them, indicating incomplete preparation of materials at that time. British Columbia also offers online courses to their French-language students (TéléCombie). British Columbia’s virtual courses and schools included (in 1999): the Greater Vancouver Distance Education School (www.gvdes.sd39.gov.bc.ca ), and the Nechako Electronic Busing Program (www.e-bus.com ).

In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, online education began with distance education students using email to send questions and assignments to their teacher. In 1993, Evergreen/Lakeshore school districts in Manitoba began using video conferencing to share resources and courses between schools. Using fibre-optic lines, communication among the four high schools was almost instantaneous, even though they were about 100 kilometres apart. Each classroom was equipped with 8 television monitors (four in the front for the classroom students to see students at the other sites and four in the back for the teacher to see the students in other classrooms.) the system used electronic key response pads to obtain individual answers from the class. (Alberta Education, "On-line learning." 23)

In 1995, Manitoba began using online technology to supplement the course offerings to students registered in Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler, Manitoba. Using the school LAN, students could access the 4 online courses either from school or from home. The courses were initially designed using FirstClass® conferencing software, but staff later used WebCrossing software.

In 1997, the Ontario provincial distance education school, the Independent Learning Centre (ILC) offered a pilot environmental science course called "Sustainability on-line" to senior secondary students. Over 50 students from public and private schools participated. (Alberta Education, "On-line learning." 17) ILC also collaborated with TVOntario to offer a senior level chemistry course through the Virtual Classroom project, "an electronic meeting place where learners throughout the world can collaborate on the advancement of learning through technology". (www.virtualclassroom.crc.ca ) They also offered an ESL course using Virtual Classroom in 1998. Ontario has experimented with several online courses and schools. North Hastings High School in Bancroft, Ontario offered a senior art course from the Ontario College of Art called "Art Online," which could be accessed from school or home. It has been developing other online courses for its rural students. Another school board, the Dufferin–Peel Catholic School Board, began operating WebSchool in 1996 for adult learners taking evening courses. The pilot course was a grade 11 computer studies course, and because computer studies courses are over-subscribed in many schools, they later offered grade 11 and 12 computing courses to day students. The courses begin with traditional classroom meetings to ensure that students learned the core skills such as email, asynchronous and synchronous conferencing, but then between 50 and 75% of the classes are online. Courses were initially written in HTML, but later the school used LearningSpace® software.Another online school, Toronto Virtual School (www.intoronto.com/virtualschool ) is an independent service that has been making math and science curriculum available for grades 8-12. Some jurisdictions have also sought private sponsors as partners for their virtual programs. For example, the Avon Maitland Board, Goderich, ON, opened The Virtual High School (http://www.virtualhighschool.com ) to students in January, 1997. Business partners included Silicon graphics, Inc. who had set up a model lab in one of the district's schools, TRO Learning (Canada) Inc. which focused on self-paced comprehensive instruction and testing systems, and HuronWeb Online who offered web-site design, creation and management services. The Virtual High School was part of the Cyberschool initiatives of the Board and offered high school courses for credit to students regardless of their home jurisdiction or country. While four courses were initially offered, the school planned to offer the full complement of high school courses. The courses were completely online and generally had no paper textbooks or manuals. (M. Haughey, "Pan-Canadian Research Options: New Information Technologies and Learning." November 2001. <www.edu.pe.ca/wsb/disteduc.htm>)

In 2001, the government of Alberta continues to lead the race to integrate online learning programs and services. On November 20, it unveiled its new set of "online learning tools to help students and teachers." LearnAlberta (http://learnalberta.ca ) will offer K-12 teachers and students (in publicly-funded schools) access to an online reference center and curriculum-based resources that cover a variety of subjects and topics. The site will provide a child-safe Internet research "destination", teachers will have access to lessons plans, and electronic illustrations of concepts,and students will be able to review what they learned in class and reinforce their skills with extra practice. In addition, parents can use the information from the site to better understand what their child is learning in school. The site can be accessed directly from school, or students and parents can apply for user ID and password to use the site at home. The first resource to be put online is the reference center, which offers research materials such as encyclopedia databases, literature, pictures, and newspaper articles. The first curriculum-based resource to be added is the Grade 6 math unit, with interactive lessons related to key math concepts. It will include a glossary of math terms, printable parent notes, activity sheets, problem-solving strategies and number operations. Other curriculum units will follow. (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200111/11584.html ) With the development of this kind of online support, the line between virtual schools, virtual courses, and mainstream education is blurred. All education is now online education, in that it is delivered or supported by the network of the Internet. Although virtual schools like St. Paul’s Academy in Okotoks, Alberta, will probably continue to exist, and to specialize in educating a specific group of students outside the classroom using the Internet to deliver the entire curriculum, the addition of online resources and support materials as supplements to the classroom experience may offer the flexibility and accessibility that many virtual school users were seeking. The central distribution and development of the online resources by the provincial government will reduce the cost and increase the accessibility. It is a major step towards standardization of not only the curriculum, but of the software. It also increases the pressure on teachers to learn to integrate technology-based resources into their regular teaching. The struggle to stay ahead of (or at least at the same level as) students and parents just became even more difficult.

