State of e-Learning in Canada

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Complete Report *http://www.ccl-cca.ca/

Presentation PDF

Erin Mills, CCL and Philip Abrami, Concordia University – “State of E-Learning in Canada” (presentation and discussion)

  • Motivation for the study, which was funded by the Government, was to understand challenges and benefits of e-learning
  • E-learning can offer advantages, flexibility, access and delivery potential
  • There is insufficient planning or vision for the future
  • The research about the impact of technology on student learning is contradictory
  • There is lack of evidence based empirical longitudinal studies
  • There is need to articulate a shared vision for the development and implementation of joint action plan
  • There is need to fill gap in the research
  • Data on access, quality, cost, and outcomes needed
  • There are no benchmarks for e-learning
  • Data gaps: enrolment (participation, barriers), outcomes (impact, motivation, effectiveness), return on investment (cost), quality (provisions, expenditures, labour market, outcomes)
  • Even data we have are limited and they are not pan-Canadian (such as internet usage, employee training, computers available, etc.)
  • Philip Abrami: My review included articles from scholarly journals but also from newspapers, professional organizations, etc.; the amount of empirical research is low; was surprised how few studies of this type are out there
  • We lack strong pan-Canadian evidence on effectiveness of e-learning
  • The CCL report got lots of responses from different stakeholders; there is a call for more reports; there are lots of positive reviews;
  • Some criticism, but it is good that so many academics responded to the report so a dialogue started
  • It is not a bad thing that some of conclusions from the previous report are echoed in this one
  • We need to be concerned – a federal document “Knowledge matters” has been removed from the government’s site and archived – this says something about directions of the government
  • Statistics Canada says that if we raise a literacy level by 1%, this would lead to economic benefits of 18.4 billion per year; this is important;
  • There are no large initiatives in research on e-learning, it is impossible to do pan-Canadian research study
  • In contrast, the US just announced that each successful grant for developing a new technique which would contribute to new reading comprehension strategies in schools will be awarded $ 20 million; compare this with Canada’s $20,000
  • Karen Maki: Statistics Canada does not have participation data on continuous and distance education
  • There is complexity in collecting data
  • The CCL report emphasizes the importance of pan-Canadian collaboration
  • Academics and researchers need to work together with practitioners and policy makers
  • Philip Abrami: We know some things – a successful use of technology needs to be supported; teachers need to integrate it into teaching and not just add it; teachers need to believe in student centered learning: motivation for adult learners
  • What we need is to synthesize all this and use data collectively
  • We need to a) identify needs; b) build a tool that supports those needs and teachers and learners; c) show that the tool accomplished (or not) this goal
  • If we collaborate, we can accomplish this
  • Brian Campbell: We can collaborate between institutions and establish a network of researchers
  • Philip Abrami: Students efforts need to be linked to their outcomes
  • There are excellent motivational designers out there
  • Evidence based design principles are necessary
  • Brian Campbell: Our group can develop partnership with researchers and apply for funding to do studies – HEQCO, etc.
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