CANARIE E-learning Program

ACCC Symposium on Technology-Enabled Learning

Victoria, BCFebruary 5-7, 2004

Jamie Rossiter Director, E-learning Program

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Overview of Presentation

> Why is e-learning important?> CANARIE’s roles

– CA*net 4– Applications programs

> CANARIE E-learning Program– Examples of projects– Lessons learned

> Future directions– Planning for next programs– Pan-Canadian E-learning Strategy

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Why is E-learning Important?

> Canada is moving from resource-based economy to knowledge-based economy

> This direction is imperative to continuing economic prosperity

> Formal education and lifelong learning are key:– Fewer jobs for unskilled workers– Many professions already requiring ongoing skills upgrading and

continuing education– Higher education strongly correlated to higher earning potential

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Challenges!

> Access– Location– Time– Disability

> Looming teacher shortages– e.g. 20,000 – 40,000 university professors needed by 2011– Similar issues in K-12, colleges

> Cost pressures– Driven partly by increasing health requirements

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Infrastructure Four generations of advanced research and education networks

Partnerships and communities Fifteen programs (>300 projects, >1000 participants) Current focus: advanced applications & sectoral collaboration

Brands International: Canadian leadership in advanced networks Domestic: CANARIE facilitation role

CANARIE’s Roles

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Years Core

Technology Initial

Capacity (Mb/sec)

Applications

CA*net 1990-1997

Leased Lines

0.056 Basic email and file transfer

CA*net 2 1995-2000

ATM 155 Web applications plus large file sharing

CA*net 3 1998-2002

Optical 5,000 Full audiovisual sharing plus collaborative computing and data environments

CA*net 4 2002-7 Lightpaths 20,000 Grids and other third-wave applications

Building CA*net

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Building Partnerships(1999-2004)

Program:

Total Funding

Number ofProjects

Number ofParticipants

E-learning

$29 Million

32

265

E-business

$28 Million

27

47

E-content(ARIM)

$6 Million

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66

E-health

$5 Million

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October 2003

Industry (receptors)

Minister of Industry

Government Laboratories

Universities & Colleges

Fourth Pillar Organizations

Links to

commercialization agents

Links to provincial & regional organizations

Strategic Investments in Enabling Technologies or Infrastructure

Return on Investment

Accountability

Information

Consensus-based Advice

Commitment Commitment

Commitment

Leadership Facilitation

Service

Leadership Facilitation

Service

Leadership Facilitation

Service

Fourth Pillar Organizations

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CANARIE E-learning Program

> Where can advanced networks genuinely add value to learning (on or off campus)?

– Focus on reducing structural barriers– Significant projects with potential national impact– All projects highly collaborative– Encourage synergy amongst projects– Strong evaluation component to each project

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E-learning Projects, LORs

> Learning Object Repositories– eduSourceCanada (and predecessor projects) – large, bilingual,

pan-Canadian prototype development project– TILE – LORs for people with disabilities– LOGIC – LORs for case-based teaching approaches– CMEC – Pan-Canadian Online Learning Portal – all

provinces/territories participating

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Why are LORs Important?

> E-learning content development is expensive and time consuming – LORs provide a mechanism to:– share content easily– update content that changes frequently– modify content – e.g. to another language– locate desired content quickly

> Elegant structure that promotes sharing of content without giving up control of curriculum– between jurisdictions, institutions, individuals– mirrors current network implementations

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E-learning Example:Learning Object Repositories

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eduSourceCanada Project

> A pan-Canadian testbed of linked and interoperable Learning Object Repositories

> Over 35 organizations from public and private sectors, anglophone and francophone, participating

> A forum for development of tools, systems, protocols and practices

> Based on national and international standards> Accessible to all Canadians, including those with

disabilities> Leading to uptake by Provinces/Territories and by industry

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E-learning Projects, DE

> New Organ’l Structures & Communities of Learners– Virtual Veterinary Medicine Learning Community – all 4

veterinary colleges sharing synchronous & asynchronous curriculum

– SportWeb – learning for amateur coaches across the country– Health Informatics Collaboratory – across 14 institutions

> Remote & Distant Learners– MusicGrid – K-12 music education over CA*net 4– RACOL – K-12 classroom education in N. Alberta over SuperNet– Llearn – second-language training online– Interactive Multimedia Learning System for Mathematics –

building upon The Learning Equation

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E-learning Projects, Workplace

> E-learning in the Workplace– TRADE – complex radar mapping technologies for staff & clients– E-LIVE – simulations for transit-system operators– ELLnet – leadership training for school trustees– Open Network Craft– how-to for remote network developers &

installers, including First Nations

> E-learning in health sector– PLP enabler & DCM.X – tools for health care professionals– 3 projects co-funded by HRSD Office of Learning Technologies

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E-learning Projects, PD

> Teacher Professional Development

– ABEL – K-12 teachers working in their classrooms using CA*net 4– Collaborative Content Creation Lab – post-secondary (college &

university) teacher development activities, content– University Collaborative Communities for e-Learning Adoption

(UCCELA) – facultydevelopment.ca and E-Kit/La Trousse professional development tools

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“E-learning to Learning”

> E-learning Program projects demonstrated their results– See CANARIE website for presentations

> Meeting-ground for emerging Canadian e-learning community– 325 attendees from across Canada, several countries, all levels of

education, training

> Plenary sessions:– Learning Object Repositories – from development to uptake – Expert panel discussion on a pan-Canadian e-learning strategy– Demos of key network-enabled projects

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Current Status of CANARIE

> Stand-alone CA*net 4 operation funded to 2007> Current project funds fully committed

– March 2004 “hard” completion

> Government of Canada planning– Possible transition support in March 2004 budget– Election, spring 2004– New policies, fall 2004 - “SFT2”– “Regular” budget early 2005

> CANARIE working closely with Industry Canada to determine appropriate role

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Education Committee – Preliminary Feedback

Needs of Learning

Organizational change (institutions & workplace) For both on-site and distance learning

Faculty and learner tools that are: Multi-functional Support a variety of delivery models Provide integration, security, authorization, personalization Less text driven, more intuitive and smarter

Learning Object Repositories Positive results thus far, but still embryonic Need to be tailored to knowledge, sector by sector

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Preliminary Feedback

Potential roles for CANARIE

Bridge between governments (including Provinces/Territories), academe and industry Honest broker of information on intelligent infrastructure Organizational change agent in the development of new

organizational models

Targeted funding programs for sustainable applications development & testing

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Preliminary Feedback

Potential roles for CANARIE (cont’d)

Fund large proof-of-concept projects leading to implementation Beyond startup or pilot to sustained, operational systems From institutional periphery to core Sufficient scope and scale to interest decision-makers (deans)

Aggregating communities of interest Practitioners and researchers, early adopters

Stay in the ‘innovation space’ Neither pure research nor too close to the market

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E-learning Strategy

> Emerging consensus that we have to work collaboratively; i.e. we all benefit through collaboration

> Several indicators:– CeLEA – industry e-learning association– IDEA – federal government inter-departmental working group– CMEC Pan-Canadian Online Learning Portal– CMEC-Industry Canada discussions

> Growing international opportunities – key for Canada because of the size of domestic markets– e.g. Jordan

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Conclusions

> E-learning standards and technologies reaching maturity> Consensus that “course-by-course” or “pilot-study”

approach is not enough> Strategic investments in e-learning are warranted> Evolving strategies are fundamentally collaborative and

match the evolving network architectures> Emerging interest in a pan-Canadian e-learning strategy