B. C. has consolidated its online learning options under one umbrella called "The Community Learning Network" (www.cln.org) . The site is designed to "help K-12 teachers integrate technology into their classrooms." The site includes links to Open School, the distance education unit, OSCAR, a set of 16 high school courses available in print or online, and TLE (The Learning Equation), a site which features lessons, help and practice to support the B. C. curriculum. Like Alberta, this province is starting their collection with math resources, in this case for grades 7-10. Also, like Alberta, the Ministry of Education is making its online courses and resources available to school boards outside of the province for a license fee.

The Ministry of Education, in conjunction with TVOntario, have developed online learning courses available in beta testing form only. Adult learners, distance education or students enrolled in regular high schools are invited to follow one of three courses available in English through the Independent Learning Centre (ILC) http://ilc.edu.gov.on.ca/webportal/online_about.htm. Only 10 students per course are being accepted in this first phase, and they will receive a full credit towards their graduation diploma. During the testing, no fees are required. Courses were scheduled to begin mid November 2001. Many more online courses are scheduled for development.

Ontario has not kept pace with Alberta and British Columbia in terms of its funding and encouragement of virtual schools and online programs. The EDEN project, the Toronto Virtual School and Virtual High School were early projects that have continued to exist. Although there are two large research centres in Ontario (York University’s Centre for the Study of Computers in Education and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), who are actively studying the issues surrounding online learning, few unique initiatives are being developed in Ontario. Funding cutbacks and perceived lack of support for teachers may be at the source of this situation.

Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg created a consortium called INFORMNet to develop and deliver online courses (Sheri Brink, "New technologies take learning to new heights." Schoolnet Fall 2001, 8-9) INFORMNet (www.inform-net.mb.ca ) is an Internet based alternative instructional environment where students participate in online learning experiences to achieve credits in high school courses approved by Manitoba Education and Training. Students enrolled in INFORMNet are provided with daily instruction, assignments and evaluation through regular e-mail and web based interaction with their instructors. As of September 2001, 16 courses from Senior 1-4 (grades 9-12) were scheduled to be offered over the next two years, with four available for the first semester of 2001. Each course costs $400.00 and leads to a full credit towards a high school graduation diploma. InformNet also began offering summer school programs in 2001. It claims to be the Manitoba’s only online Summer School offered via the Internet. A complete credit is given for 45 hours of instruction over a 3 week period. The courses are available to students from all the Manitoba school districts.

Community Net was developed to bring affordable high speed Internet connections to all educational institutions in 366 communities by the year 2003. In October 2001, only 185 communities had been connected. Without the infrastructure of broadband capabilities, the development of online courses is curtailed. They still have some interesting activities, such as the Virtual Science Fair, which includes no physical displays, but rather features a set of web pages to display student research. This province also has a Virtual Resource Centre (VRC) (http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/vrc/about.html) that has an extensive collection of reference materials in education and other subject areas. Saskatchewan has also developed online professional development resources for their teachers.

(www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/curr_inst/tech/pd.html )

The development of online programs in Nova Scotia has closely followed the early development of the other provinces in terms of delivery of programs. The French-language school Board (Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provinciel) offered a limited number of high school courses in schools with small populations of francophones. The Strait Regional School Board offered Math and Gaelic Studies through John Hugh Gillis High School to 10 smaller high schools in a combination of synchronous and asynchronous online presentations using LotusNotes®. In the Chignecto-Central School Board, courses in the Mi’kmaq language were shared between schools using online technology.

