Geographically, Canada is a large country with a relatively small population. That would make
us perfect candidates for distance education programs with learners spread out all over the country in remote areas, right?
I came across an interesting article dated April 21, 1997 at
http://canadaonline.about.com/
(direct link to article: http://canadaonline.about.com/library/weekly/aa042197.htm) that held a cynical view as to how Canada was doing with respect to taking care of learners who need for distance education programs.
The author
felt that at the time, Canada as a country had “a long way to go” with respect
to distance education and criticized the fact that most distance education
programs rely solely on videoconferencing, notes, and audio tapes. This article got me to question if Canada,
as a nation, has made any inroads in the 15 years since this article was
printed. What has Canada done with
respect to distance education?
What strategies are we employing?
I have some research to do.
Based just on my own shopping around for a potential
Master’s program, I can’t help but think that we have come a long way, that we
are competitive with what is being offered in other nations with respect to the
quantity and quality of our distance education programs, and that they are
successful.
For some local examples, just from the top of my head I can think of Crendenda Virtual High School (http://www.credenda.net/), the many programs at the University of Saskatchewan (such as the ETAD program), and the Saskatoon Catholic High School (http://scs.sk.ca/cyber/) I am sure that there are many more in our province alone. Now I am motivated to find out what is going on in Canada and abroad. What is our focus?
WHAT’S THE MOTIVATION TO OFFER A DISTANCE EDUCATION
COURSE?
I can’t help but think that the use of the internet as an
instructional tool has been a game changer with respect to education from a
financial perspective. There is
nothing stopping someone from doing an degree remotely from a university in
British Columbia or Great Britain.
School divisions and institutions of higher learning must have to work very hard
to make their programs attractive in order to get the funds to develop,
implement, and instruct these courses to make them attractive to prospective
learners, let alone retain them.
Does word of mouth have an impact with choosing a program? I admit – I shopped around for options out of province but was convinced by numerous people that the program at the University of
Saskatchewan was the best. At no
time was technology or mode of delivery ever mentioned in the
recommendations. Does this prove
that quality matters rather than glitzy marketing skills employed by some
institutions? With more and more
options available, how does a distance education learner sift through all of
the options, of which, I believe are growing.
So, I am here to prove this article wrong.
I found the final quote of the article interesting: “... fortunately the Internet and associated technology opens up the doors for
us to get the information we need and train ourselves.” Is this example of
metacognition? As the technology
we have advances, are we taking control of our learning, even in an informal
sense? It appears so.
I look forward to further
researching what Canada has been up to with regards to solving the perceived
problem of the lack of distance education programs in the 90s! Perhaps I will look at this blog post in 15 years and marvel at what "disruptive innovations" have occured in that time.
"Now! That's What I Call 90s" photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_That's_What_I_Call_the_90s
Great time capsule piece. Yes, pull it out and look it over again in several years!
ReplyDeleteThe landscape of online learning has indeed changed dramatically in recent years. More stuff is available for sure, and it is coming from everywhere! I love that you noticed that quality and reputation go hand in hand, and that even small programs (I would call ours small to mid-sized) can provide high quality learning opportunities.
One of the most important things I see happening now is a basic restructuring of institution-based learning. For one thing, the line between on campus and off campus is blurring. We often see that the first people to line up and register for online classes are students who are on campus. They know the product is often excellent and more reliable, and they love the flexibility.
Also, institutions are starting to band together to provide programming, and some of the efforts draw together the resources of institutions around the globe. They are starting to sort through the difficult questions of how to provide credentials when courses are pieced together from a bunch of different places, but these are just technical barriers to a world of learning that is opening up rapidly. As a prime example of this, check out the OERu - Open Education Resources University. I was privileged to attend the inaugural meeting of this group in Dunedin, New Zealand about 16 months ago, and it has taken off like wildfire since that time.
I don't know of a functional equivalent in K-12, but it is just a matter of time, and the will to make it happen.
Also, if you want an interesting book on some of this, check out Curt Bonk's "The World is Open". Lots of good stories about people trying to open up learning around the planet.
ReplyDeleteI agree that things are changing rapidly, just from the research I have done in this short time. This (802) is the first time I have taken a course like this and I see the benefits hugely as a student/learner. I'm working on 803 at the same time and the flexibility is not only appreciated but allows us to actually take the courses! Working full time would not have allowed me to do this before.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link - I will add it to the other great info you have already provided. Now - I just have to make sense of it and the research I am doing in order to put it into a cohesive blog post!
It will be interesting to see where we are in 15 years. There are so many improvements that can be made in order to reach larger audiences and in a more authentic fashion. What will collaboration look like? How about the methods that we use? Can distance education be made dynamic? Students I have asked about their experience are generally "meh" about it, despite being online all the time.
ReplyDelete