Instructors can’t or won’t take the time to learn new systems because they don’t have time and because they fear what might happen when their content leaves their personal control.

Another issue that I have seen is that there seems to be an increasing taboo around “e”. Pointing it out as a “special” form of learning/delivery for some (many perhaps) might be a reason for resistance. If we can get traditional instructors to extend their classrooms with eLearning tools, then we might have a chance to achieve higher rates of adoption.

Another factor worth considering, in comparison with the US, is the impact of Canadians’ basic trust in public institutions, and our focus on access rather than quality as the key performance indicator. In higher education we see much more concern about institutional accountability in the US and typically a much stronger role for government ministries in monitoring quality. And we made high investments in access to higher education under bricks and mortar paradigms, which we have not come to question now that an expanded range of provision options are available.

Tom

So why the totally different perspectives? While I still venture to academic conferences but too often encounter the endless repeats of the same old discussions, I find there’s often boundary pushing stuff at the better run commercial conferences such as those run by the elearning guild and ASTD. Of course the gems are often buried amongst the self-serving commercial presentations, but the elearning guild in particular tries hard to police that, and to ensure that there’s a diversity of ideas and practical demonstrations.

Perhaps if Terry and others in the academic and research communities would explore these venues more regularly we’d get some of that collaboration amongst multiple sectors going. Since leaving academia I have found the attitude of former academic colleagues is along the lines of, “well you have gone over to the dark side, so your ideas are no longer relevant” .

The fact is that changing demographics are driving a significant and exciting change in both demand for online learning resources and also in the pedagogy.

For example, learning from repetitive failure was never an option in the classroom but is a core component of some of the most successful online learning modules in industry, and it comes directly from game design principles, which Millennials respond to, and which established academic Instructional designers rarely even consider.

Government and consumer and industrial training course developers, where there is no academic certification incentive to drive students to completion have had to devise new ways to engage and motivate learners. K-12 educators have picked up on some of those techniques, but post secondary educators haven’t bothered for the most part.

Maybe Canada can be the first place to bring all the sectors back together in a truly effective collaboration? One carefully constructed and well managed Global event could put us back on the map.

I would agree, but my problem with such an approach is that it would be run by the sort of people who produced this report, and would thus effectively eliminate what good is being done now.

Roger Mundell (above) is touching a much different part of the elephant when he describes e-learning in Canadian industry. I confess to be not too much aware of this sector, although I regularly learn with and from those grad students in our Masters and Dr. programs working in industry training projects across the country. It is true (as Jamie Rossiter notes above) that many are involved in forms of e-learning. We also have a few stellar e-learning companies such as Ellluminate, Smart and Desire-to-Learn. But I still argue that our innovation and vision is limited. Indeed one of the roles of effective government is to stimulate interaction amongst various sectors and helping create a climate where innovation in both public and private sector flourishes.

I still content that this report and government and institutional activities to date, have little to offer or inspire us. End of whine- back to work. Thanks again for your comments all!
Terry

I do think that our fragmented education system is a huge barrier, simply because it leaves a leadership vacuum that neither CMEC nor CCL have chosen to take up. And it’s clearly not a policy priority for this federal government.

Having said that, people are voting with their wallets. Most education and training programs now have at least some e-learning component. And in a country as vast as ours, use of e-learning to reach learners whomever and wherever they are just makes sense. But what’s lost is that in a field where we should be the natural world leader, we continue to borrow more than we innovate.