This document summarizes a presentation by the Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn) about online and blended learning in Canada. CANeLearn is a pan-Canadian network that shares resources and research to promote online learning opportunities. The presentation discusses issues, challenges and innovations in online learning across Canadian provinces. It highlights examples from Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, such as Nova Scotia's centralized online program hosted through the government.

1. Shaken Blended, not Stirred…
Leadership Perspectives from Canada
The Canadian eLearning Network
http://CANeLearn.net

2. Shaken Blended – not Stirred…
• Shaken Blended
– Classroom Foundations
– Time as THE Measure
– Textbooks
– Teacher’s Role
– Bureaucratic Silos
– Paradigms of Control and Practice
• Stirred
– Policy, Curriculum & Assessment
– Funding Models
• Silver Bullet is??
• CC by 2.0 marketingmommy

3. AGENDA
1. Introduction
2. Room Introductions
– Name, Role, School/Program, Where
3. Canadian eLearning Network Overview
4. Cross Canada: Issues, Challenges, Innovation
5. Contact information (ours and yours)
6. Closing
– What suggestions would you have for us?

4. Canadian K-12 Online and Blended
Learning Association

5. Canadian eLearning Network
• CANeLearn is a pan-Canadian network of K12
online and blended learning schools and
organizations
• Focus is on sharing resources, PD, research
• Intent is to leverage collective to promote
online and blended learning opportunities
• http://CANeLearn.net

6. Mission:
CANeLearn's mission is to provide
leadership that champions student
success in online and blended
learning and provides members with
networking, collaboration, and
research opportunities.

7. CANeLearn Networking events
DONE:
iNACOL –

8. CANeLearn is committed to research by:
Graham, L., LaBonte, R., Roberts, V.,
O’Byrne, I., & C. Osterhout. (in press). Open
learning in K-12 online and blended
learning environments. In R. Ferdig & K.
Kennedy’s Handbook of Research on K-12
Online and Blended Learning. Pittsburgh,
PA: ETC Press.

9. State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada
• “The State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada has
become a key benchmark for the expanding use of technology-supported
blended and online learning in Canada.”
• PI is Michael Barbour (First CANeLearn honorary member)
– Connecting data
– Representing innovation in Canada
– Vignettes
• Online research repositories
• iNACOL (http://www.inacol.org/)
• Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute
(http://www.mvlri.org/) Research Clearinghouse
(http://k12onlineresearch.org/)
• Development of our own CANeLearn repository

10. CANeLearn is committed to collaboration by:
Partnerships Supporting ParPtnearsrhtipnsers
Pro-D Sharing Professional Learning
Opportunities
Professional
Learning
Finding efficiencies through
technologies and shared
services
Technology
Finding
Efficiencies

11. Collaboration at Events
• iNACOL Symposium (2008 – 2014)
• ISTE (2014)
• Montréal (2013)
• Toronto (2012, 2014)
• Winnipeg (2014)
• Edmonton (2012, 2015)
• Vancouver (2014, 2015)

12. Membership Connections

13. Building partnerships
• Data analytics (Junyo)
– “smart” data metrics and intuitive system
– Serves the right content to the right student at the right time
• Sharing resources (www.geniosity.ca – Nelson Education)
– free and fee-based digital content providers in one place, helps
educators find and integrate curriculum-relevant resources to
complement their individual teaching style
– Vetted content, searchable, integrates with LMS
• Sharing among members (iEdit – http://z4.zenlive.ca/ community)
– Collaborative workspace, groups and documents
– Live web-conferencing built in (Zenlive)

14. Board of Directors
• Michael Canuel, CEO of LEARN (Chairman) - QC
• Terri Reid, Learning Services Coordinator, Black Gold Regional Schools (Vice-
Chairman) – AB
• Laurel Beaton, Partnerships and Innovation, Alberta Distance Learning Centre
(Director) - AB
• Greg Bitgood, Superintendent Heritage Christian Schools (Director) - BC
• Howard Burston, Director, IT Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre
(Director) – MB
• CJ MacKinnon, Teacher/Coordinator Innovations Online, Traditional Learning
Academy Online (Director) - BC
• Alison Slack, Coordinator, Ontario eLearning Consortium (Director) – ON
• Sue Taylor-Foley, Director of Learning Resources and Technology, Nova Scotia
Education and Early Childhood Development (Director) - NS
• Kevin Wttewaall, Director of Technology for Learning Rocky View School
Division (Director) – AB

15. 15

16. Across Canada…
Issues
Challenges
Innovation

17. State of the Nation in Canada Report

18. In Canada…
• In Canada Provinces and Territories are responsible for public and
independent (private) school education
• The Federal government is responsible for First Nations education
• Geography has driven innovative approaches
• Connectivity remains an issue in some places (NWT, Aboriginal
communities)
• A noted shift in classrooms to blended learning
• In many cases provincially-brokered licensing of core technologies
and content (web conferencing, digital content, LMS, etc.)

