Canada

2008-06-20T13:59:18Z

TonyBates:

Many if not most Canadian universities have competence in e-learning. Several major e-learning systems past and present have come from Canada, for example, WebCT out of the [[University of British Columbia]]. Desire2Learn is another Canadian-based learning management system, currently subject to a patent challenge from Blackboard Inc. (see....)

However, in recent years 'stand-alone' distance education institutions have in general fallen out of favour. The long-standing [[Open Learning Agency]] of British Columbia was closed and its open university activities were transferred to the newly created Thompson Rivers University, based in Kamloops in the interior of BC. The Distance Education and Technology unit at UBC has been absorbed into UBC's [[Office of Learning Technologies]] http://olt.ubc.ca. The Télé-université in Québec has been integrated into the larger multi-campus Université de Québec. Indicative of this greater integration between distance learning and e-learning has been the merger of the Canadian Association of Distance Education (CADE) and AMTECH, the association for educational technologists, into the new Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE). On the other hand, [[Athabasca University]] continues to develop and thrive, although its use of online courses is largely focused on post-graduate programs, such as its MBA.

There have also been some false starts in major government-funded e-learning projects. The main Federally-funded research programme (TeleLearning) was closed after its first three-year period (usually NCE projects are renewed for at least a second period) on the grounds that the research had not lead to any major scientific breakthroughs; and the charismatic start-up [[TechBC]] was closed and residual activity absorbed into Simon Fraser University. Both the closure of the OLA and TechBC were as a result of a new provincial government in British Columbia trying to cut spending to balance the provincial budget. However, at the same time, the BC government did create BCCampus http://bccampus.ca, a co-ordinating service for all educational online programs in BC, providing funding to institutions for the development of e-learning materials, training and support services to the smaller colleges, and a one-stop portal for students for online programs in BC. A similar institution, e-Learning Alberta, has been created in the next province.

Thus provincial governments and institutions have tended to see online distance education as a sub-category of e-learning, and thus there has been a tendency to integrate distance education units within broader learning and technology initiatives. At the same time, governments have been fostering within institutions the development of e-learning materials, and co-operation and co-ordination in e-learning activities.

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> [[Countries]]

[[Category:North America]]

Tony Bates

2008-06-20T13:12:34Z

TonyBates:

''Tony Bates'' is President and CEO of [http://www.tonybates.ca/associates.html Tony Bates Associates Ltd], a private company specializing in consultancy and training in the planning and management of e-learning and distance education.

He was also part-time Chair of Research into e-Learning at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain between 2003-2006 and also on the Academic Advisory Board of the Volkswagen Auto Uni, based in Germany, from 2003-2007.

He was Director of Distance Education and Technology in the Continuing Studies Division of the [[University of British Columbia]], Vancouver, Canada from 1995 to 2003 and also Research Team Leader of MAPLE, the Centre for Research into Managing and Planning Learning Environments in Education at UBC.

From May 2004 to September 2005, he was part-time Cisco Systems Chair of e-Learning at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, where he led a strategic planning process for e-Learning throughout the Institute. From 1990 to 1995, he was Executive Director, Research, Strategic Planning, and Information Technology at the [[Open Learning Agency]] of British Columbia.

Prior to that, he was Professor of Educational Media Research at the UK [[Open University]], where he worked for 20 years as one of the founding members of staff.

He is the author of nine books, including his latest, ''Technology, e-Learning and Distance Education'', published in 2005 by Routledge. Other books include ''Managing Technological Change: Strategies for College and Universities Leaders'', and (with Gary Poole) ''Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education'', both published by Jossey-Bass, and ''National Strategies for e-Learning'' published by UNESCO.

His research groups at the [[UKOU]], [[OLA]] and [[UBC]] published over 350 papers in the area of distance education and the use of technology for teaching. He is on the editorial board of six journals specializing in distance education and educational technology.

Tony has worked as a consultant in over 40 countries. Clients include the World Bank, OECD, UNESCO, national ministries of education, and several U.S. state higher education commissions.

He has a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of London, England. He was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Open University of Portugal in 1995, Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, from Laurentian University, Canada, in 2001, and Doctor Honoris Causa from Athabasca University, in June 2004, Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa from the Open University of Hong Kong in December 2004, and Doctor Honoris Causa from the Open University of Catalonia, Spain, in June, 2005.

There is also a full CV at http://www.tonybates.ca/CVs/FullCV.pdf.

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> [[People]]

Virtual Education Wiki - User contributions [en]

Canada

Tony Bates