The current partners are Athabasca University, Brandon University, British Columbia Open University, Laurentian University, Royal Roads University, University of Manitoba, and University of Victoria. Other universities may join in the future.
Distance education allows students to complete courses without stepping into a classroom.
Course work may involve use of the Internet, computer conferences, audio tapes, video tapes, TV, radio, phone, fax, e-mail, and printed materials. Some courses and programs are completely on-line, while others use a combination of methods and materials. Growing demand for distance education and online learning is tremendous. Approximately 100,000 Canadians are engaged in distance learning through Canadian universities, and even more would be interested if they could find programs to meet their needs. Increasingly, distance education is a business operating nationally and internationally in a largely deregulated marketplace where private interest and profit motives of unknown entities are competing with established universities.