Joint global ventures in education with government agencies and private sector trainers. The diligent risks related to learnware application selection are completely apparent while the rewards which are needed to induce learnware innovation by boards, colleges, administrators and teachers are not at all apparent. Canadians must innovate in order to prosper. Our role as America s low cost provider of raw materials and labour has not been sustainable. In a world where technology creates new wealth based on knowledge and where developing nations possess abundant supplies of low cost raw materials and labour, Canadians must look at a different kind of future for themselves.
Innovative societies try to balance the risks and rewards associated with innovation.
Personal and financial incentives for educators and educational organizations must balance the risks inherent in curriculum and learnware development. Living beside the world s wealthiest and most powerful multimedia industry, Ontario s failure to engender a balanced risk-reward system for learnware and multimedia development will simply consign future generations of Canadian learners to the care and training of Hollywood producers. The Canadian multimedia experience is not without competitive advantage, however, if we do not succeed at gaining a share of global multimedia markets, it is quite conceivable that our curriculum and learnware developers will lose access to the Canadian domestic market. Given the stakes, there is a compelling case for co-operation between boards of education. Only by exploiting our strengths successfully in global markets can we achieve enough multimedia strength to retain access to our own market.