Pictures from an Exhibition ... of Online Learning: A Creative Representation of Qualitative Data

The use of distance education at the K-12 level began in Canada around 1919 with the use of correspondence education (i.e., course packets and students work sent back and forth through postal mail) in British Columbia (Stack, 1990). The use of online learning at the K-12 has been used since about 1993, again beginning in British Columbia with the creation of the New Directions in Distance Learning (Dallas, 1999) and the EBUS Academy (see http://www.ebus.ca). School districts in several provinces (e.g., Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador--in the order that it occurred) began to create online learning programs over the next five years (Barker & Wendel, 2001; Barker, Wendall, & Richmond, 1999; Haughey & Fenwick, 1996; Stevens, 1997a). A decade later, O'Haire, Froese-Germain, and Lane-De Baie (2003) indicated that Alberta had the highest number of K-12 students engaged in online learning, while British Columbia was leading the way in the number of online learning programs. More recently, Barbour (2012) reported that British Columbia had the highest percentage of K-12 students engaged in online learning, with over 12% of students having taken at least one online course. In the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government began using a province-wide distance education program during the 1989-90 school year (Government of Newfoundland, 1990). This program, which used an audiographics system (i.e., a conference calling system with a telegraphic screen that was used as an electronic blackboard), began with a single advanced-level mathematics course that was offered to three dozen students in about a dozen rural schools. By the 1999-2000 school year there were 898 course enrolments in 11 different courses from students in 77 different rural schools (Brown, Sheppard, & Stevens, 2000). Since 1997 the first online learning project in the province had also begun, when one of the rural school districts began offering Advanced Placement mathematics and science courses over the Internet using both a synchronous (i.e., live or real-time when the students used a program called Elluminate Live or ELive) and asynchronous (i.e., static or not time dependent when the students used a program called WebCT) delivery model (Stevens, 1999). It was from this district initiative, along with the recommendation from a Government appointment Ministerial Panel (Sparkes & Williams, 2000), that the current province-wide, K-12 online learning program was created. The Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation (CDLI) began as a limited pilot project during the 2001-02 school year. After a successful pilot, in 2002-03 the CDLI began its full operations as the primary method of K-12 distance education in Newfoundland and Labrador. School who participate in the CDLI utilize a common schedule that allows the CDLI to offer both synchronous and asynchronous class time. Depending on the subject area, students from around the province spend 40% to 80% of their time in synchronous--or online (according to the students)--instruction through a virtual classroom environment. The remainder of their scheduled time is asynchronous--or offline--instruction spent completing content and activities in the course management system or independent work (Barbour & Hill, 2011). While K-12 distance education and, more recently, online learning, have had a long history in both Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador, there has been little research into the experience of students engaged in online learning. Within the Canadian context, researchers have examined the general benefits of K-12 online learning (e.g., Muirhead, 2000), programmatic evaluations (e.g., Kuehn, 2002, 2006; Litke, 1998), the integration of online learning into the traditional brick-and-mortar school (e.g., Stevens, 1997b, 2006), student achievement (e.g., Barbour & Mulcahy, 2008, 2009), the role of school-based teachers (e.g., Barbour & Mulcahy, 2004; Mulcahy, 2002), the design of asynchronous course content (e. …