19. State of the Nation in Canada Report
• Newfoundland and Labrador
– single province-wide program
– no regulations (currently being created)
• Nova Scotia
– single province-wide and district-based programs
– regulations in Provincial Teachers’ Agreement
• Prince Edward Island
– uses distance education from other provinces
– two Ministerial Directives
• New Brunswick
– single province-wide program
– series of Ministry policy documents

20. Innovation in Canada: Nova Scotia

21. State of the Nation in Canada Report
• Quebec
– district-based programs (provincial level
content provider)
– non-DE focused province-wide program for
sharing curricular resources that is used for
DE in limited ways
– no provincial regulations
• Ontario
– province-wide CMS and course content, used
by district-based programs
– does allow private virtual schools
– series of Ministry policy documents

22. Innovation in Canada: Quebec

23. Ontario
• E-Learning Contacts (eLCs)
• Shared goals between units
• Integrations of licenced
online products with the
Virtual Learning
Environment

24. State of the Nation in Canada Report
• Yukon
– utilize a program from British Columbia
– referenced in legislation, largely governed by an inter-provincial
agreement with BC school district
• North West Territories
– utilize a program in Alberta
– several Ministry policy documents
• Nunavut
– past and future plans for pilot programs (may utilize
services in Alberta)
– no regulations

25. State of the Nation in Canada Report
• Manitoba
– three province-wide programs (for online province provides CMS and
course content, used by district-based programs
– Ministry policy documents currently being updated
• Saskatchewan
– district-based programs (since 2009-10)
– no regulations since devolution from Ministry
• Alberta
– province-wide and district-based programs
– limited Ministry policy documents (more extensive policies currently being
formulated)
• British Columbia
– district-based and private (independent) programs
– several legislative items (additional Ministry policy documents)
– highest regulated

26. Innovation in Canada - Alberta
Open educational resources
(OER) are freely accessible,
openly licensed documents and
media that are useful for
teaching, learning, and
assessing as well as for research
purposes. Although som
epeople consider the use of an
open file format to be an
essential characteristic of OER,
this is not a univeraklly
acknowledged requirement.

27. Innovation in Canada - BC

28. Completion Rate for Public School
Students – DL
• (For students who take at least one DL course)
School Year Students taking 1
or more DL Course
Students not taking
DL Course
% %
2009-10 80.9% 88.3%
2010-11 85.0% 86.6%
2011-12 86.5% 85.0%
2012-13 89.8% 85.3%

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30. Recognizing Innovation in Canada
• The iNACOL Innovator Awards recognize learning practices, new research
and individual achievements in the field of blended and online learning.
• Past 2 years a Canadian has been recognized by iNACOL
–
Audrey MacLaren and Peggy Drolet LEARN
– Verena Roberts ADLC
• CANeLearn nominees were:
– Josh Gray from the Thames Valley District School Board, London ON;
– The Navigate Program of the North Island Distance Education School,
Courtenay BC;
– Michael Barbour (Canadian researcher); and
– Maurice Barry of the Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation, St.
John NL.

31. iNACOL Innovative Blended and Online
Learning Practice Award Recipients ->
2012, 2013, 2014

32. BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP
• Access to a network of organizations and educators fostering blended and
online learning opportunities for K12 students in Canada and abroad
through a password protected site.
• Connections to emerging research in blended and online learning in
Canada and internationally through CANeLearn affiliate memberships and
online resource library.
• Access to a consolidated list of professional learning opportunities related
to blended and online learning.
• Reduced member registration at CANeLearn sponsored events.
• Opportunity to present to the CANeLearn board of directors on topics that
can be disseminated across the country to leading elearning providers.
• Invitation to participate in special projects.
http://CANeLearn.net

33. THANK YOU
http://CANeLearn.net

34. Contact Information
• Randy LaBonte
– rlabonte@canelearn.net
• Greg Bitgood
– gbitgood@onlineschool.ca
• Kevin Wttewaall
– kwttewaall@rockyview.ab.ca
• Michael Canuel
– mcanuel@learnquebec.ca
http://CANeLearn.net

35. Measuring Quality: Randy LaBonte 35

36. Innovation in Canada
• Nova Scotia
– Moodle LMS hosted by Government
– Teachers are seconded by Government to deliver courses
throughout province
– Increased growth in online learning – since 2008 five fold
increase

37. Innovation in Canada
• Quebec
– Leaders in Canada in Competency based Learning
– Flipped Learning
– English Virtual Program leads the way for French Virtual
Program

38. Ontario
Ontario Facts
• 60 English-language district school boards
• 12 French-language district school boards
• Student enrolment in 2012-13 was approximately
2.03 million
• In 2012-13, approximately 98,000 students were
enrolled in French-language boards; approximately
1.93 million were enrolled in English-language
boards.

39. Ontario
e-Learning Blended
Learning
Total
English 26 963 282 904 309 867
French 2 209 7 990 10 199
Total 29 172 290 894 320 066

40. Innovation in Canada
• AB
– Flexible Learning
– Moocs
– Collaborative Development
– Moodle User Groups
– GAFE
– Curriculum Redesign

41. British Columbia
 35,000 educators
 600,000 students
 60 school districts
urban/rural
 53 public DL schools
 Courses provided to Yukon
(follow BC curriculum)
 13 independent DL schools
 Declining enrolment
 Online Choice: Open
boundaries

42. Public and Independent Systems
60 public Distributed Learning schools
16 Independent Distributed Learning Schools
All DL schools operate under an agreement with the
Ministry
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/docs/dist_learn_agmt.pdf
or
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/independentschools/is_forms/dl_program/dl_agrmnt.
pdf

43. PUBLIC and Independent FTE Enrolments:
All Counts
16,000.00
14,000.00
12,000.00
10,000.00
8,000.00
6,000.00
4,000.00
2,000.00
0.00
2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Public
Independent

44. PUBLIC and Independent Headcount
Enrolments: All Counts
160,000.00
140,000.00
120,000.00
100,000.00
80,000.00
60,000.00
40,000.00
20,000.00
0.00
2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Headcounts - All counts Public
Headcounts - All counts Independent

45. Two lenses for measuring
Compliance Quality
•Funding
•Curriculum-focused
•Supervision
•Assessment
•Achievement
•Completion
•Participation
•Learner-focused
•Engagement
•Personal knowledge
•Success
•Satisfaction

47. 47