State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada
Author: Barbour, Michael K.
Date: 2010-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Web Based Instruction,Educational Policy,Inservice Teacher Education,Canada Natives,Regional Programs,Program Descriptions,Educational Finance,Curriculum,Vignettes,Rural Schools,Synchronous Communication,Questionnaires,Educational Resources,Electronic Learning,Blended Learning,Private Schools,Elementary Secondary Education,Distance Education,Online Courses,Collective Bargaining,Quality Control,Profiles,Virtual Classrooms

Two years ago, the then North American Council for Online Learning released the initial &quot;Snapshot State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada&quot; report. This study was the first systematic examination of K-12 distance education policies and activities in each of the thirteen Canadian provinces and territories. One year ago, the International Council for K-12 Online Learning released the more complete &quot;State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada&quot; report. This examination found that the regulation of K-12 distance education varied from language in the Education Act or Schools Act, Ministerial Directives, policy documents issued by the Ministry of Education, agreements signed between the Ministry and the individual school boards, and articles included in the collective bargaining agreement between the Government and teachers' union. The &quot;2010 State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada&quot; has found similar trends in the regulation of K-12 distance education. This &quot;State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada&quot; report begins with a discussion of several issues related to the design, delivery and support of K-12 distance education in Canada. The first of these brief issue papers outlines the use of a provincial network to provide online professional development for K-12 teachers in Quebec. The second examines the provision of K-12 online learning to a group of aboriginal youth in Northern Ontario. The third discusses how blended learning is being used in one school district. Finally, the fourth describes a model of quality assurance used by one province with its K-12 distributed learning programmes. The remainder of the report is organised in a regional fashion. The information begins with a national overview, which is followed by a focus upon each of the four regions of Canada: Atlantic, Central, Western, and Northern. Within each region is a general description and then detailed provincial/territorial profiles based upon the information obtained. Each profile is designed to look at the level of K-12 distance education activity and regulations in that province or territory. The profiles in the 2009 report were organised to provide a detailed description of the distance education programmes that were operating in each province and territory. Additionally, there was a lengthy discussion of the provincial or territorial policies from various legislative and regulatory documents (e.g., ministerial directives, collective agreements, memorandums of understanding, and departmental memorandum). Finally, there was a specific focus on the funding of distance education, and issues related to quality assurance, teaching, and curriculum in distance education offerings. This report provides a more condensed examination of each province and territory. Information that has not changed has been summarised, and in instances where information needed to be updated a more descriptive discussion is provided. It should also be noted that this information is simply a snapshot in time. As the field of K-12 online learning is rapidly changing, the currency of the information contained in this report is limited to the realities of September 2010. Finally, continuing a feature introduced in the previous report, when possible there is a vignette included to provide a more personalised perspective of students, teachers, schools, and programmes involved in K-12 distance education in that jurisdiction. These vignettes focus on various aboriginal, private school, rural, and synchronous programmes across Canada. Two questionnaires are appended. A bibliography and a list of resources are included. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [For the 2009 report, &quot;State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada&quot;, see ED509619.]