A bold initiative was begun in 2000, when, a private company, Knowledge House®, in collaboration with the Department of Education, proposed an innovative project to meet the needs of students with a high level of commitment, and the desire to work collaboratively in an Advanced Studies Program. Unlike other online programs or schools that developed curriculum for separate high school courses, this program was designed to be interdisciplinary, collaborative and problem-based. Using an e-learning engine developed by Knowledge House called "SmarterTeams", students would work through modules focusing on math and science issues in grades 11 and 12. Eight modules in total (4 in grade 11 and 4 in grade 12) plus an elective subject in each of these grades, would form a complete program. Students would work in teams of 6, and would solve one "big problem" per module. In doing so, each student would develop the skill sets described as desirable in new graduates by the Conference Board of Canada (http://www.conferenceboard.ca/pandp ). All courses incorporated the outcomes from the Public School Programs, and were carefully assessed by subject specialists at the Department of Education to ensure their compliance with provincial standards. One of the most unique aspects of the project was the potential for students to achieve advanced placement in university courses if they achieved a high level of achievement in these modules. At the end of grade 12, students could write an exam through Dalhousie University, and if they received a high mark, would receive a university credit that could be used towards a degree at Dalhousie or could be transferred to another university.

Module 1, which was slated to run from September 2001 to January 2002, focused on communicable diseases as the "big problem". Through the study of literature, chemistry, biology, geography, business and communication, each team of students would deal with the problems surrounding the discovery, quantification, spread, treatment, cost and communication about a highly contagious disease. The real-life application of theoretical knowledge forced the students to consider a wide variety of practical considerations. Because of the depth and breadth of information required to deal with such a complex issue, students had to rely on each other to prepare "deliverables" to the group, and to devise schedules and task assignments. This type of assignment closely follows constructivist learning theory and is able to be accomplished because of the efficiency of online learning tools, such as NetMeeting and Yahooligans messaging systems (Yahooligans allows the parent/teacher to set a list of participants that cannot be changes by the student). The teachers involved in this project were to receive 200 hours of professional development to help them change their role from instructor and curriculum designer, to facilitator, mentor and evaluator.

In September 2001, 86 were registered for the first module. Five high schools were involved (2 from the Strait Regional School Board, 1 from the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board, and 2 from the Southwest Regional School Board). Two weeks into the term, Knowledge House went into receivership, and is currently attempting to restructure the company. The program is on hold for one year, at which time a decision will be made about the future of the two modules that are finished, and the six that are in development. (Wayne Hamilton,NS DOE, Telephone Interview. 30 November 2001) Despite the financial difficulties encountered, this is one of the most promising projects in online learning in Canada.

Online learning is well developed in Quebec at the post-secondary level, but the webpage for the major distance education organization in the province, SOFAD (Société de formation à distance des commissions scolaires du Québec) did not list any online courses in either English or French for elementary or secondary students.

This small province does not have the same distance considerations as other larger provinces, and perhaps because of this, has not developed any online courses for K-12 students, at least none that appear on any official government websites. There is, however, an online potato training course offered by the World Potato Learning Centre, the training division of Solanum PEI Inc. It is available world-wide over the Internet, and was recently "attended" by the staff of a South African fertilizer company. It was developed in partnership with Holland College as part of the Competency Based Education (CBE) approach of the College.

Almost all schools in Newfoundland and Labrador are linked by the provincial computer network, STEM-Net. This has indirectly helped students, because the teachers have access to resources and contacts through the Internet. (www.stemnet.nf.ca/d6vsatf2000/index.htm). It has also directly affected students by the provision of web-based email accounts for all students K-12 using a service called ClassAct®. At this time, there are no online courses for students, but the Department of Education is looking at models of virtual learning around the world, on which to base changes to their distance education programs. Memorial University of Newfoundland has recently established The Telelearning and Rural Education Centre in the Faculty of Education, in order to increase the University's role in the provision of teacher education in a province containing many small schools in rural communities. The mission of the Centre for TeleLearning and Rural Education is to facilitate research and development with a special focus on the effective utilization of telecommunications technologies in teaching and learning in small rural schools throughout the province. The Centre is in partnership with the Department of Education, the school districts, the Faculty of Education, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association. It will coordinate research in the areas of telelearning and rural education in Newfoundland and Labrador, conduct research related to the instructional design of senior high school courses for delivery by telecommunications technologies, facilitate the design and delivery of professional development institutes for teachers in small rural schools throughout the province, and coordinate the development of Centres of Excellence in TeleLearning. Research is currently underway into the effective teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies using telecommunications technologies in high schools in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Yukon Schools are among the most 'connected' in Canada. By the end of 2001, all Yukon schools will have access to high-speed Internet service through YESNet, the territorial computer network. Yukon schools use the British Columbia curriculum, which they adapt to reflect local needs and conditions. In the Education Act for the Yukon, it states that the deputy minister may provide for distance education courses of instruction on conditions prescribed by the guidelines established by the Minister. Although this allows for distance education, there is no evidence of it on the Department of Education website, nor any mention of online courses (www.gov.yk.ca/depts/education ) The YESNet site describes many online Grassroots projects, however, and there are many TAL (Technology Assisted Learning) courses for teachers offered in the evenings and on PD days. (www.yesnet.yk.ca )

The Nunavut Department of Education’s vision statements reflect the newness of this territory and the difficulties of establishing goals in a large, diverse area. The vision they speak of is 19 years in the future ("Our Vision: By the year 2020, Nunavut is a place where…" ) (http://www.gov.nu.ca/education.htm ). There is no description on the website about the programs available in Nunavut, but having attended the AMTEC conference in Halifax in June 2000, and hearing the keynote speaker, the new deputy ministry of education for Nunavut, Tom Rich, describe the difficulties and challenges of using technology in such a remote area, I will assume that a territorial network has not yet been established.

The Northwest Territories Department of Education (http://siksik.learnnet.nt.ca/ECE/Information_Networks/dislearn/distance_learning.html) provides online distance education courses for high school students who currently attend a traditional high school or who are being home schooled. During the 1999-2000 school year, high school students from Kakisa Lake, Hay River, Norman Wells, Aklavik and Yellowknife successfully completed Northern Studies 10 through online learning. They were supported by educators in their home communities while being taught by a teacher in Norman Wells. Students were able to interact with each other through online discussions. In addition, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinook College in Calgary to allow NWT high school students to take courses through online learning.

It is clear that "online learning" has developed beyond electronically delivered correspondence courses for students who can’t attend a traditional school. Although many different models and formats are emerging, the trend is towards designing learning opportunities that take full advantage of the capabilities of the evolving technologies to provide resource-based, learner-centred, personalized learning. Individual schools are in competition with other school boards or consortia that wish to license the programs that they have developed for their own students, and commercial producers who have large financial resources to create attractive, glossy products. Many researchers, like Kathy Rutkowski ("Virtual schools: charting new frontiers." MultiMedia Jan/Feb 1999), Ron Owston ("Teacher factors that contribute to implementation success in telelerning networks.") and Jamie McKenzie ("When the book? When the net?") feel that the technology itself does not directly change teaching and learning. The critical element is how technology is incorporated into instruction. The following are two examples of promising uses that are not tied to individual provinces or curricula, but have wide application for a variety of grade levels and teacher applications.

The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (O.I.S.E.) has designed software known as Knowledge Forum® (formerly known as CSILE ) to provide across-the-curriculum support for collaborative learning and inquiry. Through the use of this network system, a communal database is created by students and their teachers. Students can enter text and graphic notes into the database on any topic their teacher has created. All students on the network can read the notes and students can build on or comment on each other’s ideas. This is a new generation of software for collaborative online projects, and is one of the most promising uses of technology for constructivist learning.

One of the most innovative and successful telelearning applications is the Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER) program. This uses a network conferencing system (FirstClass®) to link writing and language arts students to Canadian authors, teachers and each other for the exchange and discussion of original work. In 1998, about 120 classes were involved. Teachers were very positive about the program, because it promoted the objectives that teachers already had for their students, i.e. to help students consider the value of revision in the writing process. Students were also highly motivated to read and respond to work posted by other students, so the editing process was practiced more that it would likely be with pen and pencil activities.

Canadian educators have not accepted the "one size fits all" answer to online learning, nor have they gravitated towards the glamorous, entertaining products that are available for a price (referred to as the "Disneyfication of Information" by Jamie McKenzie). Perhaps taking their lead from Canadian government agencies and committees (such as "SchoolNet", Industry Canada, the Advisory Committee for Online Learning), they continue to seek out and support research and projects designed to determine which specific elements of new technologies will improve teaching and learning. Information gathering and sharing is happening at a surprising rate. The Alberta Online Consortium, for instance, recently hosted its fifth Symposium on Online Learning, with over 105 sessions dedicated to issues and practices across Canada (www.albertaonline.ab.ca/ols2001/index.html ). Many universities are committed to quickly establishing programs to study the issues, and to prepare teachers to inform their daily practice. While school boards form partnership with corporations to fund the infrastructure, parents and students carefully consider their options and sign-up in increasing numbers for alternate, online programs.

The terms and the concepts of "online learning" and "virtual schools" are evolving before our eyes. Replacing them are the idea of "distributed learning", which implies the use of interactive networks, and multimedia, for the creation of learner-centred, collaborative, problem-based learning approaches. The new model is not clearly divided into classroom and online learning, since arguably all learning now involves the support of networks and collaboration with resources outside the traditional four walls. The new model meets the individual needs of students anywhere, any time. It is well underway at university and as quickly as teachers can jump onboard, it is coming to elementary and secondary schools. It has changed the way we think about teaching and it has empowered us to reach our students more effectively.

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