State of e-Learning in Canada